Chapter 16 The Scientific Revolution

Classical to Copernicus  In the classical period Ptolemy came up with the geocentric conception  Earth centered universe  Accepted by the church  Copernicus developed the heliocentric conception  Sun centered universe  Kicks off the scientific revolution

Magic to Science  From the Renaissance to the 17 th Century magic and science were almost identical  Alchemy was the “science” of turning regular items into gold  Hermeticism was the basis for science and understanding the world and how to manipulate it (magic)

Collecting Data  Tycho Brahe collected 20 years worth of observations  Francis Bacon said that to find truth you needed empirical data (observed and collected)  Galileo’s telescope helped make this process of obtaining data easier

New Theories  By using the works of Brahe, Johannes Kepler developed the 3 laws of planetary motion  Determined that planets travel on elliptical orbits, don’t travel with uniform speed etc.  Demonstrates that scientists did not merely accept truth but tested new theories to build and expand on their concepts

New Theories  Galileo further expanded our view of the universe with the telescope in his book Starry Messenger  Identified the principle of inertia  Said celestial objects made up of same material as earth  The church becomes cautious: They don’t want to claim that science is all wrong but don’t want people to give it all power either

Newton  Author of Principia, Newton made many great discoveries for science  Discovered universal law of gravitation  Invented Calculus to help him with his findings  Made the concept of a “World Machine” where things acted according to natural laws instead of God  Combined scientific method

Doctors  Galen (classical doctor) claimed body had four humors (liquids) and sickness came from an imbalance of them  Paracelsus claimed that chemicals could be used to treat and like cures like in different dosage  (Our first pharmacist)

Studying Anatomy  Vesalius believed that doctors needed hands on approach training so dissected bodies to study anatomy  William Harvey discovered that the heart originated blood and pumped it through body. Also discovered capillaries function of transferring blood from arteries to veins

Other scientists  Antoine Lavoisier: Founder of modern chemistry  Robert Boyle: Wanted controllable experiments and determined laws of gasses

Rene Descartes  Cartesian Dualism: claims that there should be a separation of Mind and Body  Idea of I think therefore I am. The only thing you could prove was your own existence. Said body can be tricked  Father of modern rationalism

Religion and Science  Margaret Cavendish said that science would not help man become masters of nature  Benedict Spinoza supported Pantheism  Blaise Pascal tried to unite science with religion but warned people against accepting science over religion