The Scientific Revolution

Was it really a revolution?

chapter 16

Man and Ideas

The Scientific Revolution & the The Scientific Revolution & the Enlightenment challenged and changed the Enlightenment challenged and changed the way people thought about the world.way people thought about the world.

The Old and The New Worlds

•Superstitious?

•Black Cat

•Ladder

•Science = Magic = Alchemy

•It was called Natural Philosophy not science

Scientific Revolution

Was it really a revolution?

Were people in places outside of Europe thinking about science and knowledge?

Knowledge BEFORE the

Scientific Revolution

Natural Philosophies of Old

All the heavenly regions were perfect, unchanging, and utterly different from the terrestrial region below the moon, where any mov’t was in a straight line, unlike the circular heavenly mov’ts

Natural Philosophies of Old

the physical universe was hierarchical, as was the human. Lowest on the scale was the element earth. In ascending order, with less of the earth and more or the lighter elements in their make-up, were beings with vegetable, animal, and rational (human) souls. From the moon’s sphere upward, a hierarchy of angels, with spiritual souls, moved the heavenly spheres, with God above ala.

Natural Philosophies of Old

A motionless earth was the center of the universe. It was surrounded by water, beyond which was an envelope of air, in turn ringed by fire. In it, the four elements of earth, water, air, and fire existed everywhere as varied mixtures.

Knowledge AFTER the Scientific

Revolution

Scientific Revolution

There is no doubt

A very significant and basic change in thinking about and observing the natural world did occur

Scientific Revolution

Not only did the information base change but more importantly, the mindset of educated Europeans underwent radical changes

Scientific RevolutionChanges in mindset = disturbing changes in society

it produced highly useful knowledge of natural world but intertwined with new technologies it contributed to the dangerously wasteful exploitation of natural resources

Scientific RevolutionChanges in mindset = disturbing changes in society

it laid foundations for ways of preserving, extending, and increasing comfort of human life BUT it also put into human hands the ability to destroy all life

antibioticsto

atomic bombs

Scientific Revolution

Two practices emerged:1. Using reason: deductive method- associated with Descartes

2. collecting facts by observation and experimentation: inductive method - associated with Francis Bacon

What were some of the

most significant changes

during this era?

Scientific RevolutionAstronomy

shift from belief in fundamental differences of matter on earth than that in the heavens

to

knowledge of universal laws of motion valid throughout the universe

Scientific RevolutionAnatomy

shift from Greek physician Galan’s belief in “humors” or forces within the body

to

Vesalius’ hands-on dissection of human corpses, as well as Harvey’s experiments in animal vivisection and his measurement of heart’s capacity to pump blood

Scientific RevolutionMathematics

shift from use of Roman numerals

to

full use of Indian/Arabic numerals with the zero, logarithms, coordinates, calculus, probability theory, etc

Scientific RevolutionChemistry

shift from use of the four elements (earth, water, air, fire)

to

use of new table of 33 elements, decomposed water into newly discovered oxygen and hydrogen

Scientific Revolution

All of this led to abandoning ideas of what was authority

It brought about new ideas for a changing society

Skepticism reigns supreme

What your history

textbookssay about the causes of the

Scientific Revolution

Scientific Revolution

What events led to this shift?1) Black Death

2) Weakening of Catholic Church’s dominance

3) Success of Protestant Reformation with a splintering of Christendom into multiple denominations - all claiming to be the one true way to salvation

4) Devastating religious wars involving most of Europe which raged from 1550s to 1648 (Treaty of __________?)

5) Exploration and new information, societies, items brought to light

6) Colonization of new societies due to Age of Exploration

Beyond the history

textbooks

What influenced science and how and when....

A chronology

• Arabic numerals, including the zero were developed in India. They were introduced to the Muslim world in teh 800s.

•Translated into Latin in the early twelfth century, the numbering system was introduced to Italy by a trader’s son who had been sent to North Africa to learn mathematics around 1200.

•Zero did not come into widespreaduse in Europe until the seventeenth century.

A chronology• Knowledge of paper making reached Islam through Chinese prisoners of war in the 900s

•The first European paper mill operated in Italy in 1276

A chronology

• 800s and 900s, Muslim authors were commenting on original Greek works of mathematicians, scientists, and philosophers

• It wouldn’t be until 1100 that Spainish scholars translated those works to Latin and Europeans began to comment on those Greek works

A chronology

• the mariners’ compass was introduced to Islam from China in 1000 - by the end of the 1100s the Christian salors were introduced to the compass technology

A chronology• 1300s Repeated decrees by various religious authorities forbidding the teaching of particular books or topics in universities were not successful.

•While accepting the supremacy of the Church, some scholars claimed that the spheres fo religion and science were separate. “It is not the task of the Bible to teach us the nature of things: this belongs to philosophy”

A chronology• 1300s Cannons were used by Muslims and European armies and by 1400s their use had spread widely, increasing demand for iron and for ways to calculate the trajectory of cannonballs

A chronology• 1400s Humanism emerges in the commercial inhabitants of north Italian city-states.

• By focusing more on human achievement in this world rather than salvation in the next, humanists began to strongly advocate for education

A chronology• 1400s Arabs take over Constantinople. They are the new middle men in the Asian spice trade

• 1550 Catholic church weakens

•1500s Renaissance artists studied anatomy and optics to help represent their subjects accurately - linear perspective (more like engineers than artists)

A chronology

• 1450s invention of moveable type, printing press• 1400s new ship designs• 1400s increasingly accurate maps• 1492 Columbus

• by 1500s scholars using mathematics not only to describe, but to explain the workings of the physical world

A chronology• 1500s 1600s number of travelers increases with voyages of discovery.

• explorers, govt officials, adventures, merchants, mercenaries and scientists visited faraway places on ships armed with cannon.•many wrote about their experiences, describing previously unknown lands, plants, animals, and peoples radically different

A chronology• By 1750 “philosophical societies” dedicated to research, experiment, and publication of results were regular features of many towns in Europe

The significant individuals

Roger Bacon although only an amateur scientist in his own right, helped to create a climate conducive to scientific work.

He encouraged people to develop their own power and ability rather than depending on knowledge from the past. He was the father of empiricism and inductive reasoning. He linked science to material progress, which has continued to be a goal of Western thought and education.

Roger Bacon

•Copernicus.Copernicus. • Early astronomerEarly astronomer Ptolemy Ptolemy - - geocentric theorygeocentric theory - -

Earth centered. Sun and planets revolve Earth centered. Sun and planets revolve around Earth.around Earth.

• 1500s. Copernicus argued sun center of 1500s. Copernicus argued sun center of universe - universe - heliocentric theory.heliocentric theory.

Copernicus

•Johannes KeplerJohannes Kepler..• Used math to prove Copernicus was rightUsed math to prove Copernicus was right

•Galileo GalileiGalileo Galilei• Invented telescope. Saw mts valleys of moon; Invented telescope. Saw mts valleys of moon;

rings of Saturn.rings of Saturn.• Church took him to trail. Forced to recant his words.Church took him to trail. Forced to recant his words.

•Isaac NewtonIsaac Newton• Law of universal gravitation.Law of universal gravitation.• Laws of motion.Laws of motion.• Radical change to social ideas. Major mov’ts on Radical change to social ideas. Major mov’ts on

earth did not necessarily involve God.earth did not necessarily involve God.

• French philosopher and mathematician French philosopher and mathematician Rene Rene DescartesDescartes

• Father of idea that you must prove, through scientific Father of idea that you must prove, through scientific experimentation all theoriesexperimentation all theories

• ““I think therefore I am” (clear, orderly progression of logical I think therefore I am” (clear, orderly progression of logical reasoning)reasoning)

People must rely on their own reason to understand life and the natural order of things

_Everything must be judged by asking what is humanly reasonable

•Harvey- heart

•studied blood circulation throughout the human body

Wm Harvey

Scientific Revolution

• Robert BoyleRobert Boyle• Father of modern science of ChemistryFather of modern science of Chemistry

Scientific Revolution

•Where does all this new knowledge lead man?

1. Copernicus

2. Galileo Galilei

3. Johannes Kepler

4. Issac Newton

5. Rene Descartes

6. Francis Bacon

7. Robert Boyle 8. William Harvey