THE SCIENTIFIC REVOLUTION

World History: Miss Winters

Causes of the Scientific Revolution

Medieval Intellectual Life Remember.. Thinking sin

caused the Black Death, etc.

The Italian Renaissance System of Patronage gave

money to new areas!

Renewed focus on mathematics

Navigational problems of long sea voyages

Better scientific instruments

New Sciences!

16th-17th century: physics and astronomy

17th-18th century: chemistry and biology

16th-18th century: mathematics

New methods of thought going back to Aristotle and Greek/Roman philosopher/scientists Just like the Renaissance did!

Discoveries during exploration led to doubt

Copernicus (1473-1543) Aim to glorify God

Heliocentrism: Believed in a sun-centered universe

Challenged circular orbits

Universe of staggering size

Earth no different than any other planet

On the Revolutions of the Heavenly Spheres (1543)

Published on his deathbed due to fear of the Church

Francis Bacon (1561-1626)

Father of the Scientific Revolution

Emphasis on practical, useful knowledge

New attitude toward nature

Galileo Galilei (1564-1642) Used experimental

method

Discoveries using the telescope supported Heliocentrism

Mathematical formula for acceleration of falling objects Law of inertia

Challenges categories of “form” and “matter”

1633- Church forced Galileo to recant; placed under house arrest

Johannes Kepler (1571-1630)

Planetary motion explained by mathematical formula

Elliptical orbits

Planets do not move at uniform speeds in their orbits

Rene Descartes (1596-1650)

Significance of Doubt

Spatial relationships can be expressed in mathematical formulas

Father of “analytical geometry”

Isaac Newton (1642-1727) Blends inductive and

deductive methods

Argues for a universe governed by natural laws

Laws of Motion!

Principia; Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosophy (1687)

Consequences of the Scientific Revolution

Rise of the “Scientific Community”

The modern scientific method

A universe ordered according to natural laws

Consequences of the Scientific Revolution (cont)

Deism

Belief that there is a God that created the universe

BUT laws of nature, not miracles explain how the world works

Laws discovered by human reason

“De-Spiritualized” and de-mystified the Universe

Consequences of the Scientific Revolution (cont)