Industrial & Scientific Revolutions

• The Industrial Revolution occurred between 1780 and 1830, marking a period of technological development.

The Steam Engine

• The steam engine is a heat engine using steam to perform mechanical work.
• It uses steam pressure to move a piston inside a cylinder.
• Jerónimo de Ayanz y Beaumont (1606), Thomas Newcomen (1712), and James Watt (1764) were key innovators.
• Steam engines powered factories during the Industrial Revolution.
• The steam engine led to the factory system, using powered machinery, division of labor, unskilled workers, and centralized workplaces for mass production.

Scientific Revolution

• Nicolaus Copernicus was a Polish astronomer and mathematician.
• Copernicus proposed the heliocentric theory, which is sun-centered, based on observations of heavenly bodies.
• Due to fear of persecution, Copernicus delayed publishing his findings which were eventually printed by friends before his death.
• Galileo Galilei was an Italian astronomer, mathematician, and physicist.
• Galileo proved the heliocentric theory through observation and mathematics.
• Galileo invented the telescope.
• The Church forced Galileo to recant his ideas during the Inquisition.
• Johannes Kepler was a German astronomer and mathematician.
• Kepler introduced laws of planetary motion, describing planets' movement around the sun.
• Isaac Newton was an English mathematician.
• Newton combined the theories of Copernicus, Kepler, and Galileo.
• Newton explained gravity as the force controlling the movement of Earth and celestial bodies.
• Maria Winkelmann was a famous German female astronomer.
• Winkelmann was trained in astronomy, married an astronomer, and became his assistant.
• Winkelmann discovered a comet.
• Despite being qualified, Winkelmann was denied a position at the Berlin Academy because she was a woman.

Age of Enlightenment

• Philosophers applied scientific methods to explain human life, mirroring scientists explaining the natural world.
• Isaac Newton influenced Enlightenment philosophers.
• Philosophers believed reason could discover laws governing human society, like Newton's natural laws.
• John Locke believed people are born with a blank mind ("tabula rasa").
• Locke stated that a person is molded by their environment and sensory experiences.
• Montesquieu advocated for checks and balances through the separation of powers in government.
• Voltaire criticized government, nobility, and clergy for cruelty and oppression, championing religious tolerance.
• Jean-Jacques Rousseau promoted the idea of a social contract.
• Rousseau stated people must surrender some rights to maintain order.
• Rousseau believed governments should follow the will of the people.
• Adam Smith championed laissez-faire economics.
• Smith advocated individuals freely pursuing economic self-interest without state interference.
• Olympe de Gouges wrote the "Declaration of the Rights of Woman and the Female Citizen."
• De Gouges insisted women have the same rights as men, including political rights.
• Martha Wollstonecraft argued that reason is innate in all humans.
• Wollstonecraft argued that women should have the same rights as men to education and economic/political life.