Science in the Midle Ages progressed dramatically from the time of antiquity in areas as diverse as astronomy, medicine, and mathematics. Whereas the ancient cultures of the world (i.e. those prior to the fall of Rome and the dawn of Islam) had developed many of the foundations of science, it was during the Middle Ages that the scientific method was born and science became a formal discipline separate from philosophy. Although there were scientific discoveries throughout the world, the Islamic world around the Mediterranean and China led the early Medieval age in major accomplishments thanks to scholars such as Alhazen and Shen Kuo, while India also made advances in astronomy, mathematics and medicine. From the 12th century onwards, scientists in western Europe began to slowly make good their deficits in comparison to the Chinese and Islamic scientists, a process that would take nearly four hundred years.