Scientific Revolution

Who was the ancient Greek philosopher who first developed the Geocentric Model?

Aristotle proposed the model and Ptolemy expanded upon his ideas. 

Other than ancient scholars, who did people trust and look to for answers and knowledge during the Middle Ages?

The Church

What time period is often given credit for ushering in or inspiring the Scientific Revolution?

The Renaissance

Which two scholars are given credit for helping to develop the scientific method?

Francis Bacon and René Descartes

Who placed more emphasis on reason as opposed to experimentation and observation?

René Descartes

Who was the Polish astronomer who challenged the Geocentric Model?

Nicolaus Copernicus 

What was the name of Copernicus’ new theory?

Heliocentric theory 

Why did Copernicus decide not to publish his, On the Revolutions of the Heavenly Spheres until the last year of his life?

• He knew the Church would oppose his work because it went directly against what the Church teaches.

• He was concerned about the weaknesses of his work because his formulas did not predict the positions of the planets very well.

• He did not want to face ridicule.

Who believed that the sun revolved around the earth but the other planets revolved around the sun? (What word did he create?) 

Tycho Brahe; Supernova

What did Kepler discover to solve the problem with Copernicus’s mathematical formula?

• He proved that the planets orbited the sun in an oval pattern, or ellipse.

• He proved that the heliocentric theory was right. His mathematical model of the solar system was also correct. 

Who proved his theory by building the first telescope used for astronomy?

Galileo Galilei 

His greatest work was known as Principia, which explains how the planets remain in orbit as well as why an apple falls from a tree.

Sir Isaac Newton

What type of mathematics is Newton traditionally given credit for developing?

The Mathematical Principle of Natural Philosophy 

What was the controversy with Gottfried von Leibniz?

The German philosopher von Leibniz independently developed calculus at the same time as Newton. Leibniz and Newton accused each other of plagiarism and feuded for many years

Who was the foremost authority on medicine and anatomy in the ancient world?

Galen

How did the work of Vesalius and Galen differ?

• Galen had assumed that human anatomy was similar to that of animals, because he had never dissected a human body.

• Vesalius dissected the bodies of executed criminals and had realistic drawings made. 

William Harvey successfully described the workings of what anatomical system?

Circulatory system

Who invented the microscope?

Antony van Leeuwenhoek

Who is credited with coining the term “cell”

Robert Hooke

He is typically called the father of chemistry

Robert Boyle

His most significant contribution to chemistry was Boyle’s law, which describes how temperature, volume, and pressure affect gasses. 

Who said that matter could not be created or destroyed?

Antoine-Laurent Lavoisier 

What other major contribution to science did Lavoisier make?

• recognized and named oxygen

• introduced the metric system of measurements

• invented the first periodic table, which included 33 elements.

long term effects of the Scientific Revolution

• The scientific revolution ended up resulting in many more scientific advances that shaped western society.

  • This includes medical, astronomy, biology, and chemistry advances.

• Without the Scientific Revolution, we would have regressed tremendously as a society. 

How might other parts of society be affected by the ideas of the Scientific Revolution?

• The question of the role of the Roman Catholic Church in a changing culture became important. 

• Artists used chemistry to create paints and knowledge of the human body to paint people

• Science allowed people to view society differently