Scientific Revolution

• Mid-16th and early 18th centuries

• Major changes to how people interpreted the natural world

• Nicolaus Copernicus – On the Revolutions of the Heavenly Spheres (1543) ◦ Universe with the sun at the center (heliocentric) ◦ Vs. Ptolemy (100-170 AD) and geocentric understanding

What is Copernicus trying to explain in terms of the planets and astronomical motion?

— He proposed that the Earth and other planets revolve around the Sun in circular orbits, fundamentally challenging the long-held belief that all celestial bodies moved around the Earth.

The birth of eyeglasses

• 13th c. – Italian craftsmen start making thin glasses and putting them into frames

• Biconvex lenses – thicker in the middle than the edges ◦ Shaped like lentils (lens, in Latin) • 15th c. / concave lenses to help with myopia (nearsightedness)

• This craft spreads from Italy to other parts of Europe

The Telescope

• Begins late Sept 1608 in the Netherlands

• Created by an eyeglasses maker

• News spread throughout Europe, reached Italy by the summer of 1609

• …but they could only magnify 3x-4x

Galileo Galilei (1564-1642)

• Taught math at the University of Padua

• Telescope as a commercial opportunity

• Worked to improve the telescope.

• 20x magnification by Nov 1609

• Very interested in what the telescope revealed about the surfaces of the moon

Aristotle (384-322 BCE)

• Ancient Greek philosopher “It is clear that the earth does not move, and that it does not lie elsewhere than at the center.” — Aristotle, On the Heavens II.14, 296a24–25.

Dialogue Concerning the Two World Systems (1632)

• Written as a dialogue that occurs over four days between three characters

• Resulted in Galileo being accused of heresy

• Written in Italian rather than Latin

• Galileo laid the groundwork for many great innovations to come

Dialogue Concerning the Two World Systems (1632)

• Written as a dialogue that occurs over four days between three characters

• Resulted in Galileo being accused of heresy

• Written in Italian rather than Latin

• Galileo laid the groundwork for many great innovations to come

• Resulted in Galileo being accused of heresy (teaching against a doctrine of the Church regarded as essential to the faith) and placed under house arrest, book was banned

Telescopes around the world!

• China

• Korea

• Tokugawa Japan (sent from King James I of England)

• Ayutthaya

• Telescopes circulating with trade and missionaries Interconnection of science and religion

Science and Religion Not Opposites!

• To Galileo, both nature and Scripture came from God

• Any incongruence between the two = human misunderstanding

• Religion and science deeply connected during this time

Scientific Revolution

• Made possible by innovations coming from all over the world

• Great Islamic scholars from the mid-7th c. – mid-15th c. translated and improved the works of ancient Greek, Hindu, Babylonian, and Roman scholars

• Trade networks helped stread ideas

• Many direct and indirect global encounters at work

Women in the Scientific Revolution

• Scientific Revolution mostly limited to elites and the highly educated

• But women did participate! (Mathematicians, scientific illustrators, astronomers, chemists) • Ex: French mathematician and physicist Émilie du Châtelet, who translated Newton’s work and wrote commentary