The Scientific Revolution

Roots of Modern Science Before 1500, Scholars decided true/false by referring to an ancient Greek/Roman authors or to the Bible Geocentric Theory Renaissance and Reformation sparked the Scientific Revolution: A new way of thinking about the natural world Exploration Navigators needed better instruments to determine their locations in the open sea

A Revolutionary Model of the Universe Nicolaus Copernicus developed the Heliocentric Theory

Johannes Kepler Elliptical Orbits, NOT circles Demonstrated mathematically that the Heliocentric Theory is true

Galileo Galilei Built a telescope Discovered the moon was rough & had an uneven surface

Galileo Galilei 1633 – Galileo was summoned to stand trial before the Inquisition His books and ideas spread all over Europe

“With sincere heart and unpretended faith I abjure, curse, and detest the aforesaid errors and heresies [of Copernicus] and also every other error ……contrary to the Holy Church, and I swear that in the future I will never again say or assert ……anything that might cause a similar suspicion toward me.” -Galileo Galilei

In 1992, Pope John Paul II acknowledged that Galileo was correct.

Francis Bacon Urged scientists to keep experimenting He believed the more we know, the better our lives will be

Rene’ Descartes Encouraged scientists Prove new findings through mathematics & logic, not with experiments

The Scientific Method Logical procedure for gathering and testing ideas 1) question 2) hypothesis 3) experiment to test 4) analyze/interpret (either proving or disproving the hypothesis)

The Scientific Revolution Spreads

Isaac Newton Discovers the law of gravity “Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosophy” God was the creator of the universe