1. THE SCIENTIFIC REVOLUTION

2. Essential Understandings
Changes in religious thought and institutions challenged the foundations of Medieval Society and became a catalyst for increased secularization of government and society in Europe.
Religious and political institutions are often in overlapping spheres which creates conflict and cooperation within society.
The scientific and technological innovations of the 17th, 18th, and 19th, centuries dramatically altered the course of human existence and laid the foundations of the modern world.

3. Introduction: The Question that Transcends The Centuries
Can religion and science co-exist?
Why does this question still dominate intellectual and spiritual authorities?
What, in your opinion, are the historical origins of this debate?
John Calvin on Astronomy: Moses wrote in a popular style things which, without instruction, all ordinary persons endowed with common sense are able to: but astronomers investigate with great labor what ever the wisdom of the human mind can comprehend: The study should not be prohibited, nor this science condemned…

4. Scientific Revolution
Essential Questions:
What are the historical origins of the Scientific Revolution?
How does scientific and technological innovation alter the course of human existence?
How did challenges to religious thought and institutions erode the foundations of Medieval Society leading to increased secularization of government and pluralism in Europe?

5. THE SCIENTIFIC REVOLUTION
CREATION OF A NEW WORLDVIEW
Questioning of old knowledge & assumptions
Gradual replacement of religious & superstition presumptions
Gradual rise of science & reason, originating with the Renaissance
Weakening authority of the R.C.C

6. THE SCIENTIFIC REVOLUTION
NEW DIRECTIONS IN ASTRONOMY & PHYSICS
PTOLEMY: Geocentricism, supported by scripture
NICOLAUS COPERNICUS ( ): Heliocentrisim,
TYCHO BRAHE ( ): More accurate position of planets, unique observations of the heavens
In 1514 Copernicus made available to friends his Commentariolus (Little Commentary), a short handwritten text describing his ideas about the heliocentric hypothesis. Thereafter he continued gathering data for a more detailed work.
The astronomer Copernicus: Conversation with God.[2] Painting by Jan Matejko.
In 1533, Johann Albrecht Widmannstetter delivered in Rome a series of lectures outlining Copernicus' theory. The lectures were heard with interest by Pope Clement VII and several Catholic cardinals.
On 1 November 1536, Archbishop of Capua Nicholas Schönberg wrote a letter to Copernicus from Rome:
Some years ago word reached me concerning your proficiency, of which everybody constantly spoke. At that time I began to have a very high regard for you... For I had learned that you had not merely mastered the discoveries of the ancient astronomers uncommonly well but had also formulated a new cosmology. In it you maintain that the earth moves; that the sun occupies the lowest, and thus the central, place in the universe... Therefore with the utmost earnestness I entreat you, most learned sir, unless I inconvenience you, to communicate this discovery of yours to scholars, and at the earliest possible moment to send me your writings on the sphere of the universe together with the tables and whatever else you have that is relevant to this subject...[3]
By then Copernicus' work was nearing its definitive form, and rumors about his theory had reached educated people all over Europe. Despite urgings from many quarters, Copernicus delayed with the publication of his book, perhaps from fear of criticism — a fear delicately expressed in the subsequent Dedication of his masterpiece to Pope Paul III. About this, historians of science David Lindberg and Ronald Numbers have written:
If Copernicus had any genuine fear of publication, it was the reaction of scientists, not clerics, that worried him. Other churchmen before him — Nicole Oresme (a French bishop) in the fourteenth century and Nicolaus Cusanus (a German cardinal) in the fifteenth — had freely discussed the possible motion of the earth, and there was no reason to suppose that the reappearance of this idea in the sixteenth century would cause a religious stir.[4]
In connection with the Galileo affair, Copernicus' book was suspended until corrected by the Index of the Catholic Church in 1616, because the Pythagorean doctrine of the motion of the Earth and the immobility of the Sun "is false and altogether opposed to the Holy Scripture".[5][6] These corrections were indicated in 1620, and nine sentences had to be either omitted or changed. [7] The book stayed on the Index until In that period Galileo Galilei was found guilty in 1633 for "following the position of Copernicus, which [is] contrary to the true sense and authority of Holy Scripture ..."[8], and was sent to his home near Florence where he was to be under house arrest for the remainder of his life in 1638.
JOHANNES KEPLER, ( ): Elliptical planetary movement “God’s geometrical plan for the universe.”

7. THE SCIENTIFIC REVOLUTION
NEW DIRECTIONS IN ASTRONOMY & PHYSICS
GALILEO GALILEI ( )
Constructed first functional telescope
Described motion of heavenly bodies
Major controversies with the RCC
Spends later years under house arrest

8. THE SCIENTIFIC REVOLUTION
NEW DIRECTIONS IN ASTRONOMY & PHYSICS
ISAAC NEWTON ( )
Universal Gravitation: combined laws of planetary & earth motion
Numerous practical applications
Father of modern physics and calculus

9. Three Laws of Motion
An object in motion will remain in motion unless acted upon by a net force, and an object at rest will remain at rest unless acted upon by a net force; this is also known as inertia.
Force equals mass multiplied by acceleration.
For every action there is an equal and opposite reaction.

10. THE SCIENTIFIC REVOLUTION
DISCOVERIES IN OTHER SCIENCES
Botany: new medical applications
Anatomy: better understand of how human body worked
Microscope invented

11. THE SCIENTIFIC REVOLUTION
PHILOSOPHICAL THOUGHT
FRANCIS BACON ( )
Inductive reasoning: working from particular to general conclusions
Empiricism & scientific method

12. Novum Organum: New Intstruments
"Printing, gunpowder and the compass: These three have changed the whole face and state of things throughout the world; the first in literature, the second in warfare, the third in navigation; whence have followed innumerable changes, in so much that no empire, no sect, no star seems to have exerted greater power and influence in human affairs than these mechanical discoveries." [7]
What three innovations have changed our world?

13. THE SCIENTIFIC REVOLUTION
PHILOSOPHICAL THOUGHT
RENÉ DESCARTES ( )
Geometry: any algebraic formula could be plotted as curve in space
Deductive Reasoning: starting with general assumptions & working downward
Cartesian Dualism: division of reality into “thinking substance” & “extended substance”
Stoicism: virtue is to maintain a will that is in accord with nature.

14. THE SCIENTIFIC REVOLUTION
POLITICAL THOUGHT
THOMAS HOBBES ( )
Applied new empiricism to society
Negative, mechanistic view of human nature
Strong sovereign necessary to control conflicting desires
Social Contract Theory: People create government for mutual protection
Hobbe’s Leviathan

15. THE SCIENTIFIC REVOLUTION
POLITICAL THOUGHT
JOHN LOCKE ( )
TABULA RASA: humans born with blank slate
Natural Laws: Two Treatise of Government
Social Contract Defined: Government exists to protect life, liberty, and property
Early foundations of the enlightenment

16. Performance Based Learning Assessment
Assignments:
Part 1: Select a historical character from below. After researching the background and contributions of the person, submit a resume for the person, including a cover letter and a letter of recommendation. You may design an ideal job as the target of your application. You can find a template at After researching the degree to which he actually succeeded in life, determine whether the response letter would be positive or negative and write it accordingly. Include reference to some of his original work.
Create a series of interview questions to evaluate and examine a candidate for a 16th century job interview

17. Online Lesson Nicolaus Copernicus Tycho Brahe Johannes Kepler
Galileo Galilei
Isaac Newton
Meguel de Cervantes Saavedra
John Milton
John Bunyan
Francis Bacon
Rene Descartes
Blaise Pascal
Baruch Spinoza
Part 2: Answer the following question in your journal: Evaluate the validity of the following statement: "New opinions are always suspected, and usually opposed, without any other reason but because they are not already common." John Locke
Part 3: Complete the Scientific Revolution chart in you note book: