The Road to Newton: The Law of Universal Gravitation (Palmer, section 28)

AP European History

Androstic

2012-2013

Scientific Advancements Advancing on many fronts

Disciplines advanced at different speeds

Physics and astronomy developed fastest (most notably thanks to mathematics)

Biology, anatomy, botany, chemistry developed slower

The Aristotelian View of the Universe

Aristotle est. this view in the 4th century B.C.

GEOCENTRIC view motionless Earth is at the center of

universe moon, sun, planets, and stars

revolve around the Earth. Circular orbits Earth composed of “heavy”

elements celestial bodies weightless,

allowing them to orbit the Earth

Ptolemaic View of the Universe

Ptolemy (2nd century A.D.) Also geocentric (builds off

Aristotle) complicated rules to explain the

minor irregularities planetary movement to mathematically prove the GEOCENTRIC universe (What kind of reasoning is this?)

The Copernican Hypothesis

In the 16th century, the Polish monk, mathematician, and astronomer Copernicus (1473-1543) challenged the geocentric theory.

On the Revolutions of the Heavenly Spheres argued the sun was the center of the solar system aka

HELIOCENTRICsystem

His ideas areattacked by religiousauthorities; Luther called him“the fool who wantsto turn the wholeart of astronomyupside down.”

Tycho Brahe (1546-1601)

A Danish nobleman who built an advanced observatory where he studied the stars and planets for over 20 years

Had a limited understanding of mathematics, but hypothesized a universe that was part Ptolemaic and part Copernican (figure to the left).

Johannes Kepler (1571-1630)

Brilliant young assistant of Brahe Formulated THREE laws of planetary motion:

Orbits of the planets are ELIPTICAL rather than circular

Planets do NOT move at a uniform speedin their orbits

The time a planet takes to make its orbitis precisely related to its distance from the sun

Kepler’s contributions are HUGE; he had mathematically proved the relations of a sun-centered solarsystem, aka HELIOCENTRIC

Cover of the Rudolphine Tables, 1627

Galileo (1564-1642)

Using refined telescope; viewed moon’s irregularities and stated that the moon is NOT luminous, made of earth-like substances

formulated the law of inertiastating that rest is NOT the natural state of objects

Tried and condemned by the Catholic Church because his discoveries contradicted scripture

He was finally absolved by Pope John Paul II in 1992.

The Newtonian Synthesis

“If I have seen further [than others], it is by standing on theshoulders of Giants.” (Newton) 1642-1727

Published Principia in 1687 which postulated the law of universal gravitation. This synthesized the astronomy of Copernicus, as corrected by Kepler’s laws, with the physics of Galileo.

According to this law, every body in the universe attracts every other body in the universe in a precise mathematical relationship, whereby the forceof attraction is proportional to the quantity of matter of the objects and inversely proportional to the square of the distance between them.

Model of our Solar System

Consequences of the Scientific Revolution

Explosion of scientific thought Growth of scientific institutions (Royal Society of London (1662), Royal

Academy of Sciences (France, 1666) Scientific publications help spread ideas faster Scientific improvements (navigation and mapmaking, advancing military

technologies, tidal charts, steam power) Increased skepticism, conflict between science and religion Confidence in human ability Reinforcement of natural law/natural rights Economic and social changes

Taxes to pay for development of military Agricultural and industrial improvement

Questions to assess your understanding:(the MICRO history)

Whose ideas were the basis for Europeans’ view of the universe? Which astronomers contributed to the destruction of the geocentric view of the universe? What does empiricism emphasize? Who created the modern scientific method? Who put forth the three laws of planetary motion? Who formulated the law of universal gravitation? What was Galileo’s greatest achievement? Who wrote On the Revolutions of the Heavenly Spheres? What is its significance? Who wrote Principia? What is its significance? Who postulated the theory of inertia? What did it state? What are the significant causes of the scientific revolution? What are the significant consequences of the scientific revolution?