Scientific Revolution. What was it? Changes in the way Europeans thought –Systematic doubt...
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Transcript of Scientific Revolution. What was it? Changes in the way Europeans thought –Systematic doubt...
Scientific Revolution
What was it?
• Changes in the way Europeans thought– Systematic doubt– Empirical, sensory
verification– Abstraction of human
knowledge into separate sciences
– View that world works like a machine
When was it?
• Like the Renaissance, no set beginning date– Newton (1700s)?– Galileo (1600s)?– Da Vinci (1500s)?– Earlier (re-discovery of
Aristotle, in 1200s)?
Why did it happen?• Trade with Islam brought
Europeans the works of Aristotle• Development of Scholasticism
– 1100s-1500s– resolve contradictions beteewn
church, ancients thru Aristotlean deductive logic
• Alchemy (prim. Chemistry)• Humanism
– Introduction of Greek (Plato) classics, to Europe
– Ultimately led to Prot. Reformation
• Da Vinci’s view of universe, which turned Medieval beliefs upside down– Inquisitive, for it’s own sake
Astronomy: The Greeks• Most believed in a Earth
centered (“geocentric”) universe– Look at the stars…
– Cycles!
– Problem w/ geocentric: planets moved in circles, but also moved backwards (precession)
– Problem w/ heliocentric: if Sun at center, Earth moves 1000s of MPH (jump up – where land?)
Precession (Epicycles)
Astronomy: Copernicus (1473-1543)
• In year of his death, published On the Revolutions of the Heavenly Spheres
• Proposed sun centered (“heliocentric”) universe– Theory “fixed” math
problems in geocentric system
– Argued God was in sun (spiritual fix)
Astronomy: Arabic Numbers• Through most of
middle ages, everyone used roman numerals– Hard to do math– Challenge: Addition!
• Arabs used place number system– Advantage: easy to
calculate– And calculate, they did!
Other Astronomers• Tycho Brahe (1546-
1601)– Performed years worth
of stellar observations– Result? Proved
Copernican system right• Johannes Kepler
(1571-1630)– Proved orbits were
elliptical, not circular– His model perfectly
predicted planetary motions
– His book, New Astronomy, inspired Galileo
Galileo Galilei (1564-1642)
• Referred to as the “Father of Modern Astronomy”
• First to use telescope to observe the sky– Mtns on Moon!– 5 moons around Jupiter
• Published findings in The Starry Messenger
• Masterwork: Dialogues on the Two Chief Systems of the World
• Written in style of a conversation, it insisted universe operated along mathematical principles
Galileo and the Church
• Galileo, a professor, taught his students of his findings
• In 1616, Cardinal Roberto Bellarmino personally ordered Galileo NOT to teach the Copernican system; he agreed, and only talked about the hypothesis of heliocentrism
• In 1632, he published “Dialogue Concerning the Two Chief World Systems”, a criticism of the Geocentric model
• In 1632, he was ordered to appear before the Inquisition, accused of heresy
Galileo and the Inquisition• Why did the Church care
about Galileo?– Psalms 93: “the world is
firmly established, it cannot be moved”
– Psalms 104: “the LORD set the earth on its foundations; it can never be moved”
– Ecclesiastes 1: “and the sun rises and sets, and returns to its place”
• In his Dialogues, Galileo personally offended the Pope, a former supporter
Decision of the Inquisition• Galileo was required to recant, or deny, his
heliocentric beliefs; this was considered heretical• Galileo was ordered imprisoned; later, he was
put under house arrest• His “Dialogue” was banned, and any further
writing of his was forbidden
Scientific Method• Francis Bacon (1561-
1626) advocated inductive thinking– Observe natural phenomena– Derive general principles to
explain observations
• His idea led to the formal scientific method– Gather evidence– Collect additional data
through experimentation– Test hypothesis
Isaac Newton (1643-1727)• English physicist, natural
scientist, astronomer, mathematician
• Believed in “clockwork universe”
• 1687 Masterwork = The Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosophy (known as Principia Mathematica)– Universe was mechanistic– Universe explained thru math– Laid out attraction of gravity– Laid out 3 laws of motion
Biology• Antony van
Leeuwenhoek (1632-1723) (“Father of microbiology”)– Use of microscope (up
to 500x!) to examine plants, animals
– Named cells
• Carolus Linnaeus (1707-1778)– Systema Naturae:
catalogued all creatures in a system
Chemistry• While people were discovering
chemical reactions, no one could explain how they worked
• Henry Cavendish: discovered hydrogen
• Joseph Priestley: discovered oxygen
• Europeans began moving away from belief that all matter was made of 4 elements (Fire, Air, Water, Earth)
• Antoine Lavoisier: law of conservation of mass
Electricity
• Stephen Gray, 1729: proved electricity could be transmitted through metal wires
• 1745: Leyden jar (first electrical storage device)
• Ben Franklin, 1749: lightning = electricity
MedicineDissection of human
cadaver by Belgian
physician Andreas
Vesalius (1514-1564)
• Dissections led to investigation of body– Anatomy– Circulation of blood– Inoculation– Vaccination
• Proposal that body was a natural system, followed predictable and rational ways
• Man was mechanistic!
The End
Newton’s apple tree