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Maybe… Roger Bacon in the 1200's was the first name that came to mind for me; often it is taught he formalized the steps though others had used it previous. Might be that he just got the press. ???There is evidence of "[a]n Egyptian medical textbook, the Edwin Smith papyrus, (circa 1600 BC), applies the following components: examination, diagnosis, treatment and prognosis, to the treatment of disease." --Wikipedia. Others are mentioned too, along with Plato later as well as Aristotle.[edit] And don't forget the Muslims... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_scientific_method#Ibn_al-Haytham [/edit]
Who started this? If I say Aristotle, am I giving him too much credit?
Aristotle was the first to organize his observations into nomenclature and categories. He did this to show causes and effects in hopes of finding patterns to causes. He based his whole philosophical method on categorization and nomenclature. It's not Scientific Method per say, but it was an early step in that direction. Democritus was another Greek who practiced something similar. The Greeks were onto something, but they were using their knowledge for philosophy and metaphysics rather than our concept of science.
