The Scientific Revolution

Main Ideas…

• The Scientific Revolution marked the birth of modern science.

• Discoveries and inventions helped scientists study the natural world

• The Scientific Revolution had broad effects on society, changing ideas about the physical world, human behavior, and religion

The Big Idea…

• Europeans developed a new way of gaining knowledge, leading to a Scientific Revolution that changed the way people thought about the world.

The Birth of Modern Science

• The series of events that led to the birth of modern science is called the Scientific Revolution.

• Occurred in Europe between about 1540 and 1700

• People began to study the world around them and use logic to explain what they saw.

Understanding Science

• The word science comes from a Latin word meaning “knowledge” or “understanding”

• Science starts with observations, then scientists use logic to identify and explain the facts they have uncovered.

• The explanations scientists develop to explain observed facts are called theories.

Understanding Science

• Scientists design experiments to test whether their theories are correct.

• Scientific knowledge is based on observations, facts, and logical ideas, or theories, about them.

• This method of gaining knowledge was uncommon before the Scientific Revolution.

Roots of the Revolution• Many scientific ideas were

expressed in ancient times.• Greek thinkers like Aristotle

and Ptolemy wrote about astronomy, geography, and logic.

• They were rationalist, people who looked at the world in a rational, or reasonable and logical, way.– Ptolemy believed the Earth was

in the center of the universe (geocentric).

Roots of the Revolution

• The growth of Humanism during the Renaissance helped bring about the Scientific Revolution.

• Humanist artists and writers encouraged study of the natural world.

• Alchemy became popular.– Experiments involving turning common metals

into gold.

Discoveries and Inventions

• Columbus sailed west using a map drawn by Ptolemy.

• When Columbus reached North America instead of Asia it stunned Europeans because observation of the real world had disproved the teachings of an ancient authority.

• Scholars would begin to question the accuracy of other authorities.

• Nicolaus Copernicus- Polish astronomer who wrote On the Revolution of the Celestial Sphere.– Stated that the

planets moved around the sun in a circular orbit but never proved his theory.

– Came up with the heliocentric theory.

– Inspired fresh thinking about astronomy.

Johannes Kepler- Tried to map the orbits of planets but realized that they moved in elliptical orbits instead of in a circle.

Advances in Astronomy

• Galileo Galilei- Italian scientist who was the first person to study the sky with a telescope.

• Discovered mountains and craters on the moon

• Studied how falling objects behave.• Mechanics- the study of objects in motion

• First scientist to routinely use experiments to test theories.

Galileo Galilei

Sir Isaac Newton

• Published Principia Mathematica.• lays the foundations for most of classical mechanics. In

this work, Newton described universal gravitation and the three laws of motion.

• Newton showed that the motions of objects on Earth and planets are governed by the same set of natural laws, by demonstrating the consistency between Kepler’s laws of planetary motion and his theory of gravitation.

• The Principia is generally considered to be one of the most important scientific books ever written.

Sir Isaac Newton

• Newton’s Three Laws of motion:– First law: The velocity of a body remains constant

unless the body is acted upon by an external force– Second law: The acceleration a of a body is

parallel and directly proportional to the net force F and inversely proportional to the mass m, i.e., F = ma

– Third law: The mutual forces of action and reaction between two bodies are equal, opposite and collinear

Sir Isaac Newton

New Inventions

• 1590- Dutch lens maker invented simple microscope.• 1593- Galileo invents the

thermometer• 1643- Italian scientist invents the

barometer which measures air pressure.

Effects on Society

• Francis Bacon and Rene Descartes encouraged the use of orderly experiments and clear reasoning.

• Ideas helped shape the scientific method which are the main principles of modern science.– Scientific method- step-by-step process for

performing experiments and other scientific research.

Francis Bacon Rene Descartes

Effects on Society

• The church feared that science would lead people to doubt key elements of their faith.

• Catholic leaders tried to force scientists to reject any findings that contradicted church teachings.

• Galileo was faced with torture unless he accepted the church’s belief that the earth did not move.