Scientific Revolution Primary Content Source Prentice Hall World

Scientific Revolution Primary Content Source: Prentice Hall World History Images as cited.

GEOCENTRIC THEORY: Until the 1500 s many people believed the EARTH was at the center of the universe (solar system too, since solar system is in the universe) -Started in Greece by ancient Greek astronomer Ptolemy -Church taught the same theory (God made Earth, so…) -In the 1500’s and 1600’s, discoveries were made that made people start changing their minds. Or at least start asking questions. saburchill. com

HELIOCENTRIC THEORY: Proposed in 1543 by Copernicus, a Polish astronomer. -Said SUN was at center of the universe. -Written in his book, Revolutions of the Heavenly Spheres. -Said several planets (including Earth) orbited the sun. tumblr. com

Most experts rejected this radical theory. -In Europe at the time, all scientific knowledge and many religious teachings were based on the arguments developed by classical thinkers. -If Ptolemy’s reasoning about the planets was wrong, then the whole system of human knowledge might be called into question. en. wikipedia. org arnett. us. com

SUPPORT FOR COPERNICUS -In the late 1500 s a Danish astronomer named TYCHO BRAHE backed Copernicus’ argument. -He observed the position of planets for years, carefully noting the position of heavenly bodies -His assistant carried on his work after Brahe died buhlplanetarium 2. tripod. com

After Brahe’s death, his assistant, the brilliant German astronomer and mathematician Johannes Kepler, used Brahe’s data to calculate the orbits of the planets revolving around the sun. -His calculations supported Copernicus’s heliocentric view. physics. usyd. edu. au

NEW IDEAS Kepler’s ideas were different in another way, however. -Taught that orbits weren’t perfect circles around the sun, but oval-shaped. Copernicus and Ptolemy believed in orbits shaped like circles. Kepler: ELLIPTICAL (oval) orbits lcsd. gov. hk

Scientists built on the foundations of Copernicus and Kepler. -In Italy, Galileo Galilei assembled an astronomical telescope. -Galileo had observed the four moons of Jupiter moving slowly around that planet. -Like Copernicus he realized that the Earth moved around the sun. jrscience. wcp. muohio. edu

UNDER ATTACK: Other scholars attacked Galileo because his observations contradicted ancient views about the world. -The Church condemned him because his ideas challenged the Christian teaching that the heavens were fixed, unmoving, and perfect. dailygalaxy. com

ON TRIAL: In 1633 Galileo was brought before the Inquisition. -INQUISITION: A court established by the Roman Catholic Church in the thirteenth century to try cases of heresy and other offenses against the church. -Threatened with death unless he took back his theory and said that Earth was at center of the universe. -Took it back, but reluctantly 0 nd. org

Despite the opposition of religious authorities, by the early 1600 s a new approach to science had emerged. Unlike most earlier approaches, it did not rely on authorities like Aristotle or Ptolemy or even the Bible. It depended instead upon observation and experimentation. sciencephoto. com

The new approach to science required scientists to collect and accurately measure data. To explain the data, scientists used reasoning to propose a logical hypothesis, or possible explanation. They then tested the hypothesis with further observation or experimentation. jackcomstock. deviantart. com

Complex mathematical calculations were used to convert the observations and experiments into scientific laws. After reaching a conclusion, scientists repeated their work at least once, and usually many times, to confirm their findings. This step-by-step process of discovery became known as the scientific method. science. phillipmartin. info

The new scientific method was really a revolution in thought. -Two giants of this revolution were the Englishman Francis Bacon and the Frenchman Rene Descartes. Each devoted himself to the problem of knowledge. zazzle. com

SIMILARITIES: -Both Bacon and Descartes rejected Aristotle’s assumptions and Church teachings about “science. ” -Instead, looked for truth and believed it could only be found through investigation. mises. org

Bacon and Descartes differed in their methods. Bacon stressed experimentation and observation. He wanted science to make life better for people by leading to practical technologies. answers. com

Descartes emphasized human reasoning as the best road to understanding. In his Discourse on Method, he explains how he decided to discard all traditional authorities and search for provable knowledge. “I think, therefore I am. ” sqapo. com

ISAAC NEWTON -By age 24, came up with a brilliant theory to explain how planets circled the sun -Saw an apple fall from a tree, wondered if force that made apple fall to Earth was same that controlled the movement of the planets astrobob. areavoices. com

In the next 20 years, Newton perfected his theory. Using mathematics, he showed that a single force keeps the planets in their orbits around the sun. He called this force gravity. galileoandeinstein. physics. virginia. edu

In 1687, Newton published Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosophy -Book explains the law of gravity and other workings of the universe. - Nature, argued Newton, follows uniform laws. - All motion in the universe can be measured and described mathematically. loc. gov

To many, Newton’s work seemed to link physics and astronomy, to bind the new science as gravity itself held the universe together. An English poet caught the spirit of what would later be called the Newtonian revolution: “Nature and Nature’s Laws lay hid in night, God said, Let Newton be! and all was light. ” - Alexander Pope, Epitaphs

For over 200 years, Newton’s laws held fast. In the early 1900 s, startling new theories of the universe called some of Newton’s ideas into question. Yet Newton’s laws of motion and mechanics continue to have many practical uses. Newton helped develop an important new branch of mathematics – calculus. instantworlddomination. com

Chemistry slowly freed itself from the magical notions of medieval alchemists, who had believed it was possible to transform ordinary metals into gold. metahistory. org

In the 1600 s, Robert Boyle distinguished between individual elements and chemical compounds. He also explained the effect of temperature and pressure on gases. Boyle’s work opened the way to modern chemical analysis of the composition of matter. en. wikipedia. org

During the Renaissance, artists and physicians made new efforts to study the human body. In 1543, Andreas Vesalius published On the Structure of the Human Body, the first accurate and detailed study of human anatomy. mcm. edu

A French physician, Ambrose Pare, developed a new and more effective ointment for preventing infection. He also developed a technique for closing wounds with stitches. le-paradis-des-anges. forumactif. fr uh. edu

In the early 1600 s, William Harvey, an English scholar, described the circulation of the blood for the first time. He showed how the heart serves as a pump to force blood through veins and arteries. wired. com famousscientists. org

Later in the century, the Dutch inventor Anthony van Leeuwenhoek perfected the microscope and became the first human to see cells and microorganisms. These pioneering scientists opened the way for further advances. commons. wikimedia. org www. uv. es

Thinkers like Bacon, Descartes, and Newton applied the scientific method to the pursuit of knowledge. Their work encouraged others to search for scientific laws governing the universe. Such ideas opened the way to the Enlightenment of the 1700 s. newworldencyclopedia. org