Middle Ages (5th-15th Century)

Eric Weisstein's World of Science contains budding encyclopedias of astronomy, scientific biography, chemistry, and physics.

This resource has been assembled over more than a decade by internet encyclopedist Eric W. Weisstein with assistance from the internet community.

Eric Weisstein's World of Science is written and maintained by the author as a public service for scientific knowledge and education. Although it is often difficult to find explanations for technical subjects that are both clear and accessible, this web site bridges the gap by placing an interlinked framework of mathematical exposition and illustrative examples at the fingertips of every internet user.

A general index of topics is provided in the box below. Click the topic of your interest. Users interested in a particular person, place, or topic are also reminded to use the 'Search' or 'Find' function found under 'Edit'.

Eighty percent of the scientists who have ever lived are alive today. More surprisingly, the same statement could have been made one, two, or even three centuries ago. Not only has science been expanding rapidly since the scientific revolution of the seventeenth century, it has emerged as a dominant force in our culture. This suggests why many educators have realized that an understanding of the evolution of science and of its influence on our society is a vital part of education. Study of the history of science provides just such understanding.

This site will provide a concise Developmental History of Spectacles as well as explain all the contributions of people from many nations who were important along the way.

Website Goals:

To educate interested visitors and professionals and stimulate further research

To increase public awareness and thereby nurture a deeper appreciation in general

To complement the other websites which have information on this topic

To attract the newest generation of collectors (who may wish to join the only collectors clubs, the OAICC and the OHS)

To create a forum where scholarly people can have a dynamic exchange of information and ideas

To share images of the finest and most interesting historical items in both private and public collections from around the world

NYPL Digital Gallery provides access to over 275,000 images digitized from primary sources and printed rarities in the collections of The New York Public Library, including illuminated manuscripts, historical maps, vintage posters, rare prints and photographs, illustrated books, printed ephemera, and more.

This site covers

1. Archaic medical terminology
2. Terms that can be difficult to understand from a brief entry in a modern dictionary
3. Descriptions of the more common causes of death in the past
4. A few terms that I thought would be easy to find a definition for, but someone sent a query, so maybe they are difficult after all?
5. Some folk and slang terms
6. Symbols, Abbreviations & Qualifications
7. Some terms that have become everyday language, but have a different meaning or slant when used by doctors or had a different meaning in the past
e.g. Abortion, which has come to mean induced termination of pregnancy, but doctors retain the meaning of a natural but premature ending to pregnancy (miscarriage)
8. Some terms in common use, that many non-medical people do not understand precisely what they mean e.g. Heart Attack, prognosis
9. Terms I have been unable to define, in the hope that someone out there does know
10. I could include eponymous conditions, e.g. if you want a potted biography of Alzheimer then contact me
11. Text in square brackets and bold red type e.g. [ty'sis] is a guide to pronunciation

The United Nations has declared 2001 INTERNATIONAL YEAR OF DIALOGUE AMONG CIVILIZATIONS.

This site is dedicated to increasing awareness of the way modern science grew through the dialogue of civilizations, and the contribution dialogue can make to promoting the growth of science in the future.

Although the dominant view in the past has been that the historical roots of modern science only lie within Europe increasing evidence accumulated over the last fifty years reveals the need for a more dialogical approach to the history of science. Understanding the role played by civilizational dialogue in the growth of modern science would also enable us to take more seriously the emerging realization among many leading thinkers that premodern traditions of science contain reservoirs of knowledge urgently needed to deal with serious problems - like environmental and health concerns -that confront the global community.

the History of Computing Project

Companies that created most of the mile stones in the computing industry
Biographies of computer poioneers and inventors
Timeline of the main events in the history of computing
Hardware developments that made an impact on the development of computers
Software that set a trend in the development of computing
History of Video games

Ancient Medicine/Medicina Antiqua
http://www.ea.pvt.k12.pa.us/medant/
Ancient Medicine/Medicina Antiqua is a publication devoted to Ancient Greek & Roman medicine and medical thought from Mycenaean times until the fall of the Roman Empire.

Archaic Medical Terms
http://www.gpiag-asthma.org/drpsmith/amt1.htm
"This list covers archaic medical terms and some modern terms that have become everyday language, but have a different meaning or slant when used by doctors or had a different meaning in the past... Generally, the definitions given apply to UK usage and UK spelling (I am a doctor in the UK). If more than one definition is given, they are in order from most likely to least likely."

History of the Health Sciences World Wide Web Links

Organizations in the History of the Health Sciences
History of the Health Sciences Libraries and Archives
History of the Health Sciences Educational Programs
Organizations and Museums with History of the Health Sciences Interests
Important Figures in Health Sciences - Their Lives & Works
Databases
Links Pages
Oaths, Prayers and Symbols
For Children
The History of Diseases
Bibliographies/Chronologies/Histories
Listservs
Newsgroups
Journals