The section on "when to apply science" seems very disparaging of our predecessors: how does he know that no one tried experiments to prove either of the two ide

The section on "when to apply science" seems very disparaging of our predecessors: how does he know that no one tried experiments to prove either of the two ideas? Both require knowledge of drag (and preferably a vacuum chamber) to perform correctly. Without that understanding, experimental results would probably have "proven" the rational model. Does anyone know when air resitance/drag were discovered? A quick google indicated some time in the 1600s