1. The Scientific Revolution ca 1540-1690
AP European History
Eastview High School
Ch18 – Toward a New World-View
Section 1 – The Scientific Revolution
McKay, et al. 8th edition

2. Essential Questions
How is the Scientific Revolution a change in both science and thought?
What are the causes and consequences of the Scientific Revolution?
Who is impacted by the Scientific Revolution? How are those people/groups impacted?

3. The Aristotelian View of the Universe
Aristotle put forth this view of the universe in the 4th century B.C.
This is commonly known as the GEOCENTRIC view where a motionless Earth is at the center of the universe while the moon, sun, planets, and stars revolve around the Earth.
Notice also that it was believed that the orbits were circular.
Ancient astronomers also believed the Earth was composed of “heavy” elements while the celestial bodies were composed of completely different substances and thus were weightless, allowing them to orbit the Earth.

4. Ptolemaic View of the Universe
The astronomer and mathematician, Ptolemy (2nd century A.D.) had worked out complicated rules to explain the minor irregularities in the movement of the planets in an attempt to mathematically prove the GEOCENTRIC universe.
While Ptolemy was wrong, a positive consequence of his work was that it allowed stargazers and astrologers to track the planets with greater precision.

5. The Copernican Hypothesis
In the 16th century, the Polish monk, mathematician, and astronomer Copernicus ( ) challenged the geocentric theory.
His famous work On the Revolutions of the Heavenly Spheres, held the sun to be the center of the solar system aka, the HELIOCENTRIC theory.
His ideas are attacked by religious authorities; Luther called him “the fool who wants to turn the whole art of astronomy upside down.”

6. Tycho Brahe ( )
A Danish nobleman who received money from the king of Denmark to build an advanced observatory where he studied the stars and planets; collecting over twenty years of data.
He had a very limited understanding of mathematics, but hypothesized a universe that was part Ptolemaic and part Copernican (figure to the left).

7. Johannes Kepler (1571-1630) Brilliant young assistant of Brahe
Formulated THREE laws of planetary motion:
Orbits of the planets are ELIPTICAL rather than circular
Planets do NOT move at a uniform speed in their orbits
The time a planet takes to make its orbit is precisely related to its distance from the sun
Kepler’s contributions are HUGE; he had mathematically proved the relations of a sun-centered solar system, aka HELIOCENTRIC

8. Galileo ( )
Using a telescope which he refined, he viewed the moon with all of it’s irregularities and stated that the moon is NOT a luminous object but is actually made of earth-like substances.
Galileo’s greatest achievement was the elaboration and consolidation of the experimental method; rather than speculate about what might or should happen, he conducted controlled experiments to find out what actually did happen.
Using experiments, Galileo formulated the law of inertia stating that rest and motion are equally as natural to objects
Galileo in 1591, according to the story, dropped a 10-pound and a 1-pound weight simultaneously from the top of the Leaning Tower of Pisa.
Galileo showed that despite all previous speculation on the subject two bodies of different weights, when allowance was made for differences in air resistance due to differences of size or shape, struck the ground at the same time.
Wrote The Starry Messenger, describing how planets are not
perfect, but actually made of material like the earth
Galileo was put on trial and condemned by the Catholic Church because his discoveries contradicted scripture.
Dialogue on the Two Chief World Systems
He was finally absolved by Pope John Paul II in 1992.

9. The Newtonian Synthesis
“If I have seen further [than others], it is by standing on the shoulders of Giants.” (Newton)
Published Principia in 1687 which postulated the law of universal gravitation. This synthesized the astronomy of Copernicus, as corrected by Kepler’s laws, with the physics of Galileo.
According to this law, every body in the universe attracts every other body in the universe in a precise mathematical relationship, whereby the force of attraction is proportional to the quantity of matter of the objects and inversely proportional to the square of the distance between them.
3 Laws of Motion
Everything in motion remains that way unless acted upon
Rate of change of motion is proportional to force
Every action has an equal and opposite reaction
Did still believe in the occult & alchemy, however
God as a watchmaker
Newton’s “world-machine”- world seen as mechanical,
operates under absolute laws

10. Model of our Solar System

11. Galen Galen was ancient Greek
He was influential, but unfortunately inaccurate in many cases
People are going to disprove his ideas (blood, anatomy, treatment of disease)

12. Paracelsus “Greater Than Celsus” Humans are microcosms of the world
All parts of the world are found in humans
Chemical treatment- organs
“like cures like” aka “homicide physician”
Using toxins to cure the same diseases they caused

13. Vesalius On the Fabric of the Human Body
Anatomy, dissection, illustrations, and printing
Still wrong about blood, though
Believed in 2 separate blood systems- veins and arteries

14. William Harvey On the Motion of the Heart and Blood
Blood flows all the way through the body in both veins and arteries
Not 2 separate systems!

15. Robert Boyle
Boyle’s Law: the volume of a gas varies with the pressure exerted on it
Believes in atoms, aka the chemical elements (he just doesn’t call them that)

16. Mr. and Mrs. Lavoisier
Chemical elements- how to name

17. Margaret Cavendish Humans cannot be masters of nature British
“We have no power at all over natural causes and effects… for man is but a small part”
British

18. Maria Merian German Excellent illustrator
Metamorphosis of the Insects of Surinam

19. Maria Winkelmann German Astronomer who discovered a comet
Kept out of formal astronomy by the Berlin Academy

20. Querelles de Femmes What is the nature of women?
Men: we need to control them
Women: we’re just as rational as you
Women eventually lose some of their status because of science and technology
Midwives
Science was eventually used to keep the status quo as it was
Larger pelvis, smaller skulls

21. Descartes “I think, therefore I am” Cartesian Dualism
I must only believe in things that *reason* says are true
Cartesian Dualism
Mind and body are absolutely separate
“The mind cannot be doubted but the body and material world can”
Father of modern rationalism

22. Knowledge is Power, France is Bacon
Francis Bacon and the scientific method
Inductive reasoning: observe before making your hypothesis
Particular  General
Also wanted to use science to control nature
Bacon + Descartes = Empiricism!
Newton; observe + experiment to learn concepts
New info from concepts can be tested by more experiments
HOW does the world work- not why

23. Scientific Societies English Royal Society
French Royal Academy of Sciences
Mainly focused on the theoretical

24. Church + Religion
The Church forced a dichotomy that Galileo never wanted to happen
Now, educated people must choose between science and religion
Science is eventually proven to be right, so religion is hurt

25. Spinoza
God is the universe- they cannot be separated from each other

26. Pascal Wanted to turn rationalists into Christians
Humans are sinners as well as creations of God- both are true at the same time
Doesn’t want religion to become rational- wants to keep the “mystery and supernatural”
Key: faith through heart’s trust in God, not reason through mind
Pascal’s Wager: you might as well assume God exists. If He doesn’t, you don’t lose anything. If He does, you win everything.

27. Overview of the Scientific Revolution
Science emerged as a minor but distinct branch of philosophy in leading universities (14th & 15th centuries).
This provided scholars a place to do their thinking, research, and writing.
The Renaissance stimulated scientific progress.
Navigational problems of long sea voyages in the ‘Age of Exploration’ were a cause as well.
Gresham College in London is established and attempts to link theoretical science with applied science.
Inductive Reasoning, aka empiricism (Bacon)
Deductive Reasoning, (Decartes)
Cartesian Dualism = reducing all substance to “matter” and “mind”
The Modern Scientific Method
Religion

28. Consequences of the Scientific Revolution
Creation of an international scientific community; scholars could engage in discourse about theories and ideas, thus expanding knowledge.
The modern scientific method.
Few economic consequences for the masses initially outside of navigation.
Few practical and applied consequences of the science to improve the lives of the masses.
The greatest impact was on how people thought and believed.