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Fantasy and the germ theory
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When developing a medival fantasy realm, especially one with limited magic, one may need to develop the people's understanding of science and medicine. A unique example of this is in Patrick Rothufuss's "A Wise Man's fear", where someone from an altruistic organization called the Amyr performed human experiments for the purpose of collecting data that aided in saving many human lives in the future, despite the hundreds of tortured human lives that were sacrificed to produced such data.
My question is how can I develop a people's understanding of the germ theory as early as the middle ages, even if only the rich and educated get exposed to such knowledge?
biology science medicine
edited 9 mins ago
Renan
37.8k1186191
asked 6 hours ago
Austin Trigloff
168110
New contributor
Austin Trigloff is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.
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up vote
1
down vote
favorite
When developing a medival fantasy realm, especially one with limited magic, one may need to develop the people's understanding of science and medicine. A unique example of this is in Patrick Rothufuss's "A Wise Man's fear", where someone from an altruistic organization called the Amyr performed human experiments for the purpose of collecting data that aided in saving many human lives in the future, despite the hundreds of tortured human lives that were sacrificed to produced such data.
My question is how can I develop a people's understanding of the germ theory as early as the middle ages, even if only the rich and educated get exposed to such knowledge?
biology science medicine
edited 9 mins ago
Renan
37.8k1186191
asked 6 hours ago
Austin Trigloff
168110
New contributor
Austin Trigloff is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.
add a comment |Â
up vote
1
down vote
favorite
up vote
1
down vote
favorite
When developing a medival fantasy realm, especially one with limited magic, one may need to develop the people's understanding of science and medicine. A unique example of this is in Patrick Rothufuss's "A Wise Man's fear", where someone from an altruistic organization called the Amyr performed human experiments for the purpose of collecting data that aided in saving many human lives in the future, despite the hundreds of tortured human lives that were sacrificed to produced such data.
My question is how can I develop a people's understanding of the germ theory as early as the middle ages, even if only the rich and educated get exposed to such knowledge?
biology science medicine
edited 9 mins ago
Renan
37.8k1186191
asked 6 hours ago
Austin Trigloff
168110
New contributor
Austin Trigloff is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.
When developing a medival fantasy realm, especially one with limited magic, one may need to develop the people's understanding of science and medicine. A unique example of this is in Patrick Rothufuss's "A Wise Man's fear", where someone from an altruistic organization called the Amyr performed human experiments for the purpose of collecting data that aided in saving many human lives in the future, despite the hundreds of tortured human lives that were sacrificed to produced such data.
My question is how can I develop a people's understanding of the germ theory as early as the middle ages, even if only the rich and educated get exposed to such knowledge?
biology science medicine
biology science medicine
edited 9 mins ago
Renan
37.8k1186191
asked 6 hours ago
Austin Trigloff
168110
New contributor
Austin Trigloff is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.
edited 9 mins ago
Renan
37.8k1186191
asked 6 hours ago
Austin Trigloff
168110
New contributor
Austin Trigloff is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.
edited 9 mins ago
Renan
37.8k1186191
edited 9 mins ago
Renan
37.8k1186191
edited 9 mins ago
Renan
37.8k1186191
37.8k1186191
asked 6 hours ago
Austin Trigloff
168110
New contributor
Austin Trigloff is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.
asked 6 hours ago
Austin Trigloff
168110
asked 6 hours ago
Austin Trigloff
168110
168110
New contributor
Austin Trigloff is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.
New contributor
Austin Trigloff is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.
Austin Trigloff is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.
add a comment |Â
add a comment |Â
3 Answers
3
active
oldest
votes
up vote
5
down vote
We already had it and ignored it
There was a Greek general Thucydides from the 5th Century BC (no relation to our fellow resident answerer as I understand it) who first postulated the theory of contamination being spread by 'Seeds', or small objects invisible to the eye.
We ignored this in any serious scientific way, preferring the idea that deities and potentially their familiars (think cats during the Black Death) were responsible. It wasn't until Louis Pasteur that we really started to resurrect this idea as a serious scientific line of enquiry.
In many ways, this is similar to the Ionians who in the 13th century BC (or thereabouts) first articulated that the earth orbited the sun as part of a solar system before that idea disappearing for over 3 millennia.
The best possible way to enable the idea of germs during medieval times is to have taken Thucydides' observation and handed it to real Greek scientists to explore and develop as part of their research pursuits. If we didn't lose it in the first place, perhaps the dark ages wouldn't have been so... well, dark.
Just saying.
answered 6 hours ago
Tim B II
22.6k64997
Damn, we are a very ignorant race. Fascinating.
– Austin Trigloff
6 hours ago
3
The Greeks came up with a lot of pet theories (they also postulated the existence of atoms, and "atom" itself comes from a Greek term), but they had absolutely no way of proving or disproving them. It's easy for us to say that this theory was correct in hindsight, but far harder for anyone in that time to have real evidence.
– Cadence
6 hours ago
@AustinTrigloff - Ignorant race in contrary to?
– Battle
2 hours ago
Just in general. Sometimes I wonder what achievements we could've made by now if we all paid attention to important discoveries as soon as they were made. I once heard that the western Roman Empire was once in the brink of utilizing stream powered technology, before they fell apart
– Austin Trigloff
2 hours ago
@Battle You mean in comparison to, as in contrary to is a topsy-turvy way of looking at it.
– a4android
12 mins ago
add a comment |Â
up vote
2
down vote
In a rudimentary way, people already knew. More precisely, they observed that many illnesses would transfer to another person when they got in contact with an ill person, but they didn't understand why.
This led to very different ideas like
An illness is a punishment from God. Those who conspire with afflicted people deserve to be punished (infected) as well.
An illness is caused by bad smells (Malaria literally means "bad air"). This led to people avoiding the manure in their cities and using good-smelling herbs as medicine. They got the cause wrong, but the result was right in most cases.
People observed that most illnesses spread through close contact between ill and healthy people. In times of highly infectious epidemics they build quarantaines to seperate ill people from the general public.
They had a twisted understanding of cleanliness. It was thought that changing your underwear (a long garment like a night gown) at least once a day (twice a day for infants) was the definition of "clean". They neglected personal hygiene like washing their hands and faces with soap, which evidently lowers the risk of contagion.
answered 6 hours ago
Elmy
7,2171932
add a comment |Â
up vote
2
down vote
The Middle Ages is normally said to be between the 5th and 15th centuries (so 400-1400 AD).
Germ Theory was first proposed in 1546 (!), close to the Middle Ages. It's not clear if Girolamo Fracastoro meant cells and bacteria as we know it today, but the core idea is there.
So you really have little to do beyond making influential figures of the period (e.g. A King or two) become convinced it's the right theory and back it. Perhaps another person or your character who proposes the idea is fortunate to have a powerful patron who lets them, e.g. try out improvements in basic hygiene and something as simple as masks and gloves when dealing with blood injuries or similar systematic approaches to dealing with illness. Perhaps the results impress the powerful patron and leads to wider publication and more widespread use. And in time to an early development of the theory and it's applications.
The compound microscope was invented sometime around 1590. Again just outside the Middle Ages. The combination of these two inventions in the right hands and with the right patron would be enough to get things going well. Probably this can be reasonably be made to happen a little earlier (say 1400). The microscope is important as it lets you see something to attach a theory to. "Have a look at this, Oh Wealthy Patron" works a lot better than "I have this wild idea, Oh Great One". It won't prove germ theory, but it will help advance the idea.
A King or Emperor who has a great interest and belief in sciences would be very useful. A King whose heir also has that interest would be better. Science needs money, lots and lots of money. :-)
As an aside you need to explore how science was done in the Middle Ages to get a feel for the way it would happen.
answered 6 hours ago
StephenG
11.5k51746
add a comment |Â
3 Answers
3
active
oldest
votes
3 Answers
3
active
oldest
votes
active
oldest
votes
active
oldest
votes
up vote
5
down vote
We already had it and ignored it
There was a Greek general Thucydides from the 5th Century BC (no relation to our fellow resident answerer as I understand it) who first postulated the theory of contamination being spread by 'Seeds', or small objects invisible to the eye.
We ignored this in any serious scientific way, preferring the idea that deities and potentially their familiars (think cats during the Black Death) were responsible. It wasn't until Louis Pasteur that we really started to resurrect this idea as a serious scientific line of enquiry.
In many ways, this is similar to the Ionians who in the 13th century BC (or thereabouts) first articulated that the earth orbited the sun as part of a solar system before that idea disappearing for over 3 millennia.
The best possible way to enable the idea of germs during medieval times is to have taken Thucydides' observation and handed it to real Greek scientists to explore and develop as part of their research pursuits. If we didn't lose it in the first place, perhaps the dark ages wouldn't have been so... well, dark.
Just saying.
answered 6 hours ago
Tim B II
22.6k64997
Damn, we are a very ignorant race. Fascinating.
– Austin Trigloff
6 hours ago
3
The Greeks came up with a lot of pet theories (they also postulated the existence of atoms, and "atom" itself comes from a Greek term), but they had absolutely no way of proving or disproving them. It's easy for us to say that this theory was correct in hindsight, but far harder for anyone in that time to have real evidence.
– Cadence
6 hours ago
@AustinTrigloff - Ignorant race in contrary to?
– Battle
2 hours ago
Just in general. Sometimes I wonder what achievements we could've made by now if we all paid attention to important discoveries as soon as they were made. I once heard that the western Roman Empire was once in the brink of utilizing stream powered technology, before they fell apart
– Austin Trigloff
2 hours ago
@Battle You mean in comparison to, as in contrary to is a topsy-turvy way of looking at it.
– a4android
12 mins ago
add a comment |Â
up vote
5
down vote
We already had it and ignored it
There was a Greek general Thucydides from the 5th Century BC (no relation to our fellow resident answerer as I understand it) who first postulated the theory of contamination being spread by 'Seeds', or small objects invisible to the eye.
We ignored this in any serious scientific way, preferring the idea that deities and potentially their familiars (think cats during the Black Death) were responsible. It wasn't until Louis Pasteur that we really started to resurrect this idea as a serious scientific line of enquiry.
In many ways, this is similar to the Ionians who in the 13th century BC (or thereabouts) first articulated that the earth orbited the sun as part of a solar system before that idea disappearing for over 3 millennia.
The best possible way to enable the idea of germs during medieval times is to have taken Thucydides' observation and handed it to real Greek scientists to explore and develop as part of their research pursuits. If we didn't lose it in the first place, perhaps the dark ages wouldn't have been so... well, dark.
Just saying.
answered 6 hours ago
Tim B II
22.6k64997
Damn, we are a very ignorant race. Fascinating.
– Austin Trigloff
6 hours ago
3
The Greeks came up with a lot of pet theories (they also postulated the existence of atoms, and "atom" itself comes from a Greek term), but they had absolutely no way of proving or disproving them. It's easy for us to say that this theory was correct in hindsight, but far harder for anyone in that time to have real evidence.
– Cadence
6 hours ago
@AustinTrigloff - Ignorant race in contrary to?
– Battle
2 hours ago
Just in general. Sometimes I wonder what achievements we could've made by now if we all paid attention to important discoveries as soon as they were made. I once heard that the western Roman Empire was once in the brink of utilizing stream powered technology, before they fell apart
– Austin Trigloff
2 hours ago
@Battle You mean in comparison to, as in contrary to is a topsy-turvy way of looking at it.
– a4android
12 mins ago
add a comment |Â
up vote
5
down vote
up vote
5
down vote
We already had it and ignored it
There was a Greek general Thucydides from the 5th Century BC (no relation to our fellow resident answerer as I understand it) who first postulated the theory of contamination being spread by 'Seeds', or small objects invisible to the eye.
We ignored this in any serious scientific way, preferring the idea that deities and potentially their familiars (think cats during the Black Death) were responsible. It wasn't until Louis Pasteur that we really started to resurrect this idea as a serious scientific line of enquiry.
In many ways, this is similar to the Ionians who in the 13th century BC (or thereabouts) first articulated that the earth orbited the sun as part of a solar system before that idea disappearing for over 3 millennia.
The best possible way to enable the idea of germs during medieval times is to have taken Thucydides' observation and handed it to real Greek scientists to explore and develop as part of their research pursuits. If we didn't lose it in the first place, perhaps the dark ages wouldn't have been so... well, dark.
Just saying.
answered 6 hours ago
Tim B II
22.6k64997
We already had it and ignored it
There was a Greek general Thucydides from the 5th Century BC (no relation to our fellow resident answerer as I understand it) who first postulated the theory of contamination being spread by 'Seeds', or small objects invisible to the eye.
We ignored this in any serious scientific way, preferring the idea that deities and potentially their familiars (think cats during the Black Death) were responsible. It wasn't until Louis Pasteur that we really started to resurrect this idea as a serious scientific line of enquiry.
In many ways, this is similar to the Ionians who in the 13th century BC (or thereabouts) first articulated that the earth orbited the sun as part of a solar system before that idea disappearing for over 3 millennia.
The best possible way to enable the idea of germs during medieval times is to have taken Thucydides' observation and handed it to real Greek scientists to explore and develop as part of their research pursuits. If we didn't lose it in the first place, perhaps the dark ages wouldn't have been so... well, dark.
Just saying.
answered 6 hours ago
Tim B II
22.6k64997
answered 6 hours ago
Tim B II
22.6k64997
answered 6 hours ago
Tim B II
22.6k64997
answered 6 hours ago
Tim B II
22.6k64997
22.6k64997
Damn, we are a very ignorant race. Fascinating.
– Austin Trigloff
6 hours ago
3
The Greeks came up with a lot of pet theories (they also postulated the existence of atoms, and "atom" itself comes from a Greek term), but they had absolutely no way of proving or disproving them. It's easy for us to say that this theory was correct in hindsight, but far harder for anyone in that time to have real evidence.
– Cadence
6 hours ago
@AustinTrigloff - Ignorant race in contrary to?
– Battle
2 hours ago
Just in general. Sometimes I wonder what achievements we could've made by now if we all paid attention to important discoveries as soon as they were made. I once heard that the western Roman Empire was once in the brink of utilizing stream powered technology, before they fell apart
– Austin Trigloff
2 hours ago
@Battle You mean in comparison to, as in contrary to is a topsy-turvy way of looking at it.
– a4android
12 mins ago
add a comment |Â
Damn, we are a very ignorant race. Fascinating.
– Austin Trigloff
6 hours ago
3
The Greeks came up with a lot of pet theories (they also postulated the existence of atoms, and "atom" itself comes from a Greek term), but they had absolutely no way of proving or disproving them. It's easy for us to say that this theory was correct in hindsight, but far harder for anyone in that time to have real evidence.
– Cadence
6 hours ago
@AustinTrigloff - Ignorant race in contrary to?
– Battle
2 hours ago
Just in general. Sometimes I wonder what achievements we could've made by now if we all paid attention to important discoveries as soon as they were made. I once heard that the western Roman Empire was once in the brink of utilizing stream powered technology, before they fell apart
– Austin Trigloff
2 hours ago
@Battle You mean in comparison to, as in contrary to is a topsy-turvy way of looking at it.
– a4android
12 mins ago
Damn, we are a very ignorant race. Fascinating.
– Austin Trigloff
6 hours ago
Damn, we are a very ignorant race. Fascinating.
– Austin Trigloff
6 hours ago
3
3
The Greeks came up with a lot of pet theories (they also postulated the existence of atoms, and "atom" itself comes from a Greek term), but they had absolutely no way of proving or disproving them. It's easy for us to say that this theory was correct in hindsight, but far harder for anyone in that time to have real evidence.
– Cadence
6 hours ago
The Greeks came up with a lot of pet theories (they also postulated the existence of atoms, and "atom" itself comes from a Greek term), but they had absolutely no way of proving or disproving them. It's easy for us to say that this theory was correct in hindsight, but far harder for anyone in that time to have real evidence.
– Cadence
6 hours ago
@AustinTrigloff - Ignorant race in contrary to?
– Battle
2 hours ago
@AustinTrigloff - Ignorant race in contrary to?
– Battle
2 hours ago
Just in general. Sometimes I wonder what achievements we could've made by now if we all paid attention to important discoveries as soon as they were made. I once heard that the western Roman Empire was once in the brink of utilizing stream powered technology, before they fell apart
– Austin Trigloff
2 hours ago
Just in general. Sometimes I wonder what achievements we could've made by now if we all paid attention to important discoveries as soon as they were made. I once heard that the western Roman Empire was once in the brink of utilizing stream powered technology, before they fell apart
– Austin Trigloff
2 hours ago
@Battle You mean in comparison to, as in contrary to is a topsy-turvy way of looking at it.
– a4android
12 mins ago
@Battle You mean in comparison to, as in contrary to is a topsy-turvy way of looking at it.
– a4android
12 mins ago
add a comment |Â
up vote
2
down vote
In a rudimentary way, people already knew. More precisely, they observed that many illnesses would transfer to another person when they got in contact with an ill person, but they didn't understand why.
This led to very different ideas like
An illness is a punishment from God. Those who conspire with afflicted people deserve to be punished (infected) as well.
An illness is caused by bad smells (Malaria literally means "bad air"). This led to people avoiding the manure in their cities and using good-smelling herbs as medicine. They got the cause wrong, but the result was right in most cases.
People observed that most illnesses spread through close contact between ill and healthy people. In times of highly infectious epidemics they build quarantaines to seperate ill people from the general public.
They had a twisted understanding of cleanliness. It was thought that changing your underwear (a long garment like a night gown) at least once a day (twice a day for infants) was the definition of "clean". They neglected personal hygiene like washing their hands and faces with soap, which evidently lowers the risk of contagion.
answered 6 hours ago
Elmy
7,2171932
add a comment |Â
up vote
2
down vote
In a rudimentary way, people already knew. More precisely, they observed that many illnesses would transfer to another person when they got in contact with an ill person, but they didn't understand why.
This led to very different ideas like
An illness is a punishment from God. Those who conspire with afflicted people deserve to be punished (infected) as well.
An illness is caused by bad smells (Malaria literally means "bad air"). This led to people avoiding the manure in their cities and using good-smelling herbs as medicine. They got the cause wrong, but the result was right in most cases.
People observed that most illnesses spread through close contact between ill and healthy people. In times of highly infectious epidemics they build quarantaines to seperate ill people from the general public.
They had a twisted understanding of cleanliness. It was thought that changing your underwear (a long garment like a night gown) at least once a day (twice a day for infants) was the definition of "clean". They neglected personal hygiene like washing their hands and faces with soap, which evidently lowers the risk of contagion.
answered 6 hours ago
Elmy
7,2171932
add a comment |Â
up vote
2
down vote
up vote
2
down vote
In a rudimentary way, people already knew. More precisely, they observed that many illnesses would transfer to another person when they got in contact with an ill person, but they didn't understand why.
This led to very different ideas like
An illness is a punishment from God. Those who conspire with afflicted people deserve to be punished (infected) as well.
An illness is caused by bad smells (Malaria literally means "bad air"). This led to people avoiding the manure in their cities and using good-smelling herbs as medicine. They got the cause wrong, but the result was right in most cases.
People observed that most illnesses spread through close contact between ill and healthy people. In times of highly infectious epidemics they build quarantaines to seperate ill people from the general public.
They had a twisted understanding of cleanliness. It was thought that changing your underwear (a long garment like a night gown) at least once a day (twice a day for infants) was the definition of "clean". They neglected personal hygiene like washing their hands and faces with soap, which evidently lowers the risk of contagion.
answered 6 hours ago
Elmy
7,2171932
In a rudimentary way, people already knew. More precisely, they observed that many illnesses would transfer to another person when they got in contact with an ill person, but they didn't understand why.
This led to very different ideas like
An illness is a punishment from God. Those who conspire with afflicted people deserve to be punished (infected) as well.
An illness is caused by bad smells (Malaria literally means "bad air"). This led to people avoiding the manure in their cities and using good-smelling herbs as medicine. They got the cause wrong, but the result was right in most cases.
People observed that most illnesses spread through close contact between ill and healthy people. In times of highly infectious epidemics they build quarantaines to seperate ill people from the general public.
They had a twisted understanding of cleanliness. It was thought that changing your underwear (a long garment like a night gown) at least once a day (twice a day for infants) was the definition of "clean". They neglected personal hygiene like washing their hands and faces with soap, which evidently lowers the risk of contagion.
answered 6 hours ago
Elmy
7,2171932
answered 6 hours ago
Elmy
7,2171932
answered 6 hours ago
Elmy
7,2171932
answered 6 hours ago
Elmy
7,2171932
7,2171932
add a comment |Â
add a comment |Â
up vote
2
down vote
The Middle Ages is normally said to be between the 5th and 15th centuries (so 400-1400 AD).
Germ Theory was first proposed in 1546 (!), close to the Middle Ages. It's not clear if Girolamo Fracastoro meant cells and bacteria as we know it today, but the core idea is there.
So you really have little to do beyond making influential figures of the period (e.g. A King or two) become convinced it's the right theory and back it. Perhaps another person or your character who proposes the idea is fortunate to have a powerful patron who lets them, e.g. try out improvements in basic hygiene and something as simple as masks and gloves when dealing with blood injuries or similar systematic approaches to dealing with illness. Perhaps the results impress the powerful patron and leads to wider publication and more widespread use. And in time to an early development of the theory and it's applications.
The compound microscope was invented sometime around 1590. Again just outside the Middle Ages. The combination of these two inventions in the right hands and with the right patron would be enough to get things going well. Probably this can be reasonably be made to happen a little earlier (say 1400). The microscope is important as it lets you see something to attach a theory to. "Have a look at this, Oh Wealthy Patron" works a lot better than "I have this wild idea, Oh Great One". It won't prove germ theory, but it will help advance the idea.
A King or Emperor who has a great interest and belief in sciences would be very useful. A King whose heir also has that interest would be better. Science needs money, lots and lots of money. :-)
As an aside you need to explore how science was done in the Middle Ages to get a feel for the way it would happen.
answered 6 hours ago
StephenG
11.5k51746
add a comment |Â
up vote
2
down vote
The Middle Ages is normally said to be between the 5th and 15th centuries (so 400-1400 AD).
Germ Theory was first proposed in 1546 (!), close to the Middle Ages. It's not clear if Girolamo Fracastoro meant cells and bacteria as we know it today, but the core idea is there.
So you really have little to do beyond making influential figures of the period (e.g. A King or two) become convinced it's the right theory and back it. Perhaps another person or your character who proposes the idea is fortunate to have a powerful patron who lets them, e.g. try out improvements in basic hygiene and something as simple as masks and gloves when dealing with blood injuries or similar systematic approaches to dealing with illness. Perhaps the results impress the powerful patron and leads to wider publication and more widespread use. And in time to an early development of the theory and it's applications.
The compound microscope was invented sometime around 1590. Again just outside the Middle Ages. The combination of these two inventions in the right hands and with the right patron would be enough to get things going well. Probably this can be reasonably be made to happen a little earlier (say 1400). The microscope is important as it lets you see something to attach a theory to. "Have a look at this, Oh Wealthy Patron" works a lot better than "I have this wild idea, Oh Great One". It won't prove germ theory, but it will help advance the idea.
A King or Emperor who has a great interest and belief in sciences would be very useful. A King whose heir also has that interest would be better. Science needs money, lots and lots of money. :-)
As an aside you need to explore how science was done in the Middle Ages to get a feel for the way it would happen.
answered 6 hours ago
StephenG
11.5k51746
add a comment |Â
up vote
2
down vote
up vote
2
down vote
The Middle Ages is normally said to be between the 5th and 15th centuries (so 400-1400 AD).
Germ Theory was first proposed in 1546 (!), close to the Middle Ages. It's not clear if Girolamo Fracastoro meant cells and bacteria as we know it today, but the core idea is there.
So you really have little to do beyond making influential figures of the period (e.g. A King or two) become convinced it's the right theory and back it. Perhaps another person or your character who proposes the idea is fortunate to have a powerful patron who lets them, e.g. try out improvements in basic hygiene and something as simple as masks and gloves when dealing with blood injuries or similar systematic approaches to dealing with illness. Perhaps the results impress the powerful patron and leads to wider publication and more widespread use. And in time to an early development of the theory and it's applications.
The compound microscope was invented sometime around 1590. Again just outside the Middle Ages. The combination of these two inventions in the right hands and with the right patron would be enough to get things going well. Probably this can be reasonably be made to happen a little earlier (say 1400). The microscope is important as it lets you see something to attach a theory to. "Have a look at this, Oh Wealthy Patron" works a lot better than "I have this wild idea, Oh Great One". It won't prove germ theory, but it will help advance the idea.
A King or Emperor who has a great interest and belief in sciences would be very useful. A King whose heir also has that interest would be better. Science needs money, lots and lots of money. :-)
As an aside you need to explore how science was done in the Middle Ages to get a feel for the way it would happen.
answered 6 hours ago
StephenG
11.5k51746
The Middle Ages is normally said to be between the 5th and 15th centuries (so 400-1400 AD).
Germ Theory was first proposed in 1546 (!), close to the Middle Ages. It's not clear if Girolamo Fracastoro meant cells and bacteria as we know it today, but the core idea is there.
So you really have little to do beyond making influential figures of the period (e.g. A King or two) become convinced it's the right theory and back it. Perhaps another person or your character who proposes the idea is fortunate to have a powerful patron who lets them, e.g. try out improvements in basic hygiene and something as simple as masks and gloves when dealing with blood injuries or similar systematic approaches to dealing with illness. Perhaps the results impress the powerful patron and leads to wider publication and more widespread use. And in time to an early development of the theory and it's applications.
The compound microscope was invented sometime around 1590. Again just outside the Middle Ages. The combination of these two inventions in the right hands and with the right patron would be enough to get things going well. Probably this can be reasonably be made to happen a little earlier (say 1400). The microscope is important as it lets you see something to attach a theory to. "Have a look at this, Oh Wealthy Patron" works a lot better than "I have this wild idea, Oh Great One". It won't prove germ theory, but it will help advance the idea.
A King or Emperor who has a great interest and belief in sciences would be very useful. A King whose heir also has that interest would be better. Science needs money, lots and lots of money. :-)
As an aside you need to explore how science was done in the Middle Ages to get a feel for the way it would happen.
answered 6 hours ago
StephenG
11.5k51746
answered 6 hours ago
StephenG
11.5k51746
answered 6 hours ago
StephenG
11.5k51746
answered 6 hours ago
StephenG
11.5k51746
11.5k51746
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