Religion and Science in the 16th

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Religion and Science in the 16th 17th
Centuries A Changing Worldview
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Medieval Renaissance Worldview
   
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Aristotle's hierarchical view of nature and the
universe was co-opted by Christian theologians
during the Middle Ages, and remained influential
throughout the Renaissance. This image of the
Great Chain of Being from 1579 depicts a divinely
inspired universal hierarchy in which all forms
of life are ranked between heaven and hell.
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Medieval View of the Universe

• Aristotle
• Ptolemy
• Bible

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The Christian Aristotelian Ptolemaic Cosmos
Engraving from Peter Apian's Cosmographia, 1524
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The Changing View of the Universe
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1535 On the Revolutions of the Celestial Spheres
Nicolaus Copernicus

• heliocentric model
• (circular orbits)

Fearing the Catholic Church, Copernicus did not
publish his theory until he lay on his deathbed.
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  Galileo Galilei
Strong defender of Copernican theory added
support
1610 The Starry Messenger

• first to use telescope to scientifically observe
  sky
• four visible moons of Jupiter orbit around it
  and not the Earth
• "phases of Venus" prove that Venus orbited
  around the sun

1632 Dialogue Concerning the Two Chief World
Systems

• advocates scientific method to discover truth
  about the physical world

The publication of Dialogue brought Galileo into
conflict with the Church. He was summoned to
Rome, brought to trial, and in 1635 was forced to
recant. He was kept a virtual prisoner in his
villa at Arcestri until his death in 1642.
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Johannes Kepler
1609 The New Astronomy

• Three laws of planetary motion
• elliptical orbits with sun as one focus
• planets velocity decreases as distance from
  sun increases
• formula relating time and distance

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Isaac Newton
1687 Principa Mathematica

• Three laws of motion
• inertia
• mass x acceleration force (Fma)
• action/reaction

• Gravitation
• bodies attract
• degree of attraction due to mass and distance

Newton showed that the elliptical orbits of the
planets described by Kepler had were the result
of gravity, thus integrating all of the
scientific evidence of his predecessors into a
single, unified system.
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Oh by the way, regarding poor Galileo . . .