The Scientific Revolution

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The Scientific Revolution

• Questions to be answered
• Why did scientists begin to challenge the
  Ptolemaic view of the
• Universe? (i.e. everything revolved around the
  Earth)
• 2) Which of their discoveries gradually replaced
  the Ptolemaic view? 
• Describe each step in the scientific journey from
  Copernicus to Newton.

To Do With a partner, diagram the Universe as
we know it today Be as accurate as possible!
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The Scientific Revolution
Question How does your diagram Differ from this
one?
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The Scientific Revolution1500 - 1687
WHY?
1) The Scientific Revolution starts around the
lifetime of Copernicus
2) 1687 Isaac Newton publishes Principia
Mathematica Laws of Motion
The process of change takes time for science
(from 1500 to 1800)
At the start of the 1000s AD, the Europeans are
vastly behind the rest of the world in science
and technology They must catch up to China!
1295 Marco Polo, a European explorer visits
Asia and sees their advancements He comments on
the inferiority of the Europeans
Now Europe really picks up the pace By the 1800s
Europeans have the attitude that they are
superior to China!
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The Scientific Revolution

• A new way of thinking emerges

1) Secular of this world
- This is the focus of things on this world, not
so much about religion.
- Around the 1500s theres a shift from theology
to philosophy taught in universities. (politics,
natural sciences, etc) we still have Ph.D.s
- They believed that while God did create the
Universe, he did so in a way that we humans could
understand, reconstruct, and know.
2) Rational reason things out, and think about
everything!
3) Reason Humans CAN figure out the way the
world works (Laws of nature) by studying
physics, biology, chemistry, and politics (i.e.
what makes society work).
4) Progress You get to knowledge through
progress!!! To do this humans need to
re-engineer the world.
At this time we see a rise in literacy and city
populations
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The Scientific Revolution

• Nicholas Copernicus (1473 - 1543)
• A Polish Priest who wrote in Latin

- Up to the time of Copernicus, people thought
that there was a sort of crystal sphere the kept
the planets, moon, and stars in orbit around the
Earth.

• It was Copernicus that proposed the idea that the
  Earth revolved
• around the sun, and not vice versa The sun was
  the center of the
• Universe, not the Earth.

• In 1543 Copernicus published De Revolutionibus
  Orbium Coelestium.
• He waited until he was about to die before
  publishing it because he knew
• what he was proposing would be trouble He sends
  a letter to the Pope
• before its publication I dont mean to
• He provides a Possible Alternative Explanation

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The Scientific Revolution
The Copernican Universe
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The Scientific Revolution

• Francis Bacon (1561 - 1626)
• English Philosopher, statesmen, scientist, etc.

- Immensely influential in the scientific
revolution.

• His works established and popularized a method
  for scientific
• Inquiry called the Baconian Method or the
  Scientific Method

• His demand for a planned procedure of
  investigating all things
• natural marked a new turn in the rhetorical and
  theoretical
• framework for science much still present in
  modern
• methodology.

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The Scientific Revolution

• Johannes Kepler (1571 - 1630)
• A German who also publishes in Latin

- Kepler proved Copernicus was right through
mathematics

• To do this he needed to gather a lot of
  information. He uses night
• observations (over the span of years) from a
  Danish Nobleman
• named Tycho Brahe.

- Kepler uses his information to make accurate
models of the heavens.

• Kepler demonstrates that planets move in an
  elliptical orbit not a
• circular orbit that Copernicus had previously
  said.

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The Scientific Revolution

• Galileo Galilei (1564 - 1642)

• He was one of the first Europeans to build
• and use a telescope (he didnt invent it!)

• Galileo used a telescope to observe the
• moon, and saw craters. This proved that the moon
  was not a perfect
• sphere hmm trouble

- He saw moons on Jupiter (thus we have the
Galilean Moons of Jupiter) - Aristotle didnt
mention moons theyre they are!!!

• Galileo used the scientific method to come to
  his conclusions
• (Observe Define Test Rethink, Observe,
  Experiment, Observe,
• Test)

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The Scientific Revolution

• Isaac Newton (1643 - 1727)

• Wrote Principia Methematica which contained
  mathematical
• Descriptions of how the world works (up to the
  speed of light, as
• Einstein later proves)

Law 1 Every object continues in its state of
rest or of uniform motion in a straight line,
unless it is compelled to change that state by
forces impressed upon it.   Law 2 The
acceleration of an object is directly
proportional to the net force acting on the
object, is in the direction of the net force,
and is inversely proportional to the mass of the
object.   Law 3 Whenever one object exerts a
force on a second object, the second object
exerts an equal and opposite force on the first.

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The Enlightenment1687 - 1826
The 18th Century proudly referred to itself as
the "Age of Enlightenment" and rightfully so
for  Europe had dwelled in the dim glow of the
Middle Ages when suddenly the lights began to
come on in men's minds and humankind moved
forward.
To understand the natural world and humankind's
place in it solely on the basis of reason and
without turning to religious belief was the goal
of the wide-ranging intellectual movement called
the Enlightenment. The movement claimed the
allegiance of a majority of thinkers during
the 17th and 18th centuries, a period that Thomas
Paine called the Age of Reason. At its heart it
became a conflict between religion and the
inquiring mind that wanted to know and understand
through reason based on evidence and proof.
Many Enlightenment Thinkers were atheist
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The Enlightenment1687 - 1826
Why 1826? This is the year that Thomas Jefferson
dies The Declaration of Independence was an
Enlightenment document

• Those capable of reading (nobles, merchants, and
  some artisans)
• are exposed to enlightenment ideas

• The peasants at this time are too busy to care,
  plus, the nobles dont
• Want educated peasants (insert France here)

Philosophes French for Philosophers LOTS of
philosophers at the time were French
Political Philosophers that influenced
Jefferson 1) John Locke (1632 1704) 2)
Baron de Montesquieu (1689 1755) 3)
Jean-Jacques Rousseau (1712 1778) Those good
at explaining Newton to the Laymen 1) Madam du
Chatelet (1706 1749) 2) Denis Diderot (1713
1784)
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The Enlightenment
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The Enlightenment

• John Locke (1632 - 1704)
• Treatise on Government (1 and 2) 2 in 1690

• Addressed the question What is the purpose of
  government?

- What is the purpose?
- To protect the natural rights of its citizens
- Everyone has them - Life, Liberty, and Property

• If the government isnt doing its job, its
  illegitimate and people
• have the right to overthrow it.

- 2 years previous to the second treatise was
The Glorious Revolution in 1688 1689, where
James II is ran off the thrown and replaced by
Mary, James daughter she has to agree to the
English Bill of Rights No one Rule without
sharing power with Parliament

• Locke agreed that James was properly and justly
  disposed
• - Later Jefferson would use this for his
  grievances to King George III

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The Enlightenment

• Montesquieu (1689 - 1755)
• Spirit of the Laws - 1748

• Montesquieu believed in the separation of powers
  idea
• Checks and Balances
• One person could not be judge, jury, and
  executioner

- Without checks and balances their would be
tyranny
This has a huge influence on our constitution
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The Enlightenment

• Rousseau (1712 - 1778)
• The Social Contract - 1762

• Government is not there for the glory of God,
  but because there are
• obligations between the government and its people.

- The Social Contract was first published in
Amsterdam He would have gotten in trouble if he
had published it in France

• Popular Sovereignty (Sovereignty the right to
  rule)
• - Not from God, but from the people. This was a
  radical
• thought at the time! Up until now sovereignty
  was from
• God.

2) General Will Works well for Democracy and
Dictators
- The decisions of government should be what
people want
Tyranny of Majority Bad though!... Hitler said
he represented the general will of Germany (also
Mussolini of Italy)
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The Enlightenment

• Diderot (1713 - 1784)
• Encyclopedia

• Diderot was the editor of the Encyclopedia from
  1751-1765 The
• Rational Dictionary of the Sciences.

• He recruits experts to write on different topics
  (to put knowledge in
• Leymen terms) for quick reference. There were
  MANY volumes.

His Purpose was to change the general way of
thinking to put the Enlightenment in the hands
of the general public.
He later gets in trouble with the king over later
volumes (after 1) The Vatican in Rome puts it
in the index of bad books
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The Enlightenment
Chaterlet - Translates Isaac Newton into French
Adam Smith Wealth of Nations - 1776

• This book was an attack on mercantilism it
  said that less
• government was necessary A person (or markets)
  left to their own
• devices could do better than governments.

There are certain things that government should
do Laws, and national Defense
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The Enlightened Despots
The courts of Europe became enlivened as
philosophes tried to persuade rulers to adopt
their ideas Some did accept the Enlightenment
ideas, while others still practiced absolutism.
Those that did became known as Enlightened
Despots
Frederick II (1740-1786) - aka Frederick the
Great - He exerted extremely tight control
during his reign of Prussia - Saw himself as the
first servant of the state working for the
common good. - Reduced torture and allowed
free press - Simplified laws, and reorganized
the govts civil service - Tolerated religious
differences In the end he still wanted a strong
monarchy and power for himself
Catherine the Great - Exchanged letters with
Voltaire and Diderot - Believed in equality and
liberty - Abolished torture and established
religious tolerance - Criticized serfdom (being
tied to the land) In the end she did not intend
to give up her power
Joseph II (son of Maria Theresa of Austria) -
Continuing his mothers reforms, he was the most
radical of the enlightened Despots - He would
travel in disguise as a peasant to see how they
lived - Supported religious equality for
Protestants and Jews (Catholic Empire) - Ended
censorship free press - Sold monastery
property if it did not educate or care for the
sick After his death many of his reforms were
canceled
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The Enlightenment

• These ideas have reached the public by now
• They start to influence others Thus we see
• the start of revolutions in America and France.