Scientific Revolution Overview

Scientific Revolution Overview

• The Scientific Revolution was a period of significant advancements in science, challenging traditional views and leading to new discoveries.

Science Before the Scientific Revolution

• Ancient Greek mathematics and science, including Archimedes, Euclid, and Eratosthenes, laid groundwork.
• The fall of the Roman Empire led to Latin-speaking knowledge, separate from Greek knowledge.
• Muslim conquests of Egypt and the Levant played a role in translating and preserving Greek texts.
• Greek texts were translated into Arabic.
• Christianity and European intellectuality emphasized reason to explain faith.
• Universities, originally cathedral schools, taught liberal arts like arithmetic, geometry, and astronomy.
• Aristotle's works were not widely studied in this era.

Science Before the Scientific Revolution Continued

• The Crusades and the fall of the Byzantine Empire fostered cross-cultural interaction, leading to the rediscovery of Greek knowledge.
• Aristotle's works were rediscovered.
• Scholasticism emphasized natural sciences.
• Figures like Albertus Magnus and St. Thomas Aquinas contributed to this period.
• A geocentric model, with Earth at the center, was the prevailing view, developed by Aristotle and later Ptolemy. This model placed the Earth at the center of the universe, with the Sun, Moon, and other celestial bodies revolving around it.

Copernicus

• Copernicus was a Catholic cleric and scientist who proposed the heliocentric model, placing the Sun at the center of the solar system.
• He dedicated his work "On the Revolutions of the Heavenly Spheres" to the Pope, showing no immediate conflict.

Galileo Galilei

• Invented the telescope, used to support the heliocentric model through empirical observations. This allowed detailed study of celestial bodies.
• Galileo's work was highly controversial, particularly challenging the prevailing geocentric view.
• Facing opposition, he was forced by the Catholic Church to retract his findings despite substantial empirical evidence, leading to a significant conflict between science and the Church.

Johannes Kepler

• Kepler discovered that the planets orbited the sun in elliptical paths, not circles, significantly refining the understanding of planetary motion.
• This discovery further supported the heliocentric model.

James Bradley

• Empirically supported the heliocentric model through observations of stellar aberration. This phenomenon, where the apparent position of stars shifts due to Earth’s motion, offered crucial proof of Earth's movement.
• He discovered the aberration of light, providing further proof of Earth orbiting the sun. He used these observations to determine the speed of light relative to Earth.

Isaac Newton

• Newton laid the groundwork for modern physics.
• He formulated Newtonian mechanics and developed calculus.
• He explained motion using three laws: inertia, force, and action-reaction. These laws provided a comprehensive understanding of how objects move. He used these laws to explain planetary motion within the heliocentric model.

Scientific Method

• Francis Bacon (Empiricism): Developed the inductive method, moving from specific observations to general theories based on empirical evidence.
• René Descartes (Rationalism): Developed the deductive method, starting with general principles to reach specific conclusions based on logical reasoning from existing truths.

Other Figures in the Scientific Revolution

• Blaise Pascal invented the hydraulic press and syringe, advancing hydraulics, and also explored concepts of probability and Pascal's Triangle.
• Andreas Vesalius, a pioneer in human anatomy, performed human dissections, leading to greater understanding and innovation in anatomical knowledge. His work was revolutionary, despite facing objections. His most influential work was De humani corporis fabrica.