The Scientific Revolution

A Paradigm Shift

Outline

I. Pre-Revolution thought

II. Causes of the Revolution

III. Principles of the Revolution

IV. Main Scientists

V. Impact of the Revolution

What is the Scientific Revolution?

• It is the beginning of a great intellectual transformation that leads to the modern world

• Concurrent with other major events– Copernicus is making discoveries at the time of the

religious wars are breaking out in Europe– By the end of the revolution, Europe is about to embark

on the Enlightenment, a cultural movement that largely rejected religion

I. Before the Scientific Revolution

• Scientists seek to understand HOW things happen– intent was to use science to “prove” God’s

existence– earliest scientists were usually priests/monks– earliest scientists were astronomers

• easy access

• spiritually significant

Witchcraft

• In the Middle Ages, convicted witches do heavy penance since they were misguided

• View changes over time– By the Renaissance people began to believe that

witches actually flew and ate babies– Witches must have a pact with the devil of their

own free will

Departing for the Sabbath An Assembly of Witches

Witchcraft

• Major witch hunts occurred during the century from 1560 to 1660 (slowly dies out after that) – Crosses the Atlantic to Salem, Massachusetts in 1692

• Witch hunts arise in areas experiencing religious conflict– Occurs in Protestant and Catholic areas

Witchcraft

• Between 1450-1660– approximately 110,000 went to trial

– approximately 60,000 were executed

– this is only for Church or government officiated trials - many instances are recorded of communities acting on their own

• Women comprise 75% of those executed

Examination of a Witch

Magical Thought

• Belief in magic was widespread• While most educated people professed not to believe,

many still held charms, like Queen Elizabeth’s magic ring to ward off the plague

• Magic was viewed as being either good (tied to the church) or bad– alternative was natural magic

• astrology

• alchemy

The Alchemist

- Jan Van der Straet

II. Causes of the Scientific Revolution

• Trade and Expansion of Trade– navigational problems generated research

• Medieval Universities– study of Plato, Aristotle, Ptolemy and

Democritus were essential

• The Renaissance– value of mathematics– Humanism

III. Principles of the Revolution

• Logic over faith: religion no longer the only possible explanation for events

• Observe, experiment & publish • Verifiable: Use of mathematics to prove a point• Money: Patronage• Questioning: discrepancy between observation

and expectations springboards into a search for truth

IV. Main Scientists

• Scientific Method: Bacon, Descartes• Astronomers: Copernicus, Kepler, Galileo• Synthesis: Newton

Methodology in Science

• Some thinkers were concerned with the Scientific Method

• Francis Bacon and Rene Descartes were significant; both decided that all previous beliefs (outside religion) had to be ignored.

Francis Bacon (1561-1626)

• Proposed INDUCTION– made a lot of observations then generalized rules of

nature; this leads to scientific observation as a method

• Promoted the modern idea of progress because he wanted application of science

• Problem of induction– Lack of experiences; over-generalization

Rene Descartes(1596-1650)

• Great mathematician - showed that any algebraic equation could be plotted on a graph

• In this manner he linked Greek with Hindu and Arabic knowledge

• Also looked at DEDUCTION - go from a theory to the facts

• Only wants what is absolute ; “I think, thereforeI am.”

Nicholas Copernicus (1473-1543)

• Polish priest studied in Italy• returns to Poland and works on Astronomy• writes De Revolutionibus Orbitum

Coelestitum (On the Revolutions of Heavenly Spheres)

• Earth is just another planet with a 24 hour rotation

• retains circular planetary motion (perfection of the sphere)

Johannes Kepler (1571-1630)

• Student of mathematics and astronomy• studied with Tycho Brahe• tested hypothesis after hypothesis until he

determined that planets move in ellipses• Three Laws of Planetary Motion

1 planets move in ellipses with sun as one focus

2 velocity of a planet is not uniform

3 equal area of the plane is covered in equal time by the planets

Galileo Galilei (1564-1642)

• Astronomy– used a telescope, proved the heavens are not perfect (craters on moon)– supported heliocentric system

• Laws of Motion– dropping weights from the Tower of Pisa– imagined motion without constraint– thought of inertia

• Problems with the church– argues for separation of science and theology because we are endowed with

reason– 1633 banned by Church and house arrest– must recant heliocentric system to save neck

Isaac Newton (1642-1727)

• Possibly the greatest scientist who ever lived - born on the day Galileo died

• math/physics/astronomy• author of Principia Mathematica in 1687

– bringing together Galileo’s discoveries about motion on Earth and Kepler’s discoveries in the heavens

– to do so he had to develop calculus

• explained heavenly motion that was tied to observed motion on Earth

Isaac Newton

• Provided a synthesis superior to Aristotle

• Notion of inertia - only have to explain change

• Three Laws of Motion

“Nature and nature’s laws lay hid in nightGod said, ‘Let Newton be,’ and all was light.”~Alexander Pope

1 Bodies move in straight lines unless impeded (inertia)

2 Every action has an equal and opposite action

3 Every body attracts every other body with a force proportional to the distance between

V. Effects of the Scientific Revolution

• Social impact– rich get richer

– not much immediate direct change for peasants

– widens intellectual gap

• Technology: navigation, map-making, and artillery • Science has innumerable social effects over time: new

guns, bigger armies, more taxes, social discontent – guns lead to European colonialism (more accurate cannon fire)

• New way of observing the world

Sight - Jan Brueghel