Sci Rev FINAL
Scientific Revolution Final
Social Construction of Science- Science is a way to describe the natural world through history and culture.
Not necessarily the same as the natural world (nature)- but our interpretation of it
Judicial astrology-Branch of astrology that is concerned with predicting worldly events and individual destinies
Judgement about the future based on celestial positions (Churches did not like it)
Medical astrology- Branch of astrology applied to health and medicine–Connected stars, planets, and zodiac signs to human body
Tolerated because it was practical and taught in university
Aristotle’s cosmos-He believed that the earth was the center of the universe (geocentric circle)
Sublunar - The area of earth, air, water, and fire (Constantly changing)
superlunar - The area above sublunar with the planets
Ptolemy’s epicycles and why they were important- The way that planets were circling the earth and themselves at the same time.
Deferent- Large circle carrying a planet
Equant- Imaginary pt which allows the planets motion to look uniform
Important because it strayed away from Aristotle's ideas of uniformed circles (tweak the ideas a little)
What it means for Ptolemy to “save the appearances”-Was trying to make a mathematical model to predict what was happening in the sky and explain what people saw (bc aristoles was not accurate enough)
Retrograde motion- How people saw the planets moving from earth, this started Ptolemy's theory of epicycles
Nicholas Copernicus- He came up with the idea that the sun was the center of the universe
Was more aristolian then ptolemyean because of geocentric circles
He was a priest who went against church ideals because the church adopted that the earth was the center
Isaac Newton- He gave these theories a physical foundation and explained the “why”
The Dark Ages (and why it’s a problem)- Allows idea that there was no growth occurring intellectually, globally, and it oversimplified history
The Flat Earth Myth (be clear on what the myth is)- People in the middle ages knew that the earth was round.
In the 19th century this myth was created for propaganda and excitement
Aristotle-Knowledge was obtained with the causes: Material(wood), Final(Dining), Formal(design), and Efficient(carpentry)
Aristotle’s method for science- Established natural philosophical reasoning and firm foundation (observation)
Hippocrates- He created the balancing humors: manifestation of health imbalance
Would fix through bloodletting or purging
Galen-Developed and enshrined the humeral system (not just the inside but the outside)–6 non naturals
Also thought human anatomy was same as animals
Humoralism- Dominant medical theory with bodily fluids (humors)
Blood-Air, yellow bile-fire, black bile-earth, phleum-water
Arab Conquests and science- Led to a rise in christianity because they rewrote scripture that was lost from rome and greece
Arab religion did not overthrow yet
Scholasticism- Medieval universities talking about philosophy and religion(christianity)
Humanism in the 15th and 16th centuries- Increase in the study of older philosophy: morality, politics, and higher class found more importance in it/studied it more. Also promoted the rise of modern science and math.
The Age of Exploration and 16th c. science- Navigation of the globe (globalism) that fueled scientific change and more drive for astronomy, medicine, navigation, and natural history.
The Printing Press and 15th and 16th c. science- Printing press helped spread the information of the philosophers much faster than before and encouraged scientific communication.
The Reformation and its impact on early modern society- Martin luther criticized the catholic church so it sparked the catholic church to separate
The society was less focused on catholic order and strengthened local rulers
Courts and courtiers and science- They would associate with these scientists to prove their prestige, power, and practical benefits.
Natural history- Used observation to describe natural phenomena
Hermeticism- Interest in human soul compared to the natural world; human spirit shared with the divine.
Mathematics- Was used for specialized fields like astronomy, navigation, and history.
Made it easier to solve practical problems
Natural Magic- People looked into the hidden, yet natural meaning of the world -Increased experimentation and observation
Cabinets of curiosity-No real consensus; gathering of ideas to show off
Andreas Vesalius- observation through human dissection which disproved galen
Pliny’s Natural History- wrote about what he heard/saw for example dragons
Andreas Osiander’s Preface to Copernicus’s On the Revolutions of the Heavenly Spheres (1543)- attempted to categorize Copernicus's book as a hypothesis
Tycho Brahe’s contribution to astronomy-Researched at the Uraniborg observatory and came up with tyconic astronomy (sun is at center but everything revolves around earth)
Comet (supernova) of 1572- Located above the sphere of the moon, proved Aristotle to be wrong
Andreas Vesalius, On the Fabric of the Body and Epitome (1543)- competition to be the most knowledgeable and purpose to assist physicians
Printers stole others information
Della Porta,Natural Magic (1589)- exemplifies humanism by bringing back the ideas of rediscovering older information and reintroducing to your peers
Edward Topsell,The History of Four-Footed Beasts (1607)- Referenced God a lot and talked about Creation and the relationship of animals to Christ. The Bible and the Church had a very big impact on how people viewed things.
Ex. Lion associated with the christs power
Johannes Kepler’s astronomy in The Cosmographic Mystery (1596) and New Astronomy (1609)- Came up with the cosmographic harmony: Platonic solids around where planets move so that it is a a structure between the five planets at the time
The harmony- mathematical connection to music bc music was very mathematical at the time
The planets moved in ellipses
William Gilbert,On the magnet (1600) and its relationship to cosmology- Discovered magnets and related it to earth's magnetic field/larger cosmos
Paracelsus’s ideas on the body and its relationship to cosmology- Your spirit and body is connected to the universe- denied the humorous theory, instead used chemical remedies
Galileo Galilei- A mathematician
Created Geometrical compass– used for building architecture, measuring charge for cannon, and determining angles
Published “starry messenger” –described how he saw that the moon has surface-like features similar to earth from a telescope.
René Descartes- A French philosopher and mathematician who believed that mechanical philosophy- a belief that the world functions like a machine. Also came up with the vortex theory.
The “Miracle” at Magdeburg- Experiment where two large metal hemispheres suctioned together creating a vacuum(air pressure), which therefore disapproved the vortex theory.
The Galileo Affair- Conflict when Galileo supported the copernicus’s heliocentric model–that the earth revolves around the sun–because the church believed in Aristotle's geocentric model.
Copernicanism and the Bible-he rejected the biblical idea that the sun was moving in the first place
Did it stay still like copernicus said or did it follow the bible and was actually moving
Combined natural magic with astronomy; told people not to listen to bible literally but use it as guidance
1616 Decree against Copernicanism- A decree that declared heliocentrism false and theoretical by Church
Galileo could not teach Earth's motion as reality
Copernicus's Book suspended until Galileo changed all of his physically true data of heliocentrism to the word hypothesis
‘Warfare Thesis’ for science and religion- Thought that science and religion were essentially in conflict- religion restricts scientific progress. Not accurate and considered an oversimplified myth.
17th century instruments and experimentation- Instruments and experimentation became more used and created like the telescope, thermometer, and scale
-No longer based logic on ancient texts or pure reasoning
Isaac Newton- He was math based and came up with a system to rule them all
17th century perspective more accurate (combined astronomy and math) and had more evidence from experiments and measurements
Isaac Newton’s Principles of Natural Philosophy- Newton's book ‘la principa’ stated that natural history was based on mathematics- dig on Descartes. The “principles of natural philosophy” was laws of gravity/motion.
The Enlightenment- Championed reasoning from abstract laws and principles that described the nature of reality
The encyclopedia was the clearest icon of enlightenment
The Enlightenment and early modern wars- The reformation shattered religious unity so enlightenment shaped the foundation for modern secular warfare through rationalization and integration of technology for a political purpose.
The Encyclopedia movement- - Attempted to bring all knowledge together in one book
The more knowledge you had, the higher social status you were
The Enlightenment’s impact on science- It allowed people to practice science through empirical observation and and experimentation but also rational classification of knowledge: no longer based on theory
The Enlightenment and scientific societies- The enlightenment made more social societies with few but important people because science was still not popularized; sparked the creation of the British Royal Society and the French academy
18th c. changes in natural history- No longer focused on “hidden meaning” but now looking at external factors
Ex: Binomial nomenclature: defining plants names
From alchemy to Chemistry (reasons for)- Alchemy was the precursor to chemistry, more of a natural magic/ “loose chemistry”
Chemistry was used in the industrial applications whereas alchemy was the transmutation of objects into precious metals
Lavoisier’s impact on chemistry- Introduced precise measurements and experimental methods
Laid foundation for chemistry/ shift from alchemy to evidence based science
Laplace’s impact on Newton’s physics- Showed how Newton's physics is constrained by physical contingencies
Light, heat, and magnetic things influence math and are physical contingencies
John Harris’s Astronomical dialogues between a gentleman and a lady as reflective of Enlightenment science- Harris thought that science should be more accessible to the educated public-including woman
Joseph Priestly’s The History and Present State of Electricity as reflective of Enlightenment science- Importance of instrument in experimentation
Scientific method is what we practice today
Carlos Linnaeus’sThe Animal Kingdom, or Zoological System as reflective of Enlightenment science- Gained wisdom from arranging classes of animal: need for method and systems
Created taxonomic systems and binomial nomenclature--also helped economically with trade
The impact of French Revolution on 19th c. science- Undid Aristotelian ideas, promoted reason and scientific thinking over church
Introduced fear, society can be disruptive to stability
19th century and science: rationalization of society- Organization of society through reason, math, and science
Showed through industrialization, globalization, and positivism
19th century and science: professionalization of science- Science became a profession that people could practice
Shown through integration into universities, laboratories, specialized disciplines, collaboration, and more measurement/experimentation
Measurement and the 19th century- Practical for society/business
Educated people saw that the world is different and more rational
Positivism- Empirical observation of knowledge to identify what we know as good science. For example, science through observation and how numbers describe those observations
Hospitals’ impact on 19th c. science- Helped technology, measureability, and classification come more into practice.
More trust in scientists
19th c. Colonialism/imperialism and science- Helped empires expand and govern while the empires funded scientific study
19th c. observatories and science- more knowledgeable for global astronomy
Women in science (changes from premodern to 19th c. and their impact on science)- They began in the shadows of their husbands and were excluded from universities but then were able to study in woman colleges and some became known as ‘computers’
Universities and 19th c. science- At first the study of science was linear but became more popular in universities
Industrialization was the money maker of it all because you could earn an income from studying science in school now
19th c. physiology and science- The most important science for experimentation- psychology was a mixture of chemistry and physics so it opened up many job opportunities
19th c. statistics and science- Opened up new routes for mathematical descriptions because you could process large amounts of data.
Emerging communication between science and mathematics on a larger scale
19th c. laboratories and science- Allowed students to be more hands on and focus on individual research
Became more institutionalized within industries and universities
19th c. conferences and scientific societies- More emergence of scientific societies due to international collaboration.
Helped professionalize scientists
Thomas Huxley “On the Educational Value of the Natural History Sciences”- His goal was to convince public that science was common sense
Attempted to professionalize it because science was not made for just the elites
20th century ‘industrial science’ (significance with one example)- Science became the driver of economic power, technological innovation, and global competition.
Examples- The manhattan project
20th century ‘research institutes’ (significance with one example)- Scientists could work in teams and focus on big scientific questions-science and society were closely connected together
Example: The cold war (USSR vs. US)-racing against time for science
20th century ‘control and modeling’ (significance with one example)- The integration of computers allowed us to model experiments not in the real world
Example, ENIAC: Men got all the credit
20th century ‘independence under pressure’ (significance with one example)- Reshaped culture and ethics by gaining resources but also lost freedom in choosing research topics.
Example: Third reich scientists- aggressive expansion of science
C.P. Snow’s ‘two cultures’ and its significance- Scientific vs literary cultures differed. Was significant because it shows that this can be dangerous when divided in a time where technology, politics, and education were relying on them.
Select one example from Vermijs ‘Scientific Worldview’ section (ie, Origin of the World, The Nature of Life and the Origin of Human Beings, The Nature of Reality) and briefly explain important aspects of its history and how it comments on the Scientific Worldview- “The Nature of Reality” shows how modern science replaced older philosophical and religious explanations by revealing that reality is governed by natural laws discovered through evidence and mathematics. Developments like relativity and quantum physics demonstrated that the world is often counterintuitive, reinforcing the Scientific Worldview’s claim that only empirical science can accurately describe how the universe truly works.
Carl Sagan’s Cosmos- A tv series that popularized astronomy and science globally. Inspired many to pursue astronomy.
Neil deGrasse Tyson- Believed that science was objective, evidence based truth, and objecting the idea that science is not belief based