The Scientific Revolution and the Human Body

Where did the black death happen?

Came from europe to the middle east

What did people know about the black death at the time? How did they prevent it?

People did not know how it was spread. Did not have any way to prevent it, so people went to church a lot and prayed

When did Medieval technology stimulate science?

The 15th and 16th centuries

Where did science exist without extensive technology?

Greece

When did technology exist without science?

The middle ages

Why does science need literacy, but technology doesn’t

Science is based on understanding processes, communicated by language through critical thinking

Knowledge about technology can be passed down from master to apprentice verbally and through demonstration

What are some examples of medieval technology that were later important to science?

The earliest print shops used screw presses for printing nad were originally wine presses

cannons, gunpowder, cannonballs and explosive shells

Why did the church loose control of science?

Science came to establish its base in technology and commerce, not in written scholarship or the church

How did the church control science?

The scholastics were all in the church, so the church controlled their activities

The church encouraged the scholastics to bring together ancient science and Christian theology

Who initiated The Reformation?

Martin Luther (1517)

What was the Reformation?

Western European Christianity fractured into catholic and protestant camps

How did the Reformation impact authority in philosophy and science?

There was no longer one central authority that ruled issues pertaining to philosophy and science

How were the churches separated after the Reformation?

After the Reformation, churches separated through theological and political disputes. This led to the formation of new denominations distinct from the Roman Catholic Church, like Protestantism.

This created a divided Europe, with some states and regions becoming predominantly Protestant while others remained Catholic.

There were many disagreements, which resulted in the establishment of churches that were independent of the pope's authority. 

How did new plants and animals get to europe?

Through geographic exploration

What were the implications of having new plants and animals in Europe?

It stimulated a lot of thought about natural history in Europe

Why was the printing press invented by Johannes Gutenberg different than previous ones?

It had movable metal letters, used durable oil-based ink and had a screw press to create an efficient system for mass producing books

When did the printing press by Johannes Gutenberg happen?

14402-1450s

Who originally invented printing?

The Chinese

Why was hand-printing favoured in the catholic church until the 14th century?

Because the church was an intellectual authority that ruled over what was being circulated

With hand printing, they could change it around if they didn’t like what was written. Mistakes were also easier to correct

Essentially gave the church more authority over intellectual information

What are some benefits of the printing press?

Allowed for easier publication of books

It was easier to have accurate printing

More inexpensive than hand-copying

Widespread literacy became possible (If a child ever grows up and they are not taught to read and write, that is a violation of human rights)

Good, informative illustrations were included (Made from wooden stamps)

No central authority controlled information

Led to individualism. didnt have to rely on others for information

How did the printing press ultimately lead to an alteration in intergenerational relationships 

• Before printing, when very few people could read, everything you learned was either from your own experience or by talking to someone face to face

• Because of this, your elders were extremely important

• With printing, this was no longer true; you respected your elders, but you could learn a lot without them

When was coffee introduced into Europe?

16th and 17th centuries

What were the effects of coffee on Europe?

• Some say that this is what caused Europe to sober up

• Had a clarifying effect on people’s minds

• Alcohol was a very common beverage, partly because it was an analgesic (relieved pain)

• Some people think that alcohol use was common as it was used to purify water

• The Greeks would dilute their wine with sea water

• Coffee houses arose in London very quickly

• In this case they had political discussions and debates and officials thought that coffee houses had to be suppressed

Did Christianity help or hinder the growth of science?

The church was not always opposed to science, but they were opposed to heretical opinions, not of scientific ones

Every major figure in the scientific revolution was Christian; there was hardly any religious skepticism among the important figures in the scientific revolution

Many had strong belief in the book of structure and the book of nature

Why was Copernicus influential? When did he live

1473-1543

Argued in favour of the heliocentric model of the solar system

His book was published after his death

He was in the church, and the arch bishop encouraged Copernicus to publish the book for years

His greatest successes were in physics, astronomy and math

Why did Copernicus believe the planets moved in circles?

The heavens were perfect, and the circle was the perfect shape, so that is why Copernicus thought planetary motions moved in terms of perfect circles

What did Johannes Kepler do and when did he live?

1571-1630

He showed that planetary orbits are ellipses, not circles, as Copernicus thought. He didn’t know why they moved like that, but it was later explained by Newton

What did Galileo Galilei do, and when did he live?

1564-1642

One of the first to use the telescope, and he discovered celestial imperfections (sunspots, mountains on the moon, Jupiter’s moons)

Published papers in mathematics

He was the first person to put the telescope to use in astronomical research

what is a common misconception about Galileo Galilei and the telescope?

He is often credited for inventing the telescope, he did not invent it he heard about it, someone else built it and then he built his own

When was the telescope invented, and when did Galileo Galilei make his own?

Invented in 1608, Galileo made his own in 1609

Who was Sir Isaac Newton and when did he live?

1642-1727

Newton entrenched the idea that the universe operates according to simple, universal, quantitative laws

He is considered the greatest scientist ever

Very interested in alchemy and the bible, a lot of his work concerns the biblical acts of Jesu

What did Newton discover?

Planets and the sun both orbit the center of mass, the center of mass depends on the Earth and how far away it is

Explanation of the daily tides

Universal law of gravitation, the same law that explained why planetary motion is epicycles, also explains the daily tides 

What was Newton’s biggest impact on science as an industry? What were the pros and cons?

The search for simple, quantitative, universal laws became the model for what science ought to be doing

However, historical science (biology, geology) is more interested in understanding events than in discovering such laws

Because of the success of physicists, biologists, and other scientists searched for simple laws that did not exist. This stunted their growth

Who was Leonardo da Vinci and when did he live?

1452-1519

He did not organize or publish his scientific work 

He was a part of the Renaissance, but not the scientific revolution

His work was put into a book after his death

Known for his incorporation of anatomy into art

Interested in how flying worked (random asf but okay?)

Who was Andreas Vesalius and when did he live?

1514-1564

He produced the first accurate, high-quality book of human anatomy. Extremely popular

“On the Fabric of the Human Body”

His book was published the same year as Copernicus

What Copernicus (believed sun-centred model) was to Ptolemy (believed earth-centred model), Vesalius was to Galen

When did Vesalius’ skepticism of Galenists start?

He studied at a university in Paris. While there, he did dissections for Jacobus Sylvius, a Galenist, which made him skeptical of Galenic anatomy, because he noticed discrepancies

Vesalius noticed there were discrepancies between what Galen said and what he was observing 

How did Vesalius obtain bodies for teaching anatomy?

• It was not common for somebody to donate their body for science at the time

• He was friends with a judge in Padua who made bodies available to him

• If you did something really awful, the official sentence was death and dissection

• His work was heavily biased towards men because women and children were not executed for anything

• Some bodies were stolen from graves

• People like Vesalius had to acquire bodies illegally; sometimes, bodies were used in prestigious medical schools that were acquired illegally

His anatomy courses were held in the winter, so that the bodies rotted more slowly. Even so, infection was a constant hazard. 

What were the sections of Vesalius’ book?

1. The skeleton

2. The muscles

3. The vascular system

4. The nervous system

5. The abdominal viscera

6. The thoracic viscera

7. The brain/ eyes

What were some practical reasons tha Vesalius’ book was so popular?

It focused on anatomical correctness and high quality illustrations

It was printed, so it was widely available

It was correct about almost everything

The illustrations were very informative, not just decorative

What was one of the things that Vesalius was incorrect about (like Galen)?

Although his anatomy findings were beyond those of Galen, his physiology was not

He still did not propose circulation of the blood

He noted that he could not find the pores in the septum of the heart (like Galen believed), but he did not take that any further and did not propose circulation

What were Vesalius’ beliefs in regard to religion and science?

Like Galen, he believed that the human body was perfectly designed by God

He was sometimes accused of being an atheist (an insult at the time) but this was not true 

How did Galenists feel about Vesalius

They beefed

Galenists did not accept his work; his criticism of them was so violent that it drove Vesalius out of academia

They called his book filthy garbage, accused him of vivisection, and accused him of atheism (not true) 

Who was Micheal Servetus and when did he live?

He followed Vesalius at the University of Paris, did dissections for Jacobus Sylvius, the Galenist who had employed Vesalius 

• He was a physician, anatomist, and theologian

• In his century, it was dangerous to be theologian; if you had wrong ideas in the wrong place, it could get you in a lot of trouble 

• His theologian got him into trouble, and he was executed by being set on fire

• As the concept of religious tolerance developed, people started wondering should we really start persecuting people based on their religious beliefs 

What is a theologian

A theologian is a person who studies or is an expert in theology, the study of God, religion, and religious beliefs

Which book got Michael Servetus burned at the stake?

In Restoration of Christianity (1553), which he wrote

What was Michael Servetus’ view on pulmonary circulation, and where did this come from?

There are no pores separating the right and left ventricles

The pulmonary artery is large; the lungs could not possibly consume all that blood (if blood were consumed in the tissue, as Galen believed)

Blood in the pulmonary artery is dark red, and the blood in the pulmonary vein is bright red 

This was all detailed in his book In Restoration of Christianity (1553)

Who is Realdo Colombo and when did he live?

Colombo was an anatomist and successor to Vesalius at the University of Padua

He and Vesalius were friends until Colombo accused Vesalius of anatomical errors in Vesalius’ On the Fabric of the Human Body.

Colombo planned to write and publish his own anatomy textbook to supercede Vesalius’ work. 

Who is William Harvey, and when did he live?

1578-1657

He became physician to King James I and King Charles I, and lectured at the College of Physicians.

He secretly did experiments on the movement of blood

Somewhere around 1616, he began talking about his work, but he did not publish it

By about 1616, Harvey had privately concluded that blood circulates (in both the pulmonary and systemic circuits)

What is “On the movement of the Heart and Blood”, who wrote it, and when?

Written by William Harvey, published in 1628

This book posed several questions and problems concerning Galenic physiology.

Why do venous and arterial blood differ only in shade, when they have such different functions, according to Galen?

Why do veins have valves, while arteries do not?

Why do the lungs need so much nourishment?

Most critical of all: how much blood is pumped with each heartbeat?

If the function of the venous blood is to distribute food, and arterial blood is pneuma, why are they so similar in colour 

What were harveys arguments and observations about sirculation?

• Valves in the veins (and in the heart) ensure the one–way flow of blood. This can be demonstrated on a living person.

• If you tie off an artery in a living animal, the side toward the heart bulges (with blood).

• If you tie off a vein, the side away from the heart bulges

• The heart pumps 2 ozs. Blood per heartbeat, or 600 lbs per hour

• Much too great for the Galenic model of blood being synthesized in the liver from food

What questions were left after harveys work?

What does the liver do, if it does not make blood? Anatomy shows that blood goes straight from the gut to the liver; what is the liver doing with that blood?

• The liver is not a mechanical organ; it was thought in the Galenic model that the blood going from the gut to the liver was carrying food and would create more blood

• Without any type of chemistry cannot make a hypothesis about this 

What is the function of respiration? What is in the air that needs to be distributed by the arteries- pneuma, vital spirits, innate heat?

• Pneuma was taken in by the lungs and was distributed by the body; we can’t know what is going on without knowledge of chemistry 

What is the difference between venous and arterial blood in the systemic circuit?

Most importantly, where are the connections between arteries and veins? 

• He could not see the connections, did not use microscopy in his work, it was still developing in the 17th century

• He endured harsh criticism from a German physiologist who later stole his work 

What was the significance of Harveys work?

• Harvey established double circuit blood circulation (both pulmonary and systemic circulation) in humans and mammals

• His work was a model of experimental, quantitative biology

• His work highlighted the mechanical aspects of organismal function

• His work suggested blood transfusion as a treatment for blood loss, which was attempted later

• This was the first time anyone understood anything about how organisms work, apart from obvious, external functions

Who was René Descartes inspired by? What was the inspiration?

• Descartes‘ model of living things as mechanisms involved physics and engineering, but not chemistry.

  • It was inspired by the mechanical concepts (pressure, fluid flow) at the heart of William Harvey’s work. 

• The idea of purely physical argument allowed us to understand how blood works is very influential with Descartes

• He was under the impression that only humans had a pineal gland

What is vitalism?

Living processes depend upon a vital force that is not explainable in physical, mechanical or chemical terms

Inspired by harvey

What is Mechanicism?

living processes are the consequence of fundamental laws of physics, mechanics, and chemistry 

• Mechanism was born largely in the 17th century 

• Inspired by Harvey and his findings