1. The Scientific Revolution

2. Introduction to the Scientific Revolution

3. The Scientific Revolution was born in Europe in the 1500s, in context of the Middle Ages.
It was a period of general instability, with a population more concerned with survival than intellectual pursuits.
The dominant Church established laws and norms which were influenced by religious mysticism and discouraged scientific inquiry, as it was often inconsistent with biblical teaching.

4. While Europe remained stagnant, the nearby Islamic Empire scientifically flourished.
Islamic scientists took great efforts to preserve and translate Ancient Greek texts, which included much work in science and natural philosophy that had effectively been “lost” to Europeans.
Latin translations of these Arabic and Greek writings made their way to Europe through contact with the Islamic Empire through the Crusades and trade.

5. The Protestant Reformation weakened the Catholic Church's power and influence.
It encouraged scientific inquiry by changing man's view on the relationship between God and nature, encouraging laity to explore in for themselves.
Shortly after Martin Luther, the Renaissance encouraged realism in art, a rebirth of ancient Greek ideals, and thus a study in nature. It encouraged an atmosphere of observation and inquiry.
These influences and others encouraged man to observe and develop new ideas in physics, astronomy, biology, human anatomy, chemistry, and other sciences.
The scientific method gave man an organized process to ask questions, develop hypotheses, and use experiment to test and develop theories. Scientists of this era debunked many long-held assumptions about the world and developed theories and frameworks which we use and hold as truth in the modern world.

6. The Scientific Method
The scientific method is a procedure scientists use to study the world around them to reduce bias or cultural influences. The user first identifies a question or a problem, formulates an idea about why this occurs, performs experiments to test the hypothesis, records the data, and analyzes the findings. Prior to the scientific method in Europe, conclusions were drawn based on interpretation, and scientists did not perform experiments to tests their ideas.

7. The Scientific Method
With the creation of this systemic method of testing and re- testing a hypotheses, we gain a more accurate understanding of the natural world, and have a framework to continually challenge and improve upon a theory. The method also eliminates cultural bias, an element that was of particular importance in Europe when the Church held the highest power.
Francis Bacon is generally credited with inventing the scientific method, with Descartes, Galileo and Newton refining and using it the way we know it today. However, Aristotle made the first steps toward it by usingempirical evidence and logical reasoning.

8. Leading Figures of the Scientific Revolution
Francis Bacon
Nicolas Copernicus
Rene Descartes
Galileo Galilei
Johannes Kepler
Sir Issac Newton

9. Francis Bacon ( Jan. 22,1561- April 9,1626)
Bacon was a lawyer, philosopher and statesman with a passion for science. He is credited with creating the Scientific Method, which was meant to replace the Aristotelian methods which dominated scientific thought of the time. Bacon aimed to create a methodology which relied on experiment and empirical evidence, and he expounded upon this in his most famous work, Novum Organum. He felt that carefully organized experiments and systematic, thorough observations would lead to correct general principles, which in turn would lead to new discoveries.
"The true and lawful goal of the sciences is none other than this: that human life be endowed with new discoveries and power." Novum Organum.

10. Nicolas Copernicus (February 19, 1473 – May 24, 1543)
Copernicus is considered a founder of modern astronomy. He developed the system stating that the Earth was not the center of the universe, but that the universe was heliocentric and the planets all revolved around the sun in circular orbits around a stationary sun. Before the Copernican system, people believed in the Ptolemaic system which held earth to be at the center of the universe.
The beliefs of the times were human-centric, and Copernicus' theories went against the teachings of the powerful Church. However, Copernicus died before he could be brought to trial for his theory. Galileo and others later embraced the Copernican system and suffered persecution as heretics for it. Though the model is not completely correct, the legacy of Copernicus of one of challenging the status quo and the assumption that man is the literal center of the world.
"[Nicolaus Copernicus is] an upstart astrologer…. This fool wishes to reverse the entire science of astronomy; but sacred Scripture tells us that Joshua commanded the sun to stand still, and not the earth." –Martin Luther (attributed), as quoted in Daniel Boorstin, The Discoverers (1983), p. 302

11. Rene Descartes (March 31, 1596 – February 11, 1650)
Descartes was a philosopher and mathematician who is known as the father of modern philosophy. His interests in mathematics was focused on methods, and he examined how ancient mathematicians like Euclid came about their discoveries. One of his greatest philosophical and scientific works was Discourse on Method, where he expounds on rationalism and its application to science. Intead of asking "what is true," he asks "what can be proven?" By choosing to write Discourse in French rather than Latin, Descartes was directing his work at anyone literate in the spoken language rather than just academics.
Descartes wrote a number of works where he applied his method of rationality and made a number of discoveries in the fields of optics, physiology, physics, and mathematics. He is also considered the father of analytical geometry, which provides the basis for Newton's calculus.

12. Galileo Galilei ( February 15, 1564, January 8, 1642)
Galileo was a mathematician, astronomer, physicist and philosopher who was one of the first scientists to clearly state that the laws of nature are mathematical. Einstein referred to him as "the Father of Modern Science." He made great improvements to the telescope and was the first astronomer to use it for observing the sky. These observations allowed him to observe the moons of Jupiter, which led him to belief that not everything revolved around earth. Observations on the phases of Venus further proved a heliocentric universe rather than earth centric. He also performed many experiments on the motion of bodies. His findings directly influenced Newton's three laws of motion and debunked the previously held belief that heavier objects fell faster than lighter ones.
Galileo was persecuted by the Catholic Church for his belief in the Copernican heliocentric theory of the universe and the idea that the universe was made up of matter like the earth. These ideas threatened the concept that beyond the earth are the heavens for spiritual purposes, not other worlds. The Church saw Galileo's discovery as a contradiction to the Church, and he was put on trial for treason. 
"...The book cannot be understood unless one first learns to comprehend the language and read the letters in which it is composed. It is written in the language of mathematics, and its characters are triangles, circles, and other geometric figures without which it is humanly impossible to understand a single word of it; without these, one wanders about in a dark labyrinth." -Galileo's The Assayer

13. Johannes Kepler (December 27, 1571 – November 15, 1630)
Kepler was a mathematician and astronomer. He refined Copernicus' theory and used the scientific method to prove the heliocentric universe idea to be true, and published his three laws of planetary motion, including the discovery that planets moved in elliptical orbits rather than perfect circles.
These laws are still considered true today, 500 years later, and Isaac Newton used them in his analysis of gravity in the groundbreaking Principia Mathematica.

14. Sir Isaac Newton (January 4,1643 – March 31,1727)
Newton was an English mathematician, physicist and philosopher. In the first book he wrote, Principia, he discussed his three laws of motion:
First Law: Every object in a state of uniform motion tends to remain in that state of motion unless an external force is applied to it.
Second Law: The relationship between an object's mass m, its acceleration a, and the applied force F is F=ma. In this law the direction of the force vector is the same as the direction of the acceleration vector.
Third Law: For every action there is an equal and opposite reaction.

15. Newton, continued
Newton invented a scientific method which was truly universal in its scope. Newton presented his methodology as a set of four rules for scientific reasoning.
These rules were stated in the Principia and proposed that
(1) we are to admit no more causes of natural things such as are both true and sufficient to explain their appearances,
(2) the same natural effects must be assigned to the same causes,
(3) qualities of bodies are to be esteemed as universal, and
(4) propositions deduced from observation of phenomena should be viewed as accurate until other phenomena contradict them.

16. Women of the Scientific Revolution
Margaret Cavendish
Maria Winkelmann
Maria Sibylla Merian
Gabrielle Emile du Chatelet

17. Women of the Scientific Revolution
Margaret Cavendish ( ): Margaret Cavendish was a British natural philosopher who helped to make some of the major ideas of the Scientific Revolution popular. Cavendish published two books on areas she felt were lacking in terms of discoveries and also advocated for a larger female presence in science as well as better education for girls.
Maria Winkelmann ( ): Maria Winkelmann was a German astronomer who worked with her husband, Gottfried Kirch developing astronomical calendars. Since female scientists were not respected at the time, Winkelmann acted as his assistant even though she was actually his co- worker. In 1702, Winkelmann became the first woman to discover a comet.
Maria Sibylla Merian( ): Maria Sibylla Merian was a German botanist and zoologist who created an illustrated book of specimens of European insects, moths, and butterflies. In 1672, Merian traveled to Suriname (Dutch South Africa) with only a female companion and collected specimens there which she later published into her noteworthy Dissertation in Insect Generations and Metamorphosis in Surinam.
Gabrielle Emilie Du Chatelet ( ) Gabrielle Emilie Du Chatelet was a French Mathematician and Physicist. Despite most likely being almost entirely self educated, her 1740 writing known as the "Foundations of Physics" gained her signficant notoriety and she became an accepted member of the "Republic of Letters". She would later be known for besting an acclaimed director at the "Academy of Sciences" by finding a more proper formula for Kinetic Energy. Perhaps her most notorious contribution Physics was her corrections on Galileo's hypotheses.