Scientific Revolution – Key Vocabulary

A vocabulary set spotlighting the pivotal figures, objects, observations, and cultural forces that challenged traditional views and fueled the Scientific Revolution of the 16th–17th centuries.

Scientific Revolution

A 16th- and 17th-century intellectual movement that transformed Europeans’ understanding of nature through observation, experimentation, and new instruments.

Tycho Brahe

Danish astronomer who in 1572 observed a "new star" (supernova) and measured its distance, challenging the belief in unchanging heavens.

Supernova of 1572

The bright "new star" Tycho Brahe recorded in Cassiopeia; evidence that celestial realms could change.

Diurnal Parallax

Method Tycho used to gauge stellar distance by comparing an object’s position against the star background at dusk and dawn.

Geocentric Universe

Ancient model (Aristotle/Ptolemy) placing Earth at the center with nested crystalline spheres for Moon, planets, and stars.

Aristotle's Cosmic Model

Framework asserting an unchanging, perfect heaven beyond the Moon and a transient, corruptible Earth at the universe’s center.

Crystalline Spheres

Transparent, perfectly smooth shells thought to carry heavenly bodies; shattered conceptually by comet, supernova, and telescope data.

Comet Observations

Late-16th-century sightings showed comets crossing supposed solid spheres, implying the heavens were not fixed or crystalline.

Sunspots

Dark patches on the Sun revealed by telescopes; further proof celestial bodies were imperfect and changeable.

Lunar Mountains

Rugged surface features Galileo sketched in 1610, contradicting the idea of perfectly smooth heavenly bodies.

Bologna Dragon (1572)

Alleged dragon captured near Bologna and presented to Ulysses Aldrovandi, illustrating the era’s difficulty separating fact from myth.

Ulysses Aldrovandi

Director of Bologna’s Museum of Natural History who catalogued strange specimens (including the ‘dragon’) and authored works on natural history.

Museum of Natural History (Bologna)

One of Europe’s earliest natural history collections, run by Aldrovandi as a center for classifying newly discovered species.

New World Flora and Fauna

Corn, potatoes, tomatoes, tobacco, quinine, armadillos, etc.—species unknown to ancients that forced Europeans to rethink biological knowledge.

Quinine (Jesuit Bark)

South-American tree bark introduced to Europe; became a key antimalarial and symbolized the flood of novel medicinal plants.

St. Bartholomew’s Day Massacre (1572)

Catholic attack on French Protestants in Paris; emblem of intense religious conflict paralleling scientific upheaval.

Pope Gregory XIII

Elected 1572; bore a dragon on his coat-of-arms, linking the Bologna dragon legend to political‐religious symbolism.

Religious Wars of the 16th Century

Series of Catholic-Protestant conflicts that fractured Europe’s religious unity and heightened doubts about traditional authority.

Galileo Galilei

Italian mathematician and experimentalist whose telescopic discoveries (1609-1610) undermined geocentric cosmology.

Vincenzo Galilei

Galileo’s father; a musician and theorist whose interest in mathematics and acoustics influenced Galileo’s scientific mindset.

Dutch Lens Grinders

Artisans who combined lenses c. 1608 to create the first simple telescopes, inspiring Galileo’s improved instruments.

Telescope

Optical device that Galileo refined from 3× to 9× and then 30× magnification, revolutionizing astronomical observation.

Chromatic Aberration

Colored fringe and blurring at image edges caused by imperfect 17th-century lenses; made early telescopic observations tricky to interpret.

Moons of Jupiter (Medicean Stars)

Four satellites Galileo discovered in 1610; their orbits around Jupiter proved not everything revolved around Earth.

Milky Way Observations

Galileo’s telescope resolved the Milky Way into countless stars, vastly expanding the perceived scale of the universe.

Phases of Venus

Cycle of illumination Galileo recorded that can occur only if Venus orbits the Sun, contradicting simple geocentrism.

Patronage System

Practice of seeking financial and political support from elites; Galileo secured backing by dedicating discoveries to the Medici.

Cosimo II de’ Medici

Grand Duke of Tuscany; Galileo’s patron who lent prestige and resources and helped promote telescopic findings across Europe.

University of Padua

Venetian university where Galileo taught mathematics (1590s) and built his early reputation in physics.

30× Magnification

Power of Galileo’s best 1610 telescope, enabling detailed study of lunar terrain, Jupiter’s moons, and stellar fields.

Printing Press

Technology Galileo used to rapidly disseminate works like Sidereus Nuncius (1610), spreading new astronomical evidence continent-wide.

Heliocentric Theory

Sun-centered cosmology advanced by Copernicus and supported by Galileo’s observations of Venus and Jupiter’s moons.

Royal Society (1660)

English institution—mentioned as part of 17th-century solutions—dedicated to collective experimentation and publication of scientific results.