According to that belief, the moon, the sun, and the planets all moved in perfectly circular paths around the earth Common sense seemed to support this view
The Scientific Revolution was a new way of thinking about the natural world • The new way was based on observation and a willingness to question accepted
Which civilizations have we already studied that were involved in science, mathematics, astronomy, and technological innovation?
belief in reason and logic as the source of knowledge Before the Scientific Rev Europeans got their ideas from the Bible and classical thinkers, like
During the Renaissance from the 1300s until the early 1500s, science was still considered a branch of religion, and scientific thought held that the earth
ways in which science has altered economic, social, and political beliefs and science until it began to be forged in the scientific revolution out of
ration of religion and science, sufficiently satisfactory to last until the sixteenth century, when Europe was overwhelmed with new
In this case, it is nothing but a different way of looking at the broad topic known as “Religion and Science ” However, there is a second, and more intriguing
the acceptance of false assumptions about the world that stemmed from the beliefs of their eras Science before the 17th Century The state of science prior
Before 1500, scholars generally decided what was true or false by referring to an ancient Greek to that belief, the moon, the sun, and the planets all moved in perfectly circular European thought that historians call the Scientific Revolution
2 What 3 factors affected scientific beliefs up until the 1700s? 3 What was the role of the Catholic Church in science during the Middle Ages?
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ScientificRevolution
Thetermscientificrevolutionisusedtodescribethetimeperiodwhenthemodernmethodsofscientific investigationwereestablished.Althoughthe"revolution"tookplaceoverhundredsofyears,itisusually associatedwiththegreatdiscoveriesofthefirstmodernscientists,includingJohannesKepler,Galileo,and
IsaacNewton,inthe
earlyͲtoͲlate1600s. Themostremarkableandenduringlegacyofthaterawasthecreationofthescientificmethod.Simplyput, thescientificmethod isastrictsetofrulesthatspelloutthepropercourseofestablishingfacts.Itinvolves theformulationofahypothesis,thelistingofassumptions,theisolatingofvariablesinanyexperiment,and theanalysisofexperimentallyobserveddatatosupportaconclusion.Thescientistsbeforethescientific revolutiondidnotactwithinthoseguidelines;theirconclusionswerethusbasedonconfusingvariablesand theacceptanceoffalseassumptionsabouttheworldthatstemmedfrom thebeliefsoftheir eras.
Sciencebeforethe17thCentury
Thestateofsciencepriortothescientificrevolutionwasamixtureofthreeunrelatedinfluences:the writingsofancientGreece,thetechnologicaladvancesmadebythepeopleoftheMiddleAges,and religiouspolicies.Althoughworkwasbeingdoneinthefieldsofbiologyandchemistry,themainthrustof thescientificrevolutionwascenteredaroundastronomyandphysics. ThenaturalphilosophersofancientGreecemadegreatstridesinobservingand categorizingtheworld aroundthem,buttheirwritingswerehighlyspeculativeandwerebasedontheassumptionsandbeliefsof theirtime.Forexample,Aristotle(384-322BC)andotherGreekphilosophersbelievedthatarockthrown intotheairwouldreturntotheEarthbecausetherockwascomposedoftheelement"earth"and thereforewouldseektoreturntoitsproperplace.Inaddition,theGreeksbelievedthat theEarthwasthe centeroftheuniverse.Thesetheorieswereacceptedforthenext1400yearswithfewotheradvancements inscience. Indeed,theCatholicChurchexertedagreatinfluenceovereverythingduringtheMiddleAges,including education.ThatmeantthatallideasofthetimehadtoconformtothebeliefsoftheCatholicChurch.For example,theChurchrequiredachainofcommandtoexistbetweenheavenandEarth.God,itwasthought, existedbeyondthesphereofthestarsandgavehisinstructionstoangels,whowereresponsible forthe motionsoftheplanets.Thehierarchyextendeddowntohumansandthenanimals,plants,andsoforth.
Thatconceptwasacceptedasfact.
TheRevolutionBegins
Arguably,the"firstshotfired"inthescientificrevolutionwasbyNicholasCopernicuswiththedevelopment oftheheliocentrictheoryattheturnofthe16thcentury.Herealizedthatthe complexityofthesolar systemcouldbeimprovedonbyplacingtheSunatthecenteroftheuniverseandhavingtheEarthand planetsrevolvearounditincircles.Histheorywasmathematicallysimpler,anditscentralideawastohave farreachingconsequences.PlacingtheSunatthecenteroftheuniverseupsetthefragilehierarchy betweenheavenandEarththatwasingrainedinCatholicbelief.Asaresult,thesupportersofCopernicus's ideaswerepersecutedbytheChurchuntilthemidͲ1600s,whentheideabecamewidelyaccepted. ThemodernviewofthesolarsystemwasdevelopedbytheworkofTychoBraheandhisdiscipleJohannes Keplerattheturnofthe17thcentury.Byobservingthesky,includingthemovementsoftheplanets,the stars,andcomets,Brahe'sandKeplerproposedthattheplanetsmovedinellipticalpathsaroundtheSun.
Fromthatidea,Keplerderivedhis
threelawsofplanetarymotion.TheimportanceofKepler'sworkis twofold.First,itwasbasedonveryaccurateobservations,andsecond,hewasabletoderivesimpleand elegantmathematicalequationstoexplainthoseobservations. Ataroundthesametime,theItalian,GalileoGalileiwasperformingexperimentsthathadtodowiththe motionofobjects.Galileo'sgeniuslayinhisabilitytoisolatethevariablesofhisexperiments,whichcreated "idealized"conditionsfromwhichhededucedmathematicalconstructs.
Forexample,inhisexperiments
withballsrollingdowninclinedplanes,hemadesurethatallthesurfaceswerepolishedsmoothsothatthe motionoftheballitselfcouldbestudied.Theeffectsofairresistanceandfrictiononmovingobjectswere wellknownatthetime,butGalileo attemptedtoignorethembyreducingtheirinfluence.Bydoingso,he wasabletocollectdataandformulateasetofsimpleequationsthatgovernedthemotionsofprojectiles. Bytiminghisexperiments,hewasabletodeducetheaccelerationofobjectsduetogravity,andindoing so,he laiddownthefundamentalprinciplesofthemodernstudyofmechanics. Galileo'sworkwasimportantbecausehisequationswereprovablebyrepeatedexperimentandcouldbe appliedtoalmostanypracticalsituation.Onceagain,mathematicsandobservationthroughexperiments tookprecedenceintheformulationofscientificfacts.
NewtonandGravity
TheEnglishmanIsaacNewtoniscreditedasthemostsignificantscientistofhistime.Asidefromdeveloping thecalculus,heisknownforestablishingtheuniversallawofgravity,thusputtingtorestthespeculations andmisconceptionsofhispredecessors.Newtondidnot"discover"gravity,buthedidmakethe important connectionbetweenGalileo'sworkonfallingobjectsandKepler'slawsofplanetarymotion.Usingrigorous mathematicalproofs,Newtonshowedthatfallingobjectsmoveunderthesameinfluenceastheplanets. Thatinfluence,ofcourse,isgravity.Newton'slawsofmotionwereacceptedasuncontestedlawsofnature for200years untilAlbertEinsteinprovedhimwrongwithhisspecialandgeneraltheoriesofrelativity. Whilethescientificrevolutionrepresentedanoverallbreakwithsuperstitionandreligiouscontrol,itis importanttonotethatbeliefsstillplayapartinscience.Whatscientistsofoneerabelievetobefactmay bedisprovenbyscientistsofthenext.
1. Whatisthemostimportantlegacyofthescientificrevolution?
2. What3factorsaffectedscientificbeliefsupuntilthe1700s?
3. WhatwastheroleoftheCatholicChurchinscienceduringtheMiddleAges?
4. Whatwasrevolutionary
aboutCopernicus'heliocentrictheory?
5. WhatadvancementsdidGalileomakeinscience?
6. WhatadvancementsdidIsaacNewtonmakeinscience?
7. Whataresimilaritiesbetweenallofthescientistsmentionedinthereading?
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