Download Scientific Revolution

The Scientific
Revolution
The Scientific Revolution was a
product of the Renaissance and
influenced by Reformation.
The Major Players
Copernicus (1473-1543)
Vesalius (1514-1564)
Bacon (1561-1626)
Galileo (1564-1642)
Kepler (1571-1630)
Harvey (1578-1657)
Descartes (1596-1650)
Boyle (1627-1691)
Leeuwenhoek (1632-1723)
Newton (1642-1727)
• The transformation of medieval universities during the
Renaissance included the study of natural philosophy:
mathematics, astronomy, and physics
– Scientists like Galileo and Newton were university
professors, working in a community of scholars
• The Renaissance brought to light Greek mathematical texts,
which helped improve European mathematics
– Many Renaissance patrons supported scientists.
• Navigational needs, such as the calculation of latitude for
long distance travel, prompted technological advancements
useful for sea travel and other important scientific
instruments
– The telescope, pendulum clock, microscope, and air
pump, among others
Positive Impact of Religion
• Protestantism may have fostered scientific thinking in
that it made scientific work a matter of conscience and
not of faith.
• Some Protestant countries like England, Denmark, and
Holland typically encouraged science and, with their
interest in international trade, promoted technological
innovation.
• The independence of science from religion was promoted
during the English Revolution
The Scientific Method
 Francis Bacon & Rene Descartes, with different views, helped to
developed the scientific method of forming a hypothesis, testing
the hypothesis with observation and/or experiment, and
drawing conclusions.
 Bacon advocated experimental research and the inductive way
of reasoning, meaning that general truths are drawn from many
empirical facts.
◦ Empirical truths are ones that can be confirmed through the
senses.
 Descartes was a mathematician who developed analytical
geometry, bringing together algebra and geometry.
◦ Favored deductive reasoning- going from the general to the
specific
◦ Cartesian dualism: There were only two types of substances,
matter and mind, or the physical and the spiritual.
New ideas in science based on observation, experimentation, and
mathematics challenged classical views of the cosmos, nature and the human
body, although folk traditions of knowledge and the universe persisted.
• New ideas and methods in astronomy led individuals such as Copernicus,
Galileo, and Newton to question the authority of the ancients and religion and
to develop a heliocentric view of the cosmos.
• Anatomical and medical discoveries by physicians, including William Harvey
presented the body as an integral system, challenging the traditional humoral
theory of the body and of diseases espoused by Galen.
• Alchemy and astrology continued to appeal to elites and some natural
philosophers, in part because they shared with the new science the notion of a
predictable and knowable universe.
• In the oral cultural of peasants, a belief that the cosmos was governor by divine
and demonic forces persisted.