The Scientific Revolution Europeans developed a new way of gaining knowledge, leading to a Scientific Revolution that changed the way people thought about the world.

Main Ideas The Scientific Revolution marked the birth of modern science. Discoveries and inventions helped scientists study the natural world. The Scientific Revolution had broad effects on society, changing ideas about the physical world, human behavior, and religion.

The Scientific Revolution marked the birth of modern science. Science was a completely different way of looking at the world. Science starts with observations, and then scientists begin to identify the facts.

Scientists design experiments to prove their theories. The explanations that scientists develop based on the facts are called theories. Scientists design experiments to prove their theories.

Roots of the Revolution Greek thinkers such as Aristotle and Ptolemy were rationalists. Europeans studied their work and also began to view the world in a rational way, thinking like scientists. Rationalists looked at the world in a rational, or reasonable and logical, way. Developments in Europe, such as the growth of humanism, helped bring about the Scientific Revolution.

Discoveries and inventions helped scientists study the natural world.

Christopher Columbus set out to sail to Asia using a map created by the ancient Greek Ptolemy. Columbus reached North America before he reached Asia. This proved that the ancient Greek authorities were incorrect. This led other people to question the theories of the ancient Greeks.

ADVANCES IN ASTRONOMY In 1543 Nicolaus Copernicus published a book that contradicted what Ptolemy had written. Many historians believe that this book marked the beginning of the Scientific Revolution. Ptolemy believed the earth was at the center of the universe. Copernicus said the planets orbited the sun. Tycho Brahe charted the positions of hundreds of stars, using careful observation and detailed recordings.

ADVANCES IN ASTRONOMY Johannes Kepler observed that planets moved in oval orbits, not circular ones. Galileo Galilei was the first person to study the sky with a telescope. He used experiments to test his theories.

Sir Isaac Newton Sir Isaac Newton was a British scientist who wrote the book Principia Mathematica. Newton was one of the greatest scientists who ever lived. Some of his theories have been proved so many times that they are now called laws. One of Newton’s laws is called the law of gravity. The other three are called the laws of motion.

NEW INVENTIONS A Dutch scientist developed the simple microscope. Galileo invented the first thermometer and built a much-improved telescope. The barometer was invented by an Italian in 1643 to measure air pressure. Barometers are used to help forecast the weather. These inventions gave scientists the tools they needed to make more accurate observations and to conduct experiments.

The Scientific Revolution had broad effects on society, changing ideas about the physical world, human behavior, and religion. The Scientific Revolution led to a dramatic change in the ways people learned about the world. The new, scientific way of gaining knowledge had far-reaching effects. The scientific method combined ideas from Bacon and Descartes. It is a step-by-step method for performing experiments and other scientific research.

Science and Government Some thinkers began to believe that certain laws governed human nature, just like they did for nature. The use of reason to consider the problems of society led philosophers to look at ways to improve society.

The idea that all things in nature were equal led people to believe that since all laws in society were equal, everyone in society should be equal as well. This sense of equality led to the introduction of more democratic ideas for government.

Conflicts between Scientists and the Church The new field of science put forth ideas that conflicted with the teachings of the church. One such theory was that the earth revolved around the sun, not that the sun revolved around the earth, as the church taught. Church officials believed that when scientific theories contradicted the church, they weakened the church. The church feared that people might start to doubt the key elements of their faith.