Essential Questions

•Why is the Scientific Method so revolutionary in the Scientific Revolution?

•What is Humanism and how does it influence the development of the Scientific Revolution?

What is a revolution?

•A forcible overthrow of a government or social order in favor of a new system.

•Scientific Revolution

Why?

•Renaissance created a rebirth of learning and inspired curiosity.

•Scholars began to question ideas that had been accepted for hundreds of years.

•Reformation made people challenge how they thought about God and salvation.

Geocentric Theory- The earth did not move and was the

center of the universe as the sun and all planets revolved around it.

- Planets move in uniform, circular motion around a central point.

- Planets are composed of a 5th element, the quintessence

- The Cosmos has limits or boundaries

Nicholas Copernicus

- Studied astronomy, astrology, law, and medicine.- Criticized the geocentric theory.

- Put forth his own theory in which the earth and all other planets revolve around the sun. Heliocentric

Theory

“What appear to us as motions of the sun arise not from its motion but from the motion of the earth and our sphere, with which we revolve about the sun like any other planet.”

Imagine that you were alive in the mid 1500’s and have just read Copernicus’s book on astronomy. Write a letter to Copernicus telling him how you feel about his book.

Use what you already know about the Renaissance to decide how you would feel about it, and include if you were part of the Reformation or Counter Reformation to decide how this would impact your response.

Newton