THE SCIENTIFIC REVOLUTION

BACKGROUND• “Scientist” is a relatively new term

• 18th century

• Leaders saw themselves as philosophers

• “Natural philosophy”

• Study of nature and the universe

Aristotle, Heraclitus, and Archimedes

THE NEW “SCIENTISTS”

• Unlike Middle Ages, new thinkers rely on experimentation and calculation

• Testing new ideas against previous beliefs

• “The Scientific Method”

Here, a scientist demonstrates the creation of a vacuum by withdrawing air from a flask, with the suffocating cockatoo serving as shocking proof of the experiment.

THE UNIVERSE (COSMOLOGY)• 1500’s: Based on the ideas of Aristotle

• 4th century BCE

• Earth is motionless at center of the universe

• Surrounded by ten spheres

• Geocentric model (Geo=Earth)

A round earth is at the center, surrounded by spheres of water, air, and fire.

PTOLEMY’S MODEL OF THE UNIVERSE

THE CHURCH AND THE UNIVERSE

• Aristotle’s ideas accepted by Catholic Church

• Creates a place for God

• Places humans at bottom of a chain

WHAT CHANGED?

• 14th/15th Century:

1. Universities created schools of astronomy, mathematics, and physics

2. Renaissance brought back ancient texts

3. Printing Press allowed spread of Knowledge

WHAT CHANGED?

4. Innovations in maritime technology

• Telescopes, astrolabe, thermometer, etc.

• Better observe the natural world

NICOLAUS COPERNICUS• Polish astronomer

• Argues universe consisted of eight spheres

• Sun motionless in the center

• Heliocentric model

• Helios: Sun

TYCHO BRAHE

• Danish nobleman

• Granted an island for astronomical observations

• Gathered detailed records of stars and planets

• Worked without a telescope

JOHANNES KEPLER

• Assistant to Tycho Brahe

• Used Brahe’s observations

• Create the Three Laws of Planetary Motion

KEPLER’S LAWS

1. Planets move in elliptical orbits

2. Planets move faster the closer they are to the sun

3. Further from the sun, the slower a planet moves

GALILEO

• First European to use telescope

• Discovered moons of Jupiter, craters on the moon, phases us Venus, etc.

• Reinforced Copernicus’ heliocentric model

THE ROMAN INQUISITION

• Catholic Church condemned Copernicus’ view

• Prevented Galileo from speaking of or defending the heliocentric model of the universe.

• Later forced under house arrest.

• Forced to recant his writings.

SIR ISAAC NEWTON• Attended Cambridge University

• Studied optics and mathematics.

• 1686: Writes Principia Mathematica

• Develops foundations of calculus

• Universal law of gravitation

UNIVERSAL LAW OF GRAVITATION

• All objects have mass

• Any two objects exert force on one another

• The larger the object, the greater the force

• Force=Gravity

MEDICINE AND CHEMISTRY

• Teachings dominated by the writings of Galen

• Incorrect anatomy and physiology

• Treatment based on four bodily humors

• Blood, yellow bile, phlegm, and black bile

NEW MEDICAL THEORISTS

• Paracelsus: Toxicology and study of chemicals

• Vesalius: Anatomy and organ function

• William Harvey: Heart and circulatory system