Chapter 10 – Revolution & Enlightenment

Section 1- The Scientific Revolution

Background to the RevolutionMedieval scientists, know as

“natural philosophers,” did not make observations of the world and nature so much as rely on ancient authorities, such as Aristotle, for their scientific knowledge.

Changes in the 1400s & 1500s caused society to adapt to new views and methods.

Aristotle

Background to the RevolutionRenaissance humanists studied

the works of Ptolemy, Archimedes, Plato, among others.

They learned that some ancient thinkers disagreed with Aristotle.

Ptolemy

Problems leading to the RevolutionCalculating how much a ship

could hold.Observing space.Printing copiesNo advancements in math.

MathematicsThe study of math in the

Renaissance contributed to the achievements in the 16th and 17th centuries.

Great scientists believed that the secrets of nature were written in the language of mathematics.

The following intellectuals developed new theories that became the foundation of the Scientific Revolution.

Copernicus

Kepler

Galileo

Newton

PtolemyHe was antiquity’s greatest

astronomer.Medieval philosopher’s

constructed a geocentric model of the universe known as the Ptolemaic system.

It was a series of concentric spheres with a motionless Earth in the middle.

Ptolemiac System (geocentric)

PtolemyBelieved that planets are in

different, crystal-like spheres.They rotate, which accounts for

movements of other heavenly bodies.

Beyond the tenth sphere is Heaven, where God and all the saved souls reside.

Nicholas CopernicusPolishman who published, On the

Reolutions of the Heavenly Spheres, in 1543.

Believed his heliocentric system was more accurate than the Ptolemiac System.

Argued that all planets revolved around the sun, the moon revolved around the Earth, and the Earth rotated on its axis.

Copernicun System (heliocentric)

Johannes KeplerHelped destroy the Ptolemiac

System.Confirmed the sun was the

center of the universe.Tracked the elliptical orbits of

planets. (Kepler’s First Law)Ptolemy insisted the orbits were

circular.

Kepler’s 1st Law of Planetary Motion

Galileo GalileiItalian which answered one of the

two remaining questions.What are planets made of?1st to make regular observations

with a telescope.Saw mountains on the Moon and

the 4 moons orbiting Jupiter.Ptolemy said planets were orbs of

light, Galileo said they were material.

Galileo vs the Catholic ChurchChurch ordered him to abandon

the new system because it contradicted that of the Church.

In the new system, heavens were not spiritual but material, and God was no longer in a specific place.

Most astronomers believed the new concept anyway.

Isaac NewtonEnglishman responded to the 2nd

question.What explains motion in the

universe?Published his views in

Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosophy, also known as the Principia.

Isaac NewtonDefined the 3 laws of motionCentered around the Universal

Law of Gravitation: every object in the universe is attracted to every other object by a force called gravity.

This explained why planets did not go off in a straight line.

Universe was now sees as a huge, regulated, uniform machine.

Breakthroughs in Medicine & ChemistryLate Middle Ages, medicine was

dominated by the teachings of Galen.

His views were often wrong because he used animals, not people, for dissection.

Andreas VesaliusPublished On the Fabric of the

Human Body (1543)Dissected humans at the

University of Padua.Presented an accurate view of

individual organs and the general structure of the body.

However, he thought humans had 2 kinds of blood.

Andreas Vesalius

William HarveyPublished On the Motion of the

Heart and Blood (1628)Showed the heart, not the liver

as Galen thought, was the beginning point of circulation.

Also showed that blood makes a complete circuit through the body.

Robert Boyle & Antoine LavoisierChemist who formulated Boyle’s

Law about gases.The volume of a gas varies with

pressure exerted on it.Antoine Lavoisier, the founder of

modern chemistry, invented a system of naming the chemicals.

Boyle & Lavosier

Women & the Origins of Modern ScienceThe most prominent woman in

science was Margaret Cavendish.She criticized the belief that humans,

through science, were the masters of nature in her work Observations Upon Experimental Philosophy.

Maria Winkelmann was the most famous astronomer.

She assisted her husband and helped discover a comet.

Descartes and ReasonFrench philosopher Rene Descartes

reflected the Western view of humankind.Wrote Discourse on Method (1637) and

asserts that he can rationally be sure of only one thing – his own existence.

He would only accept those things that his reason said were true.

“I think, therefore I am”Separated mind and matterFather of modern rationalism

The Scientific MethodPhilospher Francis Bacon was

most responsible for the Scientific Method.

Emphasized arriving at conclusions about nature using inductive reasoning, or making generalizations from particular observations and experiments organized to test hypotheses.

Francis BaconBelieved science

was to give human kind new discoveries and to serve human purposes by conquering “nature in action.”

End of Section 1

Next: The Enlightenment