Empirical science was practiced as far back as the 16th century. true or false.

This is a true statement. With the Scientific Revolution and the appearance of thinkers such as Newton, Galileo, and others, the idea of using testable, repeatable experiments was brought to the fore. In the past, simply making claims was enough for most, but the Scientific Revolution brought with it the idea that there had to be something that a person could point to as concrete evidence for their claims.