The Scientific Revolution and the Scientific Method

The Scientific Revolution

• The scientific method involves posing a question, forming a hypothesis, experimenting, and analyzing data to reach a conclusion or new hypothesis.

Francis Bacon and Rene Descartes

• Francis Bacon (1600s) advocated for inductive reasoning and empiricism, observing experiments and drawing conclusions.
• Rene Descartes used mathematics and reason, doubting everything until proven, and arrived at basic truths through strict reasoning.
• Descartes' famous quote is "I think, therefore I am," and he developed the Cartesian Plane.

Isaac Newton

• Isaac Newton (1643-1727) is considered the father of modern science.
• He created calculus and the Universal Laws of Gravitation, which state that every object is attracted to another based on their mass and distance.
• Newton's three laws are:
  • An object stays at rest or in motion unless another force is exerted on it.
  • F=MA (force equals mass times acceleration).
  • For every action, there is an opposite and equal reaction.

Scientific Instruments

• Zacharias Janssen (1590) invented the microscope.
• Anton Van Leeuwenhoek (1674) observed bacteria and red blood cells using a microscope.
• Evangelista Torricelli (1643) developed the first barometer, measuring atmospheric pressure and weather.

Scientific Societies

• England established the Royal Society in 1660 to support scientific study.
• France established the Academy of Sciences in 1666.

Temperature Measurement

• Gabriel Fahrenheit (1714) used mercury in a glass to measure temperature, showing water freezing at 32 degrees.
• Anders Celsius (1742) developed a temperature scale where water freezes at 0 degrees.

The Human Body

• Scientists initially relied on Galen's work to understand human anatomy and physiology.
• Andreas Vesalius (1543) proved many of Galen's assumptions were wrong in his work, "On the structure of the human body".
• Edward Jenner developed the vaccine for smallpox in the 1700s, using cowpox to inoculate humans.

Chemistry and Atomic Theory

• Robert Boyle (1661) is considered the founder of modern chemistry, and wrote "The Sceptical Chymist".
• Boyle's Law states that volume, air, and pressure affect each other.
• Boyle replaced Aristotle's idea of 4 elements with the idea that everything is made up of smaller particles, atoms, an idea originally proposed by Democritus (460-370 BCE).