The Scientific Revolution – Vocabulary Flashcards

Vocabulary flashcards covering key terms, people, and concepts from the lecture notes on the Scientific Revolution and its causes.

Scientific Revolution

The emergence of modern science roughly 16th-early 18th centuries integrating mathematics, astronomy, physics, and chemistry with a new epistemology.

Epistemology

Philosophy that investigates human knowledge and how we know what we know.

Scientific Method

A process of observation and experiments to test hypotheses, moving away from blind faith.

Copernicanism

The heliocentric idea that the Sun is at the center of the Solar System, replacing the Ptolemaic geocentric view

Heliocentric system

Sun-centered model of the solar system with Earth revolving around the Sun.

Ptolemaic system

Geocentric model in which Earth is at the center and celestial bodies revolve around it.

Nicolaus Copernicus

Polish church official and astronomer who proposed the heliocentric theory.

Tycho Brahe

Danish astrologer/astronomer known for precise data; associated with the Tychoic system; court astronomer to Rudolph II.

Tychonic system

Hybrid model where the Sun and Moon orbit the Earth while other planets orbit the Sun.

Johannes Kepler

German astronomer who formulated the three laws of planetary motion.

Kepler’s First Law

The orbit of every planet is an ellipse with the Sun at one focus.

Kepler’s Second Law

Law of Equal Areas: a line from the Sun to a planet sweeps out equal areas in equal times

Kepler’s Third Law

Relationship between a planet’s orbital period and its distance from the Sun (comparisons among objects).

Galileo Galilei

Italian physicist/astronomer who supported Copernicus, improved the telescope, studied moons of Jupiter, and faced the Inquisition.

Dialogue Concerning the Two Chief World Systems

Galileo’s 1632 work defending Copernican theory, leading to condemnation by the Inquisition.

Refracting telescope

A telescope that uses lenses; Galileo improved it to be far more powerful.

Moons of Jupiter

Galileo’s astronomical observation of Jupiter’s major moons.

Inertia

The property of matter to resist changes in motion or rest unless acted on by a force.

Isaac Newton

English mathematician and physicist who formulated the laws of motion and gravitation; author of the Principia

Philosophiae Naturalis Principia Mathematica

Newton’s 1687 work that established the three laws of motion and laid the groundwork for classical mechanics.

Newtonian physics

Physics based on Newton’s laws of motion and universal gravitation

Opticks

Newton’s work on light, optics, and color theory, including reflections and colors.

Reflecting telescope

Telescope that uses mirrors to form images; introduced and advanced by Newton.

Calculus

Mathematical framework developed (independently by Newton and Leibniz) to describe change and motion

The Printing Press

Gutenberg’s invention (circa 1440) that enabled rapid, cheaper publication and dissemination of ideas.

Bible printing (Gutenberg Bible)

Gutenberg’s 1454 printed Bible that standardized text and spurred widespread reading and debate.

Philosophical Transactions

First peer-reviewed scientific journal, launched by the Royal Society in 1665

Royal Society of London

English scientific society founded in the 1660s that promoted experimental science.

Abbasid Dynasty and House of Wisdom

9th century Baghdad institution that translated ancient texts and advanced science, math, medicine, and philosophy

Ibn al-Haytham

Arab scholar known for optics, the study of light and lenses, and early scientific method concepts.

Paper

Material first developed in China; Muslims helped spread it westward, enabling easier spread of knowledge.

Observatories (Istanbul 1577)

Early astronomical observatory exemplifying live data collection and observations during the Scientific Revolution.