Science in the Middle Ages

Muslim Scholars• Between 700’s and 1200’s Muslim

culture flourished• They took Greek ideas and expanded

them• Borrowed numbering system from

Indian scholars• Produced Arabic numbering system &

develop Algebra• Al-Razi (Persian Doctor) able to

identify and describe disease• Ibn Sina published Canon of Medicine

Jewish & Christian Scholars• Muslim, Jewish and Christian scholars help spread scientific

knowledge throughout western Europe• Many translated Greek and Arabic works into Latin• Jewish scholars Maimonides wrote and taught religion,

science & medicine• Gersonides came up with an instrument to measure

distance between objects in the sky• Christianity pushed that viewing the world should be

through faith• Thomas Aquinas tried to show the two could exist

Renaissance Leads to New Ideas

• The Renaissance help the launching of humanism– Emphasis on people and their

achievement

• With the invention of the printing press help the spread of humanism

• European scholars began to question classical learning

• New investigation emerged

Influence of Renaissance Artists• Scientists were affected by

artists of the Renaissance• Artists began to observe

humans and animals even more closely

• Some even dissected human corpses

• Artists begin to make more drawing of human anatomy

Influence of Global Explorations

• Europeans look for new routes to Asia• These voyages would increase the knowledge

of the Earth’s shape, size and weather• This would challenge the classic ideas of

ancient Greeks