Muslim scientists placed far greater emphasis on experiment than had the Greeks. This led to an early scientific method being developed in the Muslim world. The most important development of the scientific method was the use of experiments to distinguish between competing scientific theories set within a generally empirical orientation. Ibn al-Haytham is also regarded as the father of optics.
In mathematics, the mathematician Muhammad ibn Musa al-Khwarizmi gave his name to the concept of the algorithm. What is now known as Arabic numerals originally came from India, but Muslim mathematicians did make several refinements to the number system, such as the introduction of decimal point notation. Mathematician Al-Battani (850-929) contributed to astronomy and mathematics, while scholar Al-Razi contributed to chemistry and medicine.
In astronomy, Al-Battani improved the measurements of Hipparchus. Al-Battani also improved the precision of the measurement of the precession of the Earth's axis. Heliocentric theories may have also been discussed by several other Muslim astronomers.
Muslim chemists and alchemists played an important role in the foundation of modern chemistry. Scholars such as Will Durant and Fielding H. Garrison considered Muslim chemists to be the founders of chemistry. The works of Arabic scientists influenced Roger Bacon (who introduced the empirical method to Europe, strongly influenced by his reading of Persians writers)and later Isaac Newton.
Ibn Sina (Avicenna) is regarded as the most influential philosopher of Islam.He pioneered the science of experimental medicine and was the first physician to conduct clinical trials. His two most notable works in medicine are the Kitāb al-shifāʾ ("Book of Healing") and The Canon of Medicine.
Islamic science began its decline in the 12th or 13th century, before the Renaissance in Europe, and due in part to the 11th–13th century Mongol conquests.The end of the Islamic Golden Age is marked by the destruction of the intellectual center of Baghdad, the capital of the Abbasid caliphate in 1258.