The Scientific Revolution

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The Scientific Revolution
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• Scientific Revolution a change in the way of
  thinking about the physical universe
• began in the mid-1500s

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Causes of the Scientific Revolution

• humanism interest human experiences and worldly
  events
• individualism the belief that all actions take
  place for the benefit of the individual, not of
  society as a whole
• cultural diffusion the exchange of ideas
  between different societies

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• Protestant Reformation
• weakened the Catholic Church
• advocated people thinking for themselves

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Scientific Thinkers

• Nicolaus Copernicus
• wrote On the Revolutions
• of the Heavenly Spheres
• introduced heliocentric model the sun is the
  center of the universe and the planets revolve
  around it

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New way of thinking ...
Heliocentric everything revolves around the sun
Old way of thinking...
Geocentric everything revolves around the Earth
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• Galileo Galilei
• developed the first astronomical telescope
• documented sun spots and mountains on the moon

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• Galileos discoveries caused many problems
• scholars refused to believe him because his ideas
  contradicted ancient beliefs
• the Catholic Church condemned him as a heretic
  for going against church doctrine
• Galileo was put on trial in 1633 and stated that
  the Earth was the center of the universe in order
  to avoid being executed
• he was put under house arrest for the rest of his
  life

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• Sir Isaac Newton
• defined gravity the force that keeps the
  planets in orbit around the sun
• wrote Mathematical Principles of Natural
  Philosophies
• argued that nature followed uniform laws

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• Robert Boyle
• distinguished between elements and chemical
  compounds
• explained the effect of temperature and pressure
  on gasses

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• Andreas Vesalius
• studied anatomy
• wrote On the Structure of the Human Body

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• Sir Francis Bacon
• stressed experiment and observation
• used science to improve life
• wrote his ideas in a collection of books,
  including New Atlantis

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• René Descartes
• thought that human reasoning was the best path to
  understanding
• wrote Discourse on Method
• included his famous phrase I think, therefore I
  am

Cogito, ergo sum
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Results of the Scientific Revolution

• new inventions and technologies

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• further weakening of the Catholic Church
• new belief in progress

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Scientific Method

• scientific method - the process by which
  scientists try to construct an accurate
  representation of the world

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Scientific Method