Download Unit: Rise of Modern Europe Topic: The Scientific Revolution

The Scientific Revolution
Truth?
In the Middle Ages,
scholars decided
truth based on the
Bible or from
Greek or Roman
texts.
In the Renaissance,
people questioned
how the universe
worked.
This caused the
Scientific
Revolution.
1. Nicolaus Copernicus
1500’s
Polish
Astronomy
Heliocentric
theory – the
earth and
planets revolve
around the sun!
Until this time, scholars believed in the
geocentric theory, that everything in the
universe revolved around the earth.
 Copernicus’
theory still
didn’t explain
why the planets
orbited the way
they did.
 Fearing ridicule
or persecution,
Copernicus did
not publish his
findings until
1543, the year
he died.
2. Johannes Kepler
Late 1500’s
German
Math and astronomy
Calculated the orbits
of the planets
(elliptical)
3. Galileo Galilei
1609-1642
Italian
Scientist &
astronomer
Invented the
telescope
In Italy, Galileo
confirmed
Copernicus’
heliocentric
theory through
the use of his
telescope.
The Catholic Church warned Galileo, but in 1632 he
published a heliocentric book!
The pope called Galileo to Rome to stand trial.
Under the threat of torture and excommunication,
Galileo knelt before the cardinals and read a
confession that the heliocentric theory was false.
 Galileo was
never again a
free man,
living under
house arrest
and dying in
1642 in
Florence.
 His books and
ideas still
spread
throughout
Europe.
4. Isaac Newton
1687- published
book
English
Physicist
Developed the law
of gravity & laws of
motion
What does an apple have to do
with gravity? Ac-cording to
George Stukeley, Newton’s
biographer and friend,
Newton was sitting in the
shade of an apple tree when
an apple fell nearby. Newton
began to wonder why apples
always fall to the ground.
Why don’t they fall sideways
or up? Newton reasoned that
the earth must have a power
that draws objects to it. That
was the beginning of the law
of gravity.
Newton established the
law of universal
gravitation.
According to this law,
every object in the
universe attracts every
other object.
In 1687, Newton wrote
Mathematical
Principles of Natural
Philosophy, full of his
ideas.
5. Robert Boyle
1600’s
English
Chemist
Distinguished
elements and
compounds
Although Boyle's chief scientific interest was
chemistry, he developed a brilliant series of
experiments in which he used an air pump to
create a vacuum. He also developed what later
became known as "Boyle's law" that the volume of
a gas varies inversely with pressure.
Boyle defined the term element in 1661 as " . . .
certain primitive and simple, or perfectly unmingled
bodies; which not being made of any other bodies,
or of one another, are the ingredients of which all
those called perfectly mixt bodies are immediately
compounded, and into which they are ultimately
resolved."
7. Andreas Vesalius
1500’s
Italian
Physician
He accurately
detailed the human
body
8. William Harvey
1600’s
English
Biologist
Developed theory
of blood circulation
(the heart pumps
blood through the
body)
This illustration depicts one of William Harvey's experiments in his On the Circulation
of the Blood (1628). Venal valves had already been discovered, but here Harvey shows
that venal blood flows only toward the heart. He ligatured an arm to make obvious the
veins and their valves, then pressed blood away from the heart and showed that the
vein would remain empty because blocked by the valve.
9. Francis Bacon
1600’s
French
Scientist
Developed the Scientific Method
Not that bacon!
An English writer,
Francis Bacon
believed that by
better understanding
the world, scientists
would improve
people’s lives.
He urged scientists to
experiment by
observing the world
and drawing
conclusions.
This Bacon!
10. Rene Descartes
1600’s
French
Scientist
Supported idea
that human
reason should be
used to find truth


A French researcher, Rene
Descartes relied on mathematics
and logic.
He believed that everything should
be doubted until proved by reason.
“I think therefore I am.”
~Rene Descartes