The Medieval Science Page

Science--General/Interdisciplinary/Cultures

• "Whose Science is Arabic Science in Renaissance Europe?" by George Saliba of Columbia University.
• An Interactive Guide to Muslim Contributions to Science
• History of Science and Technology in Islam

• History of Chinese Invention and Discovery
• China--Dynasties and Contributions Chart

• MEDICA: The Journal for the Study of Health and Healing in the Middle Ages and Early Modern Period
  An online journal published by Medica: The Society for the Study of Health and Healing in the Middle Ages and Early Modern Period.
  
• Cambridge University Summer School
  Programmes include science and its history, medieval studies, literature, and other subject areas.
• The Society for the History of Medieval Technology and Science (SHMTS)
  The Society is based in the Wellcome Unit for the History of Medicine at Oxford University.
• History and Philosophy of Science Graduate Student Association (HAPSAT)
  The Association is based at the University of Toronto.
• The Medieval Science List
  You may subscribe by sending the message "SUBSCRIBE" to medsci@kant.ch.umkc.edu.
• History of Science: Med-Tech List
  To join, send the following message to listserv@h-net.msu.edu:

  subscribe name institution

Technology
The Medieval Technology Pages
These pages are by Paul J. Gans at New York University. Professor Gans teaches a course on medieval technology (link), perhaps the only one of its kind in the US.

Time
See Horology

Weights and Measures
See Horology above for the measurement of time.

• Medieval Weights and Measures
  from the online Encyclopedia Britannica.
• Norway's History of Measurements

• The Art of Renaissance Science has been relocated here.
• The Columbus Navigation Homepage
  This site has many informative links.
  
• Institute and Museum of the History of Science of Florence, Italy
• Natural Magick
  Translation of the book by Giovanni Bapista Porta.
  
• Historic Maps of Dutch Cartographers

Miscellaneous
I am not sure where else to file a page which gives Internet weather updates in Latin, as well as over a dozen other languages, but as a pedagogical resource--and a good laugh--it should certainly be included somewhere: The Weather Underground.

Qualifications, definitions, limitations:

• "A comprehensive set of links" has become a slightly less attainable goal as the web has grown since 1995, but nonetheless it is hoped to try to include any link which, in the editor's judgement, appears to have good value for both students and researchers seeking at least a basic introduction to any of the topics that may fall under this heading. Similarly, when this page was first posted, there were few relevant pages to link to, and an overly particular definition of what should and should not be included would have resulted in an even slimmer resource than it originally was. While I will do what I can from time to time to upgrade and modernize, it is hoped that a modicum of understanding of the page's ancient (in web terms) history will help the reader to excuse some shortcomings in consistency of approach and/or execution.
• The definition of "medieval," vague enough in Europe and the Middle East, becomes somewhat impractical in other regions of the world--consequently, this page may include items relating back to the ancient world as it seems useful or appropriate.
• Preference is given to pages written by scholarly authors with expert knowledge of their disciplines. Commercial pages will be linked only if they seem academically sound, and this page disclaims any endorsement of commercial activity sponsored by such sites--likewise, of religious or other beliefs that may be advocated by those posting certain pages.
• General encyclopedia articles on many topics can readily be found on Wikipedia, but I would advise students not only that many faculty ban all Wikipedia articles as class project sources, but that some of them are of very poor quality. In any event, they should be used only as a starting point for a general orientation on a topic. I have found that it is often better to follow the additional links posted at the end of a Wikipedia article to find more current and/or specialist information. Under no circumstances should you refer to Yahoo! Answers--they make Wikipedia look awfully good by comparison!
• Library resources are always one's best bet, and searching the databases linked from an academic library will consistently provide reliable, peer-reviewed online as well as paper publications in any field desired. I hope to put more hardcopy bibliographical references on this page and its sub-pages, but that is a large task in fields of study I am not expert in, and so progress on that goal is likely to be gradual.
• There is a good reason that the codex book (the kind with pages stuck together on one side, as opposed to the ancient scroll-type book still seen today in, for example, a Torah) has persisted for over a thousand years: it is the best way to store, read, and refer to any large body of specific information. Anyone who tells you paper books are obsolete does not know what they are talking about; any student who tries to avoid reading them is guaranteeing an inferior education for himself or herself.