THE SCIENTIFIC REVOLUTION Mr. Swayze

Before the Scientific Revolution  Medieval scientists are called “natural philosophers”  They rely on ancient texts for scientific knowledge  Especially Aristotle During the 15 th & 16 th century, scientists abandon the ‘old’ ways of looking at things o Was popular because his ideas fit with Christianity o Had five elements o Fire o Water o Earth o Air o Aether (the heavens)

New Technology and Mathematics  New problems helped progress scientific inquiry  How much weight could a ship carry?  How much distance is there between two locations?  New Technology  Microscope  Telescope  Printing press The most important!!  Advances in math  Decimal system invented by Simon Stevin  New techniques make calculations easier and more accurate

Scientific Breakthroughs  Ptolemy (100 A.D.) was an astronomer  During the middle ages philosophers used the ideas of Ptolemy to create a diagram of the universe with the earth in the center This is called a Geocentric system  The universe is a series of spheres  The earth is motionless and the moon, sun, and other planets are embedded in clear spheres that move around the earth  The final sphere was the ‘prime mover’ that put all the other spheres in motion Beyond this sphere is where god and heaven were located

The Ptolemaic System

Copernicus and Kepler  Nicolaus Copernicus  Wrote, “On the Revolutions of the Heavenly Spheres”(1543) Explained that the planets revolved around the sun, but the moon still revolved around the earth. Also explained that the earth appeared to move around the earth because the earth was spinning  Copernicus waited to publish his book until his death because he feared the punishment he would receive from the church  Johannes Kepler  Explained that the orbits of the planets were elliptical

Galileo’s Discoveries  Galileo improved the Telescope and used it to observe  The moon  Saturn’s moons  And the sun  Discovered planets were not just spheres of light  Records his findings in the book, “The Starry Messenger”  Ideas became more well know that Copernicus and Kepler The church is not happy!

Isaac Newton’s View of the Universe  Ties Copernicus, Kepler, and Galileo’s ideas together  Considered the greatest genius of the scientific revolution  “Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosophe”  Know simply as Principia The Universal Law of Gravitation Explained why the planets moved around the universe Every object is attracted to every other object by gravity  Proves all of his ideas mathematically

Breakthroughs in Medicine  During the middle ages the ideas of Galen were the best in medicine  Greek physician (100 A.D.)  Relied on animal dissection  16 th century brought many changes to medicine

Vesalius and Harvey  Andreas Vesalius  Dissected human bodies  Described the different organs and how they worked as a whole  William Harvey  Heart pumps the blood around the body Explains the circulatory system

Breakthroughs in Chemistry  Robert Boyle  One of the first to conduct experiments in chemistry  Boyle’s law states that the volume of a gas changes under pressure  Antoine Lavoisier  Came up with a system of naming chemical elements that is still used today  Father of modern chemistry

Women’s Contributions  Maria Winkelman  Discovered a comet  When a position opened at the University of Berlin she was denied because she is a woman  Margaret Cavendish  Was educated at home Only received instruction in ‘girls’ subjects  Published thoughts on nature and men’s desire to control it

Philosophy and Reason  Rene Descartes  Famous philosopher  Wrote about doubt and uncertainty “ I think, there for I am” Mind over matter  Rationalism  System of thought based on the belief that reason is the chief source of knowledge

Francis Bacon and The Scientific Method  During the scientific revolution people were concerned about how to best understand the physical world  The Scientific Method was the solution Systematic procedure of collecting and analyzing data