Monday, July 20, 2015

Alhazen's version of the Scientific method

Scientific method

Frontispiece of book showing two persons in robes, one holding a geometrical diagram, the other holding a telescope.
Hevelius's Selenographia, showing Alhasen [sic] representing reason, and Galileo representing the senses.
An aspect associated with Alhazen's optical research is related to systemic and methodological reliance on experimentation (i'tibar)(Arabic: إعتبار) and controlled testing in his scientific inquiries. Moreover, his experimental directives rested on combining classical physics (ilm tabi'i) with mathematics (ta'alim; geometry in particular). This mathematical-physical approach to experimental science supported most of his propositions in Kitab al-Manazir (The Optics; De aspectibus or Perspectivae) and grounded his theories of vision, light and colour, as well as his research in catoptrics and dioptrics (the study of the refraction of light).[32] According to Matthias Schramm, Alhazen:
was the first to make a systematic use of the method of varying the experimental conditions in a constant and uniform manner, in an experiment showing that the intensity of the light-spot formed by the projection of the moonlight through two small apertures onto a screen diminishes constantly as one of the apertures is gradually blocked up.[66]
end quote from:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alhazen#Scientific_method

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