The Medieval Period When people think of the Medieval time period, thoughts of the dark ages appear. Many people think this because not many technological advances took place during these times, however the people who think this are greatly mistaken because many scientific breakthroughs did occur during the Medieval time period, including advancements in the fields of both alchemy and optics. These achievements have come to be known as experimental science. Many of these achievements took place in the Middle East. Howard Turner, the author of Science in Medieval Islam, has helped to map out the changes and improvements