1. The Scientific Revolution
Chapter 8, Lesson 1

2. Origins of Scientific Thought
“Natural Philosophers”
Middle Ages scientists
Relied on ancient authorities like Aristotle for scientific knowledge
Old views abandoned when changes occur during 1400s and 1500s
Renaissance Humanists
Learned Greek and Latin
Discovered the works of Plato and Archimedes
Realized that not all ancient thinkers agreed with Aristotle and other accepted authorities of the Middle Ages

3. Lead Up to the Revolution
Technical problems needed observation and accurate measurement to be solved
Invention of telescope and microscope
Encouraged direct observation
Led to fresh scientific discoveries
Printing Press
New ideas spread quickly and easily

4. Geocentric vs. Heliocentric
Ptolemaic System (Geocentric)
Model of the universe that was geocentric (Earth placed at the center of the universe)
Universe is a series of spheres, one inside another
Earth is fixed in the center
“Heavenly bodies” revolve around the Earth
The last sphere moves itself and makes the other spheres move
Past the last sphere is Heaven and God

5. Geocentric Model

6. Geocentric vs. Heliocentric
Copernican View (heliocentric)
Created by Nicolaus Copernicus (astronomer and mathematician)
Believed in an heliocentric universe (the sun is at the center of the universe)
Planets revolve around the sun, moon revolves around the Earth
Johannes Kepler
Observations confirmed that the sun was at the center of the universe
Kepler’s First Law: orbits of the planets around the sun are not circular (like Ptolemy said), but elliptical (egg shaped) with the sun close to the end of the ellipse

7. Heliocentric Model

8. Galileo Galilei
First European to use a telescope to study the universe and discovers:
Mountains on the Earth’s moon
Four moons revolving around Jupiter
Sunspots
Believed in Copernicus and a heliocentric universe
Came under suspicion of the Catholic Church after publishing The Starry Message and making more Europeans aware of the heliocentric universe
Copernican ideas threatened the Church’s beliefs about the universe (Earth and humans at the center)
By 1630s and 1640s, most astronomers accept a heliocentric universe

9. Isaac Newton Professor of mathematics at Cambridge University
Wrote Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosophy (known as Principia)
Defined the three laws of motion that control the planets and objects on Earth
Universal Law of Gravitation
Explains the elliptical orbits of the planets and all motion in the universe, which is controlled by gravity
Every object in the universe is attracted to every other object by gravity
Concept will dominate science until Albert Einstein (early 1900s)

10. Medicine and Chemistry
Galen
Late Middle Ages
Used animal dissection to describe human anatomy
Not accurate at all
Andreas Vesalius
Dissected human bodies at University of Padua
Accurately described individual organs and structure of the human body

11. Medicine and Chemistry
William Harvey
Showed that the heart was the beginning point for blood circulation
Galen had said that the liver was the beginning point
Proved that the same blood flows through veins and arteries, making a complete trip throughout the body
Blaise Pascal
Pascal’s Law: if pressure is put on a liquid, it will be distributed evenly over all of the fluid
Led to tools like the syringe and hydraulic press
Robert Boyle
Boyle’s Law: volume of a gas changes with the pressure it is under

12. Contribution of Women Margaret Cavendish
From an English aristocratic family
Not formally educated in science, but wrote a number of books about scientific matters
Critical of the idea that humans were the masters of nature
Published under her own name
Contributions widely known today, but not taken seriously during her time period because of her gender

13. Contribution of Women Maria Winkelmann German astronomer
, women made up 14% of German astronomers
Learned from a self-taught astronomer
Married Gottfried Kirch, Prussia’s most famous astronomer, and worked as his assistant
Made original contributions to astronomy (discovered a comet)
Applied to be an assistant astronomer at Berlin Academy
Denied because she was a woman and had no formal degree
Feared that hiring a woman would set a bad example

14. Rene Descartes French philosopher
Decided to set aside everything that he knew and begin again
One thing he knew to be without doubt: he existed
“I think, therefore I am”
Accepted only the things his reason said were true
“The mind cannot be doubted but the body and material world can. The two must be radically different”
Separation of the mind and body
Matter was something that was completely detached from the mind and could be investigated independently by reason

15. Francis Bacon English philosopher Created the scientific method
Procedure for collecting and analyzing evidence
Based on inductive reasoning: start from the specific and move to the general
Believed that knowledge of the natural world could be achieved through observation and experimentation
Thought that human power could conquer and control nature
Becomes an important concern of science and technology

16. Scientific Method