The Scientific Revolution

Overview The Scientific Rev. began in the 16 th century and accelerated for the next two. Led to a rethinking of religious and moral issues. Birth of the scientific method and a rational view of the universe.

Nicolaus Copernicus ( ) Previous theory = Ptolemaic System: Earth is the center of the universe. Everything else in crystalline spheres that make them move. Caused variations in the calendar. Seafaring commerce needed a better model. Copernicus thought the Sun at the center made more mathematical sense Mathematical astronomy + empirical data + observation = the new model for scientific thought

Uncle was Bishop of Ermeland and appointed him canon Friends pressured him to publish. “Rheticus,” his enthusiastic disciple did first. On the Revolution of the Heavenly Spheres is finally published after he dies with a forged introduction that downplays the his certainty in his system. Friends in the Catholic Church had actually encouraged him to publish and his work was read in Catholic universities. Martin Luther and Calvin were highly critical. Leads to our Gregorian Calendar

Tycho Brahe Was given an island by Denmark’s King Frederick II. It became a whole astronomical community. Thought the Sun went around the Earth but other planets went around the Sun Left his records to Johannes Kepler

Johannes Kepler Wanted to be a Lutheran minister but was too poor. Taught math instead. Kepler concluded the Sun was at the center but planetary orbits were elliptical, not perfectly circular. Believed magnetism, not spirits, moved the planets.

Galileo Galilei ( ) Taught math and created instruments for his shop. Invented the thermometer. Designed his own telescope. In 1610 looked to the Heavens, saw their complexity and believed Copernicus. Said the Bible and nature were 2 languages. In the Bible God spoke so man could understand.

Jesuits accused Galileo of heresy and he defends his self in Rome in Published Dialogues of the Two Chief Systems of the World in In 1633 Pope Urban VIII called an ill Galileo to Rome, threatened him with torture, banned Dialogue, forced him to recant and placed him under house arrest.

Francis Bacon ( ) Believed in Empiricism: the use of experiment and observation derived from sensory evidence to construct scientific theory. Challenged the superiority of the ancients Died from pneumonia after studying the effects of freezing meat.

Rene Descartes ( ) Mathematician who stressed deductive reasoning over Bacon’s inductive approach. His Discourse on Method related all human thought to mathematics Divide existence between things of the mind and “extension” (matter) Considered the father of modern philosophy and analytical geometry

Isaac Newton ( ) Published Principia Mathematica in Mathematically described gravity and laid the basis for modern physics. Proved the Sun to be the center of the solar system Also believed in the importance of empirical data and observation alongside math. Devoutly religious and used the observation of fixed laws to show the rationality of God

John Locke ( ) In his Essay Concerning Human Understanding he described the human mind as a blank slate. Minds form through experience and can be molded through environment.