The Scientific Revolution: Transforming European Thought in History

1. Scientific Revolution

2. What was it? • Changes in the way Europeans thought, using REASON • Systematic doubt (“Prove it!”) • Empirical, sensory verification • Abstraction of human knowledge into separate sciences • View that world works like a machine

3. When was it? • Like the Renaissance, no set beginning date • Newton (1700s)? • Galileo (1600s)? • Da Vinci (1500s)? • Earlier (re-discovery of Aristotle, in 1200s)?

4. Why did it happen? • Trade with Islam brought Europeans the works of Aristotle • Development of Scholasticism • 1100s-1500s • resolve contradictions beteewn church, ancients thru Aristotlean deductive logic • Alchemy (prim. Chemistry) • Humanism • Introduction of Greek (Plato) classics, to Europe • Ultimately led to Prot. Reformation

5. Astronomy: The Greeks • Most believed in a Earth centered (“geocentric”) universe • Look at the stars… • Cycles! • Problem w/ geocentric: planets moved in circles, but also moved backwards (precession) • Problem w/ heliocentric: if Sun at center, Earth moves 1000s of MPH (jump up – where land?) Precession (Epicycles)

6. Astronomy: Copernicus (1473-1543) • In year of his death, published On the Revolutions of the Heavenly Spheres • Proposed sun centered (“heliocentric”) universe

7. Astronomy: Arabic Numbers • Through most of middle ages, everyone used roman numerals • Hard to do math • Challenge: Addition! • Arabs used place number system • Advantage: easy to calculate • And calculate, they did!

8. Johannes Kepler(1571-1630) • Proved orbits were elliptical, not circular • His model perfectly predicted planetary motions • His book, New Astronomy, inspired Galileo

9. Galileo Galilei (1564-1642) • Referred to as the “Father of Modern Astronomy” • First to use telescope to observe the sky • Saw mountains of moon • Moons of Jupiter • Wrote @ observations in The Starry Messenger • Masterwork: Dialogues on the Two Chief Systems of the World • Written in style of a conversation, it insisted universe operated along mathematical principles

10. Galileo and the Church • Galileo, a professor, taught his students of his findings • In 1616, Cardinal Roberto Bellarmino personally ordered Galileo NOT to teach the Copernican system • In 1632, he published “Dialogue Concerning the Two Chief World Systems”, a criticism of the Geocentric model • In 1632, he was ordered to appear before the Inquisition, accused of heresy

11. Galileo and the Inquisition • Why did the Church care about Galileo? • Psalms 93: “the world is firmly established, it cannot be moved” • Psalms 104: “the LORD set the earth on its foundations; it can never be moved” • Ecclesiastes 1: “and the sun rises and sets, and returns to its place” • In his Dialogues, Galileo not only contradicted the Bible, but also personally offended the Pope, a former supporter

12. Decision of the Inquisition • Galileo was required to recant, or deny, his heliocentric beliefs; this was considered heretical • Galileo was ordered imprisoned; later, he was put under house arrest • His “Dialogue” was banned, and any further writing of his was forbidden

13. Scientific Method • Francis Bacon (1561-1626) advocated inductive thinking • Observe natural phenomena • Derive general principles to explain observations • His idea led to the formal scientific method • Gather evidence • Collect additional data through experimentation • Test hypothesis

14. Isaac Newton (1643-1727) • English physicist, natural scientist, astronomer, mathematician • Believed in “clockwork universe” • 1687 Masterwork = The Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosophy (known as Principia Mathematica) • Universe was mechanistic • Universe explained thru math • Laid out attraction of gravity • Laid out 3 laws of motion

15. Biology • Antony van Leeuwenhoek (1632-1723) (“Father of microbiology”) • Use of microscope (up to 500x!) to examine plants, animals • Named cells • Carolus Linnaeus (1707-1778) • SystemaNaturae: catalogued all creatures in a system • Linnaean system (Species, etc)

16. Chemistry • While people were discovering chemical reactions, no one could explain how they worked • Henry Cavendish: discovered hydrogen • Joseph Priestley: discovered oxygen • Antoine Lavoisier: law of conservation of mass • With these (& other) discoveries, Europeans began moving away from belief that all matter was made of 4 elements (Fire, Air, Water, Earth)

17. Electricity • Stephen Gray, 1729: proved electricity could be transmitted through metal wires • 1745: Leyden jar (first electrical storage device, aka…) • Ben Franklin, 1749: lightning = electricity

18. Medicine Dissection of human cadaver by Belgian physician Andreas Vesalius (1514-1564) • Dissections led to investigation of body • Anatomy • Circulation of blood • Inoculation (live virus) • Vaccination (dead virus) • Proposal that body was a natural system, followed predictable and rational ways • Man was mechanistic!

19. The End Newton’s apple tree