1. The Scientific Revolution

2. Was it a “Revolution”? The end of the medieval worldview
Not necessarily new – old theories and data were reexamined

3. Was it a “Revolution”? It was not rapid
Only a few people in widely scattered areas
But it set the standard for assessing knowledge in the western world

4. What caused the Revolution?
Renaissance ideas
Technological problems
Rediscovery of ancient works
The Reformation and religious wars

5. Astronomy

6. Nicolaus Copernicus (1473 – 1543)
Polish priest & astronomer
On the Revolutions of the Heavenly Spheres (1543)
Heliocentric model of the universe

7. Tycho Brahe (1546 – 1601) Danish astronomer
Built an observatory – data collected proved Copericus theory

8. Johannes Kepler (1571 – 1630) German astronomer
Three laws of planetary motion
Planets have elliptical orbits
Speeds in orbit are not uniform
Planets closer to the sun orbit faster

9. Galileo Galilei (1564 – 1642) Italian mathematician
Used a telescope to see features in outer space
Fresco by Giuseppe Bertini depicting Galileo showing the Doge of Venice how to use the telescope

10. Galileo Galilei (1564 – 1642) Principle of motion & law of inertia
Dialogue Concerning the Two Chief World Systems (1632)
Response of the church
Cristiano Banti's 1857 painting Galileo facing the Roman Inquisition

11. Isaac Newton (1642 – 1727) English scientist
Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosophy or Principia
Three laws of motion
Principle of universal gravitation
All motion explained by one universal law

12. Medicine and Chemistry

13. Medicine Paracelsus (1493 – 1541) Andreas Vesalius (1514 – 1564)
Pioneered the diagnosis and treatment of disease
Andreas Vesalius (1514 – 1564)
On the Fabric of the Human Body – anatomy
William Harvey (1578 – 1657)
Blood circulation
Image of veins from Harvey's Exercitatio Anatomica de Motu Cordis et Sanguinis in Animalibus

14. Chemistry Anton van Leewenhoek (1632 – 1723)
Developed powerful microscopes
Robert Boyle (1627 – 1691)
Studied gases – Boyle’s Law
Antoine Lavoisier (1743 – 1794)
Named the chemical elements

15. Philosophy and the Scientific Method

16. Francis Bacon (1561 – 1626) English lawyer and royal official
Considered to be the father of empiricism – experience as the source of knowledge
Inductive method of reasoning

17. Rene Descartes (1596 – 1650) Mathematician Discourse on Method (1637)
Begin with doubt
“I think therefore I am”
Deductive reasoning
Cartesian dualism
Mind and body

18. Scientific Method
Bacon’s inductive reasoning + Descartes’ deductive method

19. Responses to the Scientific Revolution

20. Royal Societies Governments encouraged scientific inquiry
Royal Society of England, 1660

21. Science v. Religion Blaise Pascal (1623 – 1662)
Pensees
Sought to unite science & religion
“God is a reasonable bet”
Baruch Spinoza (1632 – 1677)
Everything is in God and nothing is apart from Him (monism or pantheism)

22. Impact of the Scientific Revolution
Led directly to the Enlightenment of the 18th century
Catholic church became more hostile
By 19th century, conflict between science and religion