WOMEN AND THE SCIENTIFIC REVOLUTION

EFFECT ON WOMEN  Little change in views of women’s inferiority or restriction of women’s roles  In many ways, may have deepened inferiority & restrictions  But women participated in new scientific discoveries

WOMEN AND THE SCIENTIFIC REVOLUTION HUMAN ANATOMY & PHYSIOLOGY  Persistence of ancient ideas  Aristotle, Hippocrates & Galen “Four humors” Misconceptions about female physiology

WOMEN AND THE SCIENTIFIC REVOLUTION HUMAN ANATOMY & PHYSIOLOGY  New views & discoveries  Greater accuracy in understanding female anatomy  Led to notion of pervasiveness of gender differences

WOMEN AND THE SCIENTIFIC REVOLUTION WOMEN IN SCIENCE  MARIA CUNITZ ( )  Made important discoveries in astronomy  Proficient in 7 languages, mathematics, medicine, history, music, painting & poetry Crater Cunitz on Venus

WOMEN AND THE SCIENTIFIC REVOLUTION WOMEN IN SCIENCE  MARGARET CAVENDISH ( )  Wrote 7 works of science & philosophy  Promoted individual rational capacity

WOMEN AND THE SCIENTIFIC REVOLUTION WOMEN IN SCIENCE  ANNA MARIA VAN SCHURMAN ( )  Widely renowned for knowledge  Promoted women’s education for moral improvement

WOMEN AND THE SCIENTIFIC REVOLUTION WOMEN IN SCIENCE  EMILIE DU CHATELET, ( )  First (and only) to translate Newton’s work into French  Published own original works building on Newtonian ideas

WOMEN AND THE SCIENTIFIC REVOLUTION PERISTENCE OF OLD BELIEFS  Witch Hunts  15 th - 18 th 100,000 executed for witchcraft  SABBATS, ritual murder, cannibalism  Demons, devils

WOMEN AND THE SCIENTIFIC REVOLUTION PERISTENCE OF OLD BELIEFS  Witch Hunts  82% of accused = women  Targets = non-conforming women marginalized women midwives  Accusations included strong sexual component

WOMEN AND THE SCIENTIFIC REVOLUTION PERISTENCE OF OLD BELIEFS  Witch Hunts  First conducted by religious authorities  Process taken over by secular courts by 17 th c.  Used torture to extract “confessions” “Witch chair” “Water torture”