The scientific method (as we know it today) did not exist 500 years ago. The "theory" you refer to were either philosophical musings (ex Aristotle's celestial circles) or nonsense like alchemy and astrology which had not stood up to the rigors of hypothesis driven "science" - repeated cycles of experimentation and observation. While the technology has vastly improved the scientific method has basically remained the same since Bacon.
Unlike religion, science is every-changing.
Gosh you don't really want to go there do you? ;-)
Utter nonsense.
The scientific method (Observe/Hypothesize/Conclude) was developed by the Greeks like 2200 years ago. The current scientific method (Observe/Hypothesize/Experiment/Conclude) was developed (credited to Redi) in 1600 which is pretty close to 500 years ago.