THE SCIENTIFIC REVOLUTION

NAISBITT/FREILER

THE NEW SCIENCE• The scientific revolution

was the opening of a new era in European history

• The discoveries of the stargazers, like those of the sea explorers, challenged people’s assumptions and beliefs

• After two centuries of classical revival, thinkers had finally come to the limits of ancient knowledge

• One by one the certainties of the past were being called into question

While the era was not a complete rejection of the

ancient philosophers, it was a far more critical look at

their published work

OLD SCHOOL: ARISTOTLE ON THE UNIVERSE

• Aristotle’s harmonious view of the cosmos was attractive for its marriage of the physical world with a view of the moral and spiritual realms

• The heavens were unchanging -- the sun, moon, and planets were all faultless spheres with perfectly circular rotations

• The earth was the center of the universe due to its importance • Above earth was the underworld of spirits and above earth was the

upper world of gods and heaven

CHURCH AND ARISTOTLE• The Christian Church

embraced the Aristotelian world view because it was easily incorporated into Christianity

• Aristotle’s model had a place for God and angels to reside outside the crystal rings that held the sun, moon, and planets in their orbits

ARISTOTLE/PTOLEMY MODEL HAD PROBLEMS

• Their were issues with Aristotle’s model as preserved by Ptolemy, the greatest Greek astronomer

• 1) If the sun revolves around the earth in a perfect circle, why weren’t the seasons equal?

• 2) If the planets revolve around earth in a circles, then why do they sometimes look nearer or farther away?

• Hypotheses were advanced to try to support the old model• Epicycles could explain the problems, but they required 55 different adjustments

NEW IDEAS: COPERNICUS

• In the late 15th century, a Polish astronomer began an extensive study of the solar system

• He was fascinated by planetary motion and believed the elaborate epicycle explanation was too complicated

• His ground-breaking essay, On the Revolutions of the Heavenly Spheres, theorized that “at rest, in the middle of everything is the sun”

COPERNICUS AND HIS HELIOCENTRIC IDEAS

• Copernicus argued that the universe consisted of eight spheres with the sun motionless at the center and the sphere of fixed stars at rest in the eighth sphere

• Copernicus’s sun-centered universe was attacked by Protestants (Luther called him a “fool”)

• The Catholic Church chose to remain silent . . . for nowNotice that Copernicus had the moon revolving

around the earth

LIMITS OF COPERNICUS• Copernicus accepted

the traditional ideas of planets moving in perfect circles, thus his scheme was only slightly better at predicting the position of planets

• Copernicus’s work did succeed at stimulating other astronomers to make new calculations

Copernicus was basically conservative. He waited until his death

to publish his work.

BRAHE BUILDS AN OBSERVATORY

• Danish nobleman, Tycho Brahe was granted possession of an island near Copenhagen by King Frederick II

• On it, Brahe built the elaborate Uraniborg castle, which he outfitted with a library and a large observatory

• For 20 years Brahe patiently and precisely complied a detailed record of his observations

• While he rejected the Aristotelain-Ptolemaic model, he was unable to accept Copernicus’s suggestion that the earth moved

Uraniborg

TYCHO BRAHE COLLECTS DATA

• Brahe noticed a couple of irregularities that served to destroy the notion of an unchanging universe composed of crystal spheres

• First, Brahe discovered a nova, a brightly burning star that was previously unknown

• Second, in 1577, the appearance of a comet cutting through the supposedly impenetrable rings punched another hole into the old cosmology

KEPLER MAKES A NAME FOR HIMSELF

• Next, Brahe’s assistant, Johannes Kepler formulated laws of planetary motion

• One of the preeminent mathematicians of his era, Kepler discovered that planets orbited the sun in elliptical rather than circular movement

• He also calculated that the speed of the planet varied according to its distance from the sun Kepler developed 3 laws of

planetary motion

KEPLER’S IMPACT

• Kepler’s findings were consistent with the idea that precise mathematical relationships governed astronomy

• His work supported the view that the galaxy was heliocentric and that the heavens, like the earth, were made of matter that was subject to physical laws

GALILEO• Galileo Galilei was able to

confirm Kepler’s findings by observing the heavens through his newly created telescope

• In 1610, he discovered four moons of Jupiter – proving conclusively that all heavenly bodies did not revolve around the earth

• Additionally, he observed the landscape of the earth’s moon and described it as full of mountains, valleys, and rivers

Galileo’s Telescope

Galileo dispelled the belief that the moon was smooth and perfect like a marble

GALILEO BECOMES

FAMOUS, IS CHARGED

• As news of his experiments and discovered spread, Galileo became famous throughout the Continent

• In 1616, the Roman Catholic Church cautioned him about promoting his views

• Finally, in 1633, a year after publishing his A Dialogue Between the Two Great Systems of the World, Galileo was tried by the Inquisition and forced to recant his views that the earth moves

GALILEO UNDER HOUSE ARREST

• Galileo spent the rest of his life under house arrest

• He insisted that there was nothing anti-Christian in the new science

• He said the Bible was the source of spiritual authority, but should not be used as a book of science

OR

NEOPLATONISM

• During the Renaissance the writings of Plato attracted many Italian humanists including Marsilio Ficino and Pico della Mirandola

• These Neoplatonic humanists taught Plato’s theory that the world was composed of ideas and forms that were hidden by the physical properties of objects Neoplatonists believed the perfect

disciplines were music and math

NEOPLATONISM IMPACTS OTHER FIELDS

• Neoplatonism created an impetus for the mathematically based studies of the new scientists

• Astronomers used both calculation and geometry in exploring the heavens

• Other fields such as alchemy, astrology, numerology and Hermeticism were bolstered by Neoplatonic ideas

BOYLE AND CHEMISTRY

• While not embraced by all physicians, Paracelsian cures and methods had a profound effect on the studies of Englishman Robert Boyle

• Boyle devoted his energy to raising chemistry above the study of merely providing recipes for the cure of disease

• Boyle’s work would established modern Chemistry

BOYLE, BOYLE TOIL AND TROUBLE

• Boyle’s first important work, The Sceptical Chymist (1661), rejected both the four humors and the three principles as the basis for matter

• Instead, Boyle found an atomic explanation in which matter “consisted of little particles”

• Boyle’s most important experiments were with gases – he formulated the relationship between the volume and the pressure of a gas (Boyle’s law) and he also invented the air pumpBoyle’s Air Pump

MEDICAL SCIENCE

• The new spirit of scientific inquiry also affected medical studies

• Galen’s assumptions were largely rejected by the new study of anatomy

• Belgian doctor Andreas Vesalius used dissection to produce a set of accurate anatomical drawings in 1543

• At age 25, Vesalius launched a full assault on Galen• Vesalius worked with the finest block cutters of Venice and draftsmen to produce his book, De humani corporis fabrica libri septem, or “The Seven Books on the Structure of the Human Body”—commonly known as the Fabrica • In this 1543 masterwork, men and women now stood stripped of skin while skeletons leaned lazily against columns in the rolling Italian countryside

CHALLENGING GALENISM

WILLIAM HARVEY AND BLOOD

• While dissection did help explain much about the human body, one mystery that lingered was the method by which blood moved through the body

• It was generally accepted that blood traveled form the liver to the heart

• English Doctor William Harvey provided a alternative explanation

1578-1657

HARVEY: HEART AS PUMP

• William Harvey examined hearts in more than 40 species before determining that the heart acted like a pump and circulated blood throughout the body

• {Harvey served as personal physician to both James I and Charles I of England}

SIR ISAAC NEWTON• The greatest of them all

was the English scientist Sir Isaac Newton

• A mathematician and physicist, Newton brought together the various strands of the new science

• He merged the ideas of Hermeticists, astronomers and astrologists, the chemists and the alchemists

Newton 1642-1727

NEWTON SEES THE LIGHT

• Newton was the first to understand the composition of light, the first to develop a calculus, and the first to build a reflecting telescope

• He studied Hermetic writings and from them revived the mystical notions of attraction and repulsion

NEWTON SYNTHESIZES NEW SCIENCE

• Newton’s influential work, Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosophy, is one of the most important scientific works ever composed

• He solved the perplexing question: If the world is composed of matter in motion, what is motion?

NEWTON AND MOTION

• Most scientists believed that motion was inherent in objects

• In contrast, Newton believed that motion was a result of interaction between objects and that it could be calculated mathematically

• He formulated the concept of force and 3 laws of motion

NEWTON AND THE UNIVERSE

• Newton theorized that if all earthly motion was subject to laws than the movement of planets could be explained in the same way

• According to Newton, there was a mathematical relationship between attraction and repulsion – a universal gravitation – that governed the movement of all objects

Newton’s theory of gravity joined together

Kepler’s astronomy and Galileo’s physics

WIDESPREAD SUPPORT FOR NEW SCIENCE

• By 1650 the New Science was firmly established throughout Europe

• Support came from royal and noble patrons who provided equipment, labs, and observatories

• Royal societies were established and scientists met frequently to discuss their findings

Scientists later combined these opposing method into a step-by-step method…

1)State a problem or question.2)From Descartes, used observation & logic to

form a hypothesis, or possible answer.3)From Bacon, used experimentation to gather

data about a proposed hypothesis4)Analyzes data to determine whether the

hypothesis is correct.

BACON AND THE SCIENTIFIC METHOD

• One of the leading supporters of scientific research in England was Sir Francis Bacon

• In his influential work, The Advancement of Learning, Bacon proposed a scientific method through inductive empirical experimentation

Bacon 1561-1626

BACON: OPEN AND HONEST

• Bacon believed experiments should be carefully recorded so that results were both reliable and repeatable

• He further advocated the open world of science vs. the closed secret world of the magician

RENE DESCARTES

• Trained in a Jesuit school, Descartes got a law degree in 1616

• He served in the 30 Years’ War for the Dutch

• He studied math intensely and in 1637 published his extraordinary book, Discourse on Method

Descrates (1596-1650) emphasized the role of doubt in inquiry

DISCOURSE ON METHOD• Descartes began his

“discourse” by rejecting everything that could not be clearly proven

• The only thing that he could be certain about was that he had a mind

• Thus his famous formulation: “Cogito ergo sum” (I think therefore I am)

DESCARTES AND GOD

• From this first certainty came another: the knowledge of perfectibility

• He knew he was imperfect and that a perfect being had to have placed that knowledge within him – thus God existed

CARTESIAN DUALISM• Descartes philosophy,

known as Cartesian Dualism, rested on the dual existence of matter and mind

• Matter was the material world subject to laws of nature

• Mind was the spirit of the creator

• He believed that all objects operated according to natural laws

DESCRATES INVENTS HIGH SCHOOL MATH

• Descartes went on to invent analytic geometry and made important contributions to the science of optics and physics

• Yet it was his proof that the new science could be harmonized with the old religion that many call his greatest contribution to the New Science

Analytic geometry, also called coordinate geometry, is the study of geometry using the principles of algebra. Some consider the introduction of analytic geometry as the beginning of modern mathematics.

A HUMOROUS INTERLUDE: A SCIENTIST JOKE

WOMEN AND SCIENCE• In the late 14th and early 15th

centuries, new opportunities for elite women emerged as humanism encouraged Europe’s privileged classes to promote women’s study of the classic texts

• Women were attracted to the study of science although institutions of higher learning were not ready for them

• Women largely studied informally with their fathers or brothers

Academies, societies and colleges were not ready for women during the Scientific Revolution

MARGARET CAVENDISH

• One of the most prominent female scientists of the 17th century was Margaret Cavendish (1623-1673)

• Cavendish was an active participant in scientific debates of the era

• However she was excluded from membership in the Royal Society

CAVENDISH SPEAKS HER MIND

• Cavendish defended her beliefs in her impressive book, Observations upon Experimental Philosophy and Grounds of Natural Philosophy

• She attacked the growing belief that through science, humans would be masters of nature

• She said, “We have no power at all over natural causes and effects.”

THE WOMAN QUESTION: THE MALE VIEW

• The nature and value of women had been the subject of an ongoing, centuries- long debate known as the querelles des femmes

• Male opinions were generally unfavorable stereotypes that had persisted since medieval time

• Males viewed women as easily swayed, prone to vice, and “sexually insatiable”

THE WOMAN QUESTION: THE FEMALE VIEW

• Women joined this debate by arguing against the traditional male images of women

• Women argued that they had rational minds that could benefit from education

• Furthermore, most women were actually pious and chaste and therefore did not need male authority over them

SCIENCE NO HELP FOR WOMEN

• Overall the Scientific Revolution reaffirmed traditional ideas about women

• Anatomical studies proclaimed women to have larger pelvic areas and smaller skulls

• Furthermore, science caused traditional spheres of influence of women to give way to men (example: mid-wives replaced by male doctors)

Science reinforced the view of women as inferior, subordinate to

men, and suited by nature to nurture

SCIENCE AND RELIGION IN THE 17TH CENTURY

• The Galileo trial initiated the beginning of the conflict between science and religion that has marked the history of modern civilization

• Since the beginning of time religion has served as the scientific authority

• New Science began to draw intellectual barriers between theology and scientific truth

THE CHURCH TAKES A STANCE

• The New Science was contrary to ancient wisdom and contradicted Church teachings

• Furthermore, it was a movement completely outside the control of Rome

• The symbol of this conflict was the trail of Galileo which starkly profiled the conflict between authority and knowledge

WAS SPLIT NECESSARY?

• As scientific beliefs triumphed, it became inevitable that religious beliefs would suffer, leading to a growing secularization of European intellectual life

• Some 17th century scientists believed the split was unnecessary – that one could combine God, humans, and a mechanistic universe

Consequences of Scientific Revolution

• The gap between science and traditional religion grew wider as Europe continued down the path of secularization

• More and more of the intellectual, social, and political elites began to act on the basis of secular rather than religious assumptions