1. The Scientific Revolution

2. What was the Scientific Revolution?
Definition: a new way of thinking about the natural world; based on observation and willingness to question accepted beliefs.
Causes of the Scientific Revolution:
Renaissance
Reformation
Printing Press
Explorers discovered new lands, people
Explorers needed better instruments

3. The Roots of Modern Science
Before 1500, scholars looked to Bible or ancient Greece/Rome for knowledge
Geocentric Theory: earth-centered view of the universe
Aristotle and Ptolemy’s idea
Christianity taught God made Earth center of universe
Heliocentric Theory: sun-centered view of the universe
Nicolaus Copernicus’s idea

5. What was the Scientific Method?
Definition: new approach to science, logical procedure for gathering and testing ideas
Steps:
1. Problem/question arising from an observation
2. Hypothesis: unproven assumption
3. Experiment to test hypothesis
4. Analyze/interpret data
5. Data either confirms or disproves the hypothesis

6. Changing Science
OLD SCIENCE
NEW SCIENCE
Scholars relied on ancient authorities, church teachings, common sense, and reasoning to explain the physical world.
Scholars began to use observation, experimentation, and scientific reasoning to gather knowledge and draw conclusions about the physical world.

7. The Scientific Revolution Spreads
Zacharias Janssen: 1st microscope
Anton van Leeuwenhoek: observed red blood cells, bacteria
Evangelista Torricelli: 1st mercury barometer
Gabriel Fahrenheit: 1st thermometer w/ mercury

8. The Scientific Revolution Spreads Cont’d
Anders Celsius: mercury thermometer w/ freezing at 0
Andreas Vesalius performed dissections: On the Structure of the Human Body
Edward Jenner: smallpox vaccine
Boyle’s Law: explains how the volume, temp, and pressure of gas affect each other