The

Scientific

Revolution:

She Blinded

Me With

Science…

What Was the Scientific

Revolution?

• A revolution in human understanding

and knowledge about the physical

universe

• 17th century

“Science” Before

the Scientific Revolution

• Based almost entirely on reasoning

• Experimental method or observation wasn’t used at all

• Science in medieval times

• Alchemy

• Astrology

• Aristotle

• The Bible A medieval alchemist

Aristotle 4th

Century BCE

Factors Leading to

the Scientific Revolution

• Rise of universities

• Contact with non-

Western societies

• The Renaissance

• The Reformation

• Exploration

Roots of Scientific Thought:

Ptolemy

• 2nd century CE Greek

astronomer,

mathematician, and

geographer

• Geocentric (earth-

centered) model of the

universe

• Motion of the planets

The Bible and Science

• the world also is established, that it cannot be

moved” (Psalms 93:1).

"Then spoke Joshua to the Lord in the day when the

Lord delivered up the Amorites before the children

of Israel, and he said in the sight of Israel, Sun,

stand thou still upon Gibeon" (Joshua 10:12). If the

Sun had already been standing still, Joshua should

have ordered the cessation of the Earth's diurnal

motion in order to get more time for slaughtering

Amorites.

Nicholas Copernicus (1473–1543)

• Polish astronomer

and

mathematician

• Concerning the

Revolutions of the

Celestial Spheres

(1543)

Models of the Universe:

Geocentric vs. Heliocentric Geocentric: the Earth is at

the center of the universe; all

heavenly bodies move

around the Earth

Heliocentric: the Sun is at

the center of the universe; all

heavenly bodies move

around the Sun—including

the Earth

Luther

• There is talk of a new astrologer who wants to prove that the earth moves and goes round instead of the sky, sun and moon, just as if somebody moving in a carriage or ship might hold that he was sitting still and at rest while the earth and trees walked and moved. But that is how things are nowadays: when a man wishes to be clever he must needs invent something special, and the way he does it must needs be the best! That fool wants to turn the whole art of astronomy upside-down. However, as Holy Scripture tells us, so did Joshua bid the sun to stand still and not the earth"

• Martin Luther, Table Talk, on Copernicus.

Tycho Brahe (1546–1601)

• Danish astronomer

• Amassed accurate astronomical data

• Theorized a system distinct from both the Ptolemaic and Copernican ones

• Argued that the Moon and Sun revolve around the Earth while other planets revolve around the Sun

Johannes Kepler (1571–1630)

• German astronomer and

mathematician

• Didn’t agree with Tycho’s

interpretation of data

• Disagreed with Copernicus,

claiming that other bodies

moved in elliptical motion,

as opposed to circular

motions

• Theorized three laws

Kepler’s Three Laws of

Planetary Motion• Law of Ellipses: Planets

orbit the sun in elliptical patterns

• Law of Equal Areas: The speed of planetary motion changes constantly depending on the distance from the Sun

• Law of Harmonies: Compares the movement of all the planets, claiming a similarity in their motion

Galileo Galilei (1564–1642)• Italian mathematician,

astronomer

• “Father of Science”

• Telescopes and astronomical discoveries

• Theory of falling objects; disproved Aristotle

Galileo’s

telescopic

drawing of

the moon

New Invention: The Telescope

• Invented in

the

Netherlands

• Galileo

• Newton

Illustration of

Galileo at his

telescope

Dialogue on the Two Chief

Systems of the World

• Galileo’s major

work

• Written in 1632

• Argued in favor

of the heliocentric

model of the

universeFrontspiece

from the

Dialogue; from

left to right, the

figures shown

are Aristotle,

Ptolemy, and

Copernicus

Galileo vs. the Catholic Church

• The church

condemned

heliocentric

conceptions of

the universe

• The Roman

Inquisition

• Galileo’s trial

• Galileo recants,

put under house

arrest

19th-century depiction of Galileo before the Inquisition tribunal

Sir Isaac Newton (1642–1727)

• English astronomer,

physicist, and mathematician

• Synthesized the works of

Copernicus, Kepler and

Galileo

• The Principia

Newton’s Laws of Motion

• First Law: Law of Inertia

• Second Law: Fundamental Law of Dynamics

• Third Law: Law of Reciprocal Actions

Rationalism

• Reason, not tradition, is the

source of all knowledge

• René Descartes (1596–1650)

• French philosopher and

mathematician

• Cogito ergo sum (“I think,

therefore, I am”)

• Deductive reasoning

René Descartes

Empiricism

• The belief that experience is

the only true source of

knowledge

• Roger Bacon

• Shift toward empiricism a

hallmark of the Scientific

Revolution

• Helped lead to the

development of the

scientific methodRoger Bacon

Francis Bacon and

the Scientific Method

• 1561–1626

• English philosopher and

empiricist

• Inductive reasoning

• Argued for experimental

methodology

The Scientific Method

Science as a multiple-step process:

3. Test the

theory with

experiments

2. Develop a

theory that

explains the

object or

phenomenon

1. Observe an

object or

phenomenon

Medicine Before

the Scientific Revolution

• Based on

tradition

• The ChurchIllustration

depicting a

bloodletting,

an accepted

medical

procedure

before the

Scientific

Revolution

Ancient Medicine:

Galen (131–201 CE)

• Greek physician

• On the Elements According

to Hippocrates

• “Bodily humours”

• Two types of blood

• On the Use of the Parts of

the Body

Medieval Medicine:

The Catholic Church

• Provided for care of

the poor and the sick

• Minor clerics took

on physician-like

roles

• Eventually,

university-trained

physicians displaced

clerical physiciansClerics treat a royal patient with leeches

Andreas Vesalius (1514–1564)

• Belgian anatomist

• On the Fabric of the Human

Body

• Corrected many of Galen’s

errors

William Harvey (1578–1657)

• English physician

• On the Movement of the

Heart and Blood in

Animals

• Described the functioning

of the heart and

circulatory system

• Disproved Galen’s

theories

Chemistry

Robert Boyle (1627–1691)

Antoine Lavoisier

(1743–1794)

Joseph Priestley (1733–

1804)

Carolus Linnaeus (1707–1778)

• Swedish botanist

• Classification and

naming of flora

and fauna

Jean-Baptiste Lamarck

(1744–1829)

• French biologist

• Early theory of evolution

• Philosophie Zoologique

• Lamarck’s “laws”

Mathematics

• Math symbols for addition, subtraction, multiplication and

division

• Analytical geometry: Descartes

• Calculus: Newton

+-

New Invention: The Telescope

• Invented in the

Netherlands

• Galileo

• Newton

Illustration of

Galileo at his

telescope

New Invention: The Microscope

• Hans Janssen

• Anton Van Leeuwenhoek

• Robert Hooke

A Janssen microscope, c.1600Hooke’s drawing of a flea

(from Micrographia)

New Invention:

The Pendulum Clock

• Invented by Christiaan

Huygens, a 17th-century

Dutch scientist

• Allowed scientists to more

accurately measure time

Huygens’s design for a pendulum clock

New Invention: Barometer

• Invented by 17th-century

Italian physicist Evangelista

Torricelli

• The barometer measures air

pressure

Torricelli’s barometer experiment

New Invention: Thermometer

• Invented in the

17th century by

Santorio

Santorio, an

Italian scientist

• Ferdinand II

• Gabriel

Fahrenheit

• Anders Celsius

Illustration depicting

Santorio’s thermometer

Santorio Santorio

New Invention:

Mechanical Calculator

• Invented by

Wilhelm

Schickard, a

17th-century

German

inventor

• Gottfried

von

Leibniz’s

“Step

Reckoner”Wilhelm Schickard

A 1624 sketch Schickard made

of his calculator

The Significance of

the Scientific Revolution

• Abandonment of ancient and medieval systems

• Development of the scientific method

• The Enlightenment