Unit 4 - Scientific, Philosophical, & Political Developments

Aristotelian World View

A motionless Earth was fixed as the center of the universe. Around it moved crystal-like spheres in a perfectly circular orbit: the moon, the sun, the known planets, and fixed stars.

- Earth is made up of 4 elements (air, earth, water, fire)

Sir Francis Bacon

(1561-1626) English politician and writer who developed the scientific method and inductive reasoning

- believed knowledge must be gained by observation and experimentation (empiricism)

Tycho Brahe

(1546-1601) Influenced by Copernicus

- built observatory and collected data on the locations of stars and planets for over 20 years

- observed a new star in 1572

- remained unconvinced by heliocentric theory because his limited knowledge of mathematics prevented him from making much sense out of the data.

Nicolas Copernicus

(1473-1543) Polish clergyman

- theorized that sun was the center of the universe and the planets went around it (heliocentric theory)

- Destroyed Aristotle's & Ptolemy's view of the universe

- died soon after publishing his theories

On the Revolution of Heavenly Spheres

Published in 1543 this was Copernicus' work which outlined the heliocentric theory.

Heliocentric theory

the idea that the earth and the other planets revolve around the sun

- sun-centered universe

Rene Descartes

(1596-1650) French philosopher who rejected everything that could not be proven

- the only thing he could prove was that he had a mind - "I think therefore I am"

- emphasized role of doubt in inquiry, but even doubt proves that someone is thinking

- human reason could both unlock secrets of nature and prove the existence of God (a perfect being must have placed that knowledge inside of him) - harmonized new science and old religion

- dual existence of mind and matter (Cartesian dualism)

- discovered analytic geometry

deductive reasoning

reasoning in which a conclusion is reached by stating a general principle and then applying that principle to a specific case

- logic moves from general to specific

- ex. the sun rises every morning; therefore, the sun will rise on Tuesday morning

inductive reasoning

A type of logic in which generalizations are based on a large number of specific observations

- logic moves from specific to general

- ex. Scientific method/empiricism

Empiricism

the view that knowledge originates in experience and that science should, therefore, rely on observation and experimentation

Galileo Galilei

(1564-1642) Italian astronomer and mathematician who was the first to use a telescope to study the stars and observed various moons and planets

- confirmed Copernicus' heliocentric theories

- forced to recant by the Catholic Inquisition and placed under house arrest until his death

Dialogue on the 2 Chief Systems of the World

(1632) Written by Galileo, criticizes the church's obstinacy and ignorance towards the new scientific findings during the Scientific Revolution, including the heliocentric theory

- tried by the Inquisition one year after publishing

Starry Messenger

Galileo's treatise of 1610 where he published his celestial observations made with a telescope

Johannes Kepler

(1571-1630) German astronomer and Brahe's assistant who first stated laws of planetary motion

- Wrote 3 laws of planetary motion based on mechanical relationships and accurately predicted movements of planets in a sun-centered universe (built on Copernicus' theories)

- found that planets move in an elliptical orbit, not circular

Natural laws

Principles that govern nature and the way the world works

- often based on mathematical proofs

Isaac Newton

(1642-1727) English mathematician and scientist

- invented differential calculus and formulated the theory of universal gravitation, a theory about the nature of light, and three laws of motion

- proved work of earlier astronomers with math

- universe operated perfectly in motion thanks to God's intervention - saw no conflict between faith and science

Principia

Newton's book which established the law of universal gravitation, which explains both movements on Earth and the motion of the planets

Ptolemy

2nd century Greek astronomer who proposed a geocentric system of the universe

- moon and stars orbited Earth in perfect crystalline circular orbits

- undisputed until Copernicus

- view endorsed by the Catholic church

French Academy of Sciences

Organized body for scientific study, founded in 1666 by royal advisor Jean-Baptiste Colbert

- gave several scientists government stipends

Royal Society of London

Organized body for scientific study, founded in the 1662

- had a royal charter but was completely independent from the government

Robert Hooke, Micrographia

(1635-1703) English polymath who was the one of the first scientists to investigate living things on a micrographic scale

- first to observe "small chambers" in cork and call them cells in his 1665 book "Micrographia"

Anton von Leewenhoek

(1632-1723) Dutch microbiologist who is known as the "Father of Microbiology"

- designed microscopes and was the first to observe and experiment with microbes

Robert Boyle

(1627-1691) Irish chemist who conducted experiments on gases at different temperatures. He is sometimes known as the "Father of Chemistry."

- one of the pioneers of the modern scientific method

Andreas Vesalius

(1514-1564) Flemish scientist who challenged existing medical knowledge and performed illicit dissections to provide detailed overviews of the human body and its systems

- pioneered the study of anatomy

William Harvey

(1578-1657) English physician who used dissection to describe the circulation of the blood to and from the heart

- discovered that the heart worked like a pump and obeyed mechanical laws

Margaret Cavendish

(1623-1673) English noblewoman and philosopher, poet, writer, and scientist

- unusual in her time for publishing extensively in natural philosophy and science

- became first woman allowed to attend a meeting of the Royal Society of London and criticized Robert Boyle and the use of microscopes

Maria Winkelmann

1670-1720 German astronomer and wife/assistant of acclaimed astronomer Gottfried Kirch

- discovered a comet and made other discoveries independent of her husband

- barred from the Royal Academy of Sciences due to her gender.

Scientific Method

a formal series of steps in which one could form a hypothesis, test the hypothesis, and develop a conclusion based on that test.