The Scientific Revolution

Science in the 16th and 17th
Centuries
̈ The 16th and 17th centuries witnessed one of
history’s most significant intellectual
developments, a sweeping change in man’s
view of the universe
̈ Historians often credit the Renaissance for
laying the foundation of the Scientific
Revolution.
̈ Renaissance artists rendered images of rocks,
plants, animals, and human anatomy
extremely accurately.
̈ Many of the technical advances of the
Renaissance were accomplished outside
universities by people who believed in
practical rather than theoretical knowledge.

Technological Advances
̈ The invention of new instruments and
machines, such as the telescope,
microscope, often made new scientific
discoveries possible.
̈ The printing press had a crucial role in
spreading innovative ideas quickly and
easily.
̈ The greatest achievements in the Scientific
Revolution came in the fields the Greeks
had mastered; astronomy, mechanics, and
medicine.

Cosmological Views
̈ The cosmological views of the Middle Ages and
Renaissance revolved around the ideas of Aristotle
and Ptolemy.
̈ Ptolemy’s view was known as the Geocentric
Conception. This is where the universe was seen as a
series of concentric spheres with the earth at the
center.
̈ Working outward from the earth, eight spheres
contained the moon, Mercury, Venus, the sun, Mars,
Jupiter, Saturn, and the fixed stars.
̈ Beyond the tenth sphere was the Empyrean Heaven -
the location of God and all the saved souls.
̈ Ptolemy’s universe was finite – it had a fixed outer
boundary. God and the saved souls were at one end,
and humans were at the center.

Geocentric Conception

Heliocentric conception
̈ Nicholas Copernicus
was a mathematician
who felt that Ptolemy’s
geocentric system was
too complicated and
failed to accord with the
observed motions of the
heavenly bodies.
̈ Copernicus developed
the Heliocentric Model
with the sun as its center
and the planets and stars
rotating around it.
̈ His famous work On the
Revolutions of the
Heavenly Spheres was
published just before his
death.

Nicholas Copernicus
̈ Copernicus explained
what appeared to be
movement of the sun and
the stars around the earth
was actually the daily
rotation of the earth on its
axis and the journey of the
earth around the sun each
year.
̈ It's important to note
Copernicus did not reject
Aristotle’s ideas or
Ptolemy’s model; he
simply wanted simplify the
two’s ideas.

Copernicus and Other
Astronomers
̈ Copernicus’ ideas were immediately rejected
by Martin Luther and the Protestants
however, the Catholic church remained
silent on the issue.
̈ Johannes Kepler, relying on the twenty year
studies gathered by Tycho Brahe, derived
his three laws of planetary motion.
̈ In his first law he rejected Copernicus but in
his third law he confirmed Copernicus’ ideas
and added to it that planets with larger
orbits revolve at a slower average velocity
that those with smaller orbits.

Science and Astronomy
̈ Galileo Galilei constructed his
own telescope and was the first
European to make observations
of the heavens by means of the
instrument.
̈ When he first turned his
telescope to the sky he
discovered mountains and
craters on the moon, four moons
revolving around Jupiter, the
phases of Venus, and sunspots.
̈ Galileo’s published work The
Starry Messenger had a massive
impact on Europeans, more so
that Kepler and Copernicus
combined.
̈ At first Galileo was regarded as
hero by scholars and world
leaders soon however, he found
himself and his ideas being
questioned by the Catholic
Church.

Galileo
̈ The Catholic Church condemned Copernicus’ work and
ordered Galileo to reject Copernicus’ ideas.
̈ The church felt that Copernicanism threatened not only
Scripture but also the conception of the universe. The
heavens were no longer a spiritual world but were a
world of matter and God was not in a fixed place.
̈ The church inquisition informed Galileo who could
continue to discuss his ideas as long as he maintained it
was not fact.
̈ Galileo never accepted his condemnation and with his
second published work Dialogue on the Two Chief World
Systems found himself once again before the Inquisition.
̈ This time he was found guilty of the teaching the
condemned Copernican system, and forced to recant his
errors.
̈ He was placed under house arrest and spent his
remained eight years studying mechanics where he once

Sir Isaac Newton
̈ Early in his life he invented
calculus, began his
investigations into the
composition of light, and
inaugurated his work on the
law of universal gravitation.
̈ He was knighted in 1705 and
is the only English scientist to
be buried in Westminster
Abbey.
̈ Newton’s most famous work
was Mathematical Principles of
Natural Philosophy known
simply as Principia where he
spelled out the mathematical
proofs demonstrating his
universal law of gravitation.
̈ Newton took all of the work of
the astronomers,
mathematicians, and
philosophers before him and
sensitized the foundations of
modern science.

Sir Isaac Newton
̈ In Principia Newton laid out his three laws
of motion.
̈ Newton had demonstrated one law could
explain all motion in the universe if
mathematically proven
̈ Newton proved the universe was one huge
regulated machine that operated according
to natural laws, in absolute time, space, and
motion
̈ Newton’s ideas represented the world view
all the way until Einstein and his Theory of
Relativity surpassed Newton.

Rene Descartes
̈ Descartes began by reflecting
the doubt and uncertainty that
came in the 17th century and
ended with a philosophy that
dominated western thought
until the 20th century.
̈ Descartes decided to set aside
all he had learned and begin
again. He asserted that he
would accept only those things
that his reason said were true.
̈ His most important principle
was the separation of mind
and matter.
̈ Descartes has been deemed
the father of modern
rationalism

Other scientific advances
̈ Francis Bacon rejected
Copernicus and Keppler and
misunderstood Galileo and
called for a “total
reconstruction of sciences, arts,
and all human knowledge.”
̈ Bacon’s new foundation, a
correct scientific method,
was to be built on inductive
principles.
̈ From carefully organized
experiments and thorough,
systematic observations correct
generalizations could be
developed.
̈ Isaac Newton took Bacon’s and
Descartes’ ideas and combined
them into a single scientific
methodology