Simplify the following text for a Grade 12 native English-speaking person.
Original: The book had an important influence on the development of optics , as it laid the foundations for modern physical optics after drastically transforming the way in which light and vision had been understood , and on science in general with its introduction of the experimental scientific method .
Simplified: The book had an important influence on the development of optics and on science in general with its introduction of the experimental scientific method .