1. The Scientific Revolution

2. The Roots of Modern Science
What was true or false depended on ancient Greeks, Romans, or the Bible
Earth was the center of the universe
- referred to as geocentric theory
- developed by Aristotle
Greek astronomer Ptolemy (tol-a-mee): Christianity taught God deliberately placed the earth at the center of the universe
- could not account for observable movement of the planets
- compatible with Christian conception of creation

3. Ptolemy

4. Scientific Revolution
Mid-1500s
Based on careful observation
Started with explorers & their discoveries
- possibility of new truths to be found
- new inventions led to scientific research
Invention of the printing press
- helped spread new ideas

5. Heliocentric Theory Nicolaus Copernicus - Polish astronomer
- suggested that the sun was the center of the
universe
- feared that he would be ridiculed
- did not publish his finding until 1543
- One the Revolutions of the Heavenly Bodies

6. Heliocentric Theory Johannes Kepler (1571-1630)
- mathematical laws govern
planetary motion
- planets revolve around the
sun in elliptical orbits and
not in circles

7. Galileo Galilei
With a telescope, Galileo saw sunspots, moons of Jupiter, mountains on the moon
Theory of velocity of fallen bodies anticipated the modern law of inertia
Agreed with the Heliocentric Theory
Finding scared Catholics & Protestants
Church warns Galileo to not publish findings
1632, publishes book supporting Copernicus & Ptolemy
Lived under house arrest until his death in 1642
1992, Catholic Church acknowledges he was right

8. Galileo Galilei

9. Scientific Method

10. Francis Bacon & Rene Descartes
Bacon attacks medieval scholars for relying on conclusions of Aristotle
- Urged scientists to experiment and draw conclusions
Descartes relied on using mathematics and logic
- Only thing he knew for certain is that he existed – he said, “I think, therefore I am”

11. Francis Bacon & Rene Descartes

12. Isaac Newton & Law of Gravity
Mid-1600s
English scientist
Studied at Cambridge University
Theory that all physical objects were affected equally by the same forces
Law of Universal Gravitation
- every object in the universe attracts every other object
- degree of attraction depends on mass of object & distance be/ them
1687 – published The Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosophy
- universe = giant clock: all parts work together
- God was the clockmaker who set everything in motion