Revolution and Enlightenment The Scientific Revolution

Background to Revolution Medieval scientists only relied on ancient authorities, Aristotle, for knowledge. 14 & 15 hundreds forced changes in views. Renaissance humanists studied newly discovered works of Ptolemy and Plato who disagreed with Aristotle and others. How much weight can a ship hold? This stimulated scientific activity. Telescope and microscope invented. Printing press helped spread ideas. Copernicus, Kepler, Galileo, Newton and others developed new theories

Revolution in Astronomy Born in 2 nd century, Ptolemy was greatest astronomer of time. Medieval philosophers constructed geocentric model of universe called Ptolemaic system. Motionless Earth in center. Matched teaching of the church

Copernicus of Poland, 1543, thought heliocentric more accurate Many rejected All human knowledge might be called into question Kepler supported view and each planet had own special orbit Johannes Kepler Copernicus

Galileo, Italian scientist, first to make regular observations with telescope Got into trouble with Catholic Church since it contradicted idea of Bible. Most scientists however sided with Galileo tried for his ideas and forced to recant

Scientific Method People concerned about how to best understand physical universe. Francis Bacon created this method. Emphasized arriving at conclusions using inductive reasoning, or making generalizations from particular observations and experiments organized to test hypotheses Believed science was to give human kind new discoveries and power to serve human purpose by conquering “nature in action”

Descartes and Reason Rene Descartes, French philosopher, asserted he can rationally be sure of only one thing- his own existence Bacon and Rene Descartes rejected Aristotle Descartes (day kahrt) emphasized human reasoning to understanding “I think, therefore I am”, material world different from mental world Father of modern rationalism, reason chief source of knowledge

Isaac Newton, Englishman, mathematics professor at Cambridge University Universal law of gravitation: every object is attracted to every other object by a force called gravity Created calculus Same force helps control the planets Ideas dominated until Einstein’s theory of relativity

Medicine and Chemistry Late Middle Ages, ideas of medicine still dominated by Greek Galen (2 nd century). Views on anatomy wrong due to using animals 16 th century based on work of Andreas Vesalius. Dissected human bodies as a professor of surgery at University of Padua William Harvey showed heart center of blood’s circulation, showed same blood runs through veins and arteries with complete circuit of body Robert Boyle, chemist, Boyle’s Law about gases- volume of gas varies with pressure exerted on it 18 th century Antoine Lavoisier, founder of modern chemistry made system of naming chemical elements BoyleVesalius

William Harvey Antoine Lavoisier

Ambroise Pare, French physician, ointment for preventing infection and closing wounds with stitches Dutch inventor Anthony van Leeuwenhoek perfected microscope and first to see cells and microorganisms

Women and Origins of Modern Science Margaret Cavendish, criticized belief that humans, through science, were maters of nature Maria Winkelmann, astronomer, assisted husband- famous Prussian astronomer Gottfried Kirch, she discovered a comet 17 th century most people thought scholarship conflicted with domestic roles women were expected to fulfill