History of science AD 500 - 1499

Marco polo visits Asia 1271-95
Black Death kills 1 in 4 in Europe 1334-51
Columbus lands in the Americas 1492
Avicenna writes The Canon of Medicine-most important medical book for centuries
Alchemy comes to Europe from Arabia where its practice has given rise to first known book on chemistry.
Roger Bacon experiments with lenses and discusses
Spectacles for the longsighted
Leonardo da Vinci makes first observation of capillary action
Chinese observe crab supernovas.
Algebra developed by the Arabs.
Arabs introduce Hindu numerals to Europe

Gunpowder c.1000
Magnetic compass c. 1100
Spectacles c. 1280
First gun c. 1288
Printing press c.1440