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

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 stablished, that it cannot be moved” (Psalms 93:1).

"Then spake 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 universe

Frontspiece 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 method

Roger Bacon

Francis Bacon andthe 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