One can argue philosophers, or a philosopher, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Francis_Bacon, developed the scientific method. Bacon and Galileo were contemporaries. I don’t know if either influenced the other at all. Maybe they each independently discovered modern science.
Galileo was a first-rate philosopher of science as well as a scientist. He was a contemporary and co-belligerent with Bacon in laying the foundation of modern science. His role as a serious philosopher is often overlooked.
Re:First, Let's Shoot All the Philosophers
by JonnieCache on Sunday July 24, 2011 @03:02PM
(#2800057)
Science evolved directly out of philosophy. Before science was called science, it was referred to as "natural philosophy."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Natural_philosophy
Principia Mathematica's full title is Philosophiæ Naturalis Principia Mathematica
I find there's some important common ground between science and epistemology that can be talked about, though practicing scientists, in practice, never need to tread there.