scientific revolution

• in the middle ages, “natural philosophers” relied on ancient sources for all their scientific views
• renaissance humanists learned greek and latin, which helped them discover more ancient perspectives
• more scientific breakthroughs came after the invention of the telescope, microscope, and printing press
• lots of math! (ancient sources and contemporaries). people believed math contained all the secrets of the universe
• ptolemaic system- using ptolemy’s ideas (100 bce ish), middle ages folks constructed a geocentric model of the universe   * concentric spheres with earth in the middle   * planes/the sun/the moon are embedded in their respective spheres   * tenth sphere (prime mover) is heaven
• copernicus- polish mathematician who published his heliocentric model in may 1543.   * moon revolved around earth   * planets revolved around sun
• kepler- german mathematician who used data to prove copernicus, but also proved the planets’ orbits were elliptical (kepler’s first law)
• galileo- italian, not liked by the church (put under house arrest), discovered:   * mountains on the moon   * 4 of jupiter’s moons   * sunspots   * that planets aren’t made of light   * popularized heliocentric model
• newton- professor of math at cambridge, wrote the principia (three laws of motion)   * most important law was the universal law of gravitation, which stated that every object in the universe was attracted to every other object by gravity
• galen- greek doctor in 100 bce, dominated medicine until the middle ages even though he used animal anatomy to learn about human anatomy
• vesalius- dissected human bodies and gave accurate human anatomy
• harvey- proved the heart (not liver) was beginning point of blood circulation, and that some blood goes through veins
• pascal- experimented with liquids and pressure, tools like syringe and hydraulic press
• boyle’s law: volume of gas varies with pressure
• lavoisier- invented chemical naming system (father of modern chemistry)
• women were scientists, but they were very rare and looked down upon
• rené descartes- french philosopher   * his philosophy was built on doubt   * only thing he was sure existed was himself (“i think therefore i am”)   * separated mind and matter, which rationalized scientists   * father of rationalism (reason is the chief source of knowledge)
• francis bacon- english philosopher (not scientist) who invented the scientific method   * believed that we shouldn’t rely on ancient authorities, instead we should use inductive reasoning   * science should be based in observation/experimentation, not opinions

\