The Scientific Revolution

1
The Scientific Revolution

• While the Renaissance and Reformation were taking
  place, another revolution in European thought was
  also occurring. It changed how people viewed
  their place in the universe.

2
The Roots of Modern Science
3
The Medieval View

• Before 1500, scholars generally decided what was
  true or false by referring to an ancient Greek
  scholar or to the Bible.
• Whatever Aristotle said about the material world
  was true unless the Bible said otherwise.
• Few questioned the scientific ideas by carefully
  observing nature for themselves.

4
The Medieval View

• Most scholars believed that the earth was an
  unmoving object located at the center of the
  universe, known as the geocentric theory.
• Common sense seemed to support this view. After
  all, the sun appeared to be moving around the
  earth as it rose and set.
• It was also supported by Aristotle and
  Christianity.

5
A New Way of Thinking

• Beginning in the mid-1500s, a few scholars
  challenged the ideas of the ancient thinkers and
  the church, known to historians as the Scientific
  Revolution.
• The Scientific Revolution was a new way of
  thinking about the natural world based upon
  careful observation and a willingness to question
  accepted beliefs.

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A New Way of Thinking

• A combination of discoveries and circumstances
  led to the Scientific Revolution and helped
  spread its impact
• 1)European scholars translated many ancient and
  current scientific works by Muslims scholars.
• 2)Uncovering many ancient manuscripts showed that
  the ancient authorities often did not agree with
  each other.
• 3)European explorers traveling to Africa, Asia,
  and the Americas were inhabited by peoples and
  animals previously unknown. These discoveries
  opened Europeans to the possibility that there
  were new truths to be found.

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A New Way of Thinking

• 4) Exploration also fueled scientific research,
  especially in astronomy and mathematics.
  Navigators needed better instruments and
  geographical measurements to determine their
  location in the open sea.
• 5) The invention of the printing press helped
  spread challenging ideas.
• As scientists began to look more closely at the
  world around them, they made observations that
  did not match the ancient beliefs.

8
A Revolutionary Model of the Universe

• The first major challenge to science came in the
  field of astronomy. The Scientific Revolution
  began when a small group of scholars began to
  question the geocentric theory.

9
The Heliocentric Theory

• The geocentric theory troubled a Polish
  astronomer named Nicolaus Copernicus in the early
  1500s.
• After studying planetary movements for more than
  25 years, Nicolaus Copernicus reasoned that the
  stars, earth, and other planets revolved around
  the sun.
• This is called the heliocentric theory.

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The Heliocentric Theory

• Copernicuss theory still did not completely
  explain the planets orbits. He thought they
  orbited in a perfect circle.
• Knowing most scholars and clergy did not publish
  his findings until 1543, the last year of his
  life.

11
Galileos Discoveries

• In 1581, a 17-year-old Italian student named
  Galileo Galilei discovered the law of the
  pendulum which states that each swing of a
  pendulum takes exactly the same amount of time.
• This disproved Aristotle, who said it swings at a
  slower rhythm as it approaches its resting place.

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Galileos Discoveries

• In another study, Galileo found that a falling
  object accelerates at a fixed and predictable
  rate.
• Aristotle said that heavy objects fall faster
  than lighter ones.
• According to legend, he dropped stones of
  different weight from the Leaning Tower of Pisa.
  
• Contrary to Aristotle, the objects fell at the
  same speed.

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Galileos Discoveries

• Without ever seeing one, Galileo successfully
  built his own telescope.
• Galileo began to make observations which
  supported the theories of Copernicus.
• This frightened Christian leaders because it went
  against church teachings.

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Galileos Discoveries

• If people believed the church could be wrong
  about this, they could question other church
  teachings, as well.
• In 1616, the Catholic Church warned Galileo no to
  defend the ideas of Copernicus.
• In 1632, he published a book supporting
  Copernicus theories.

15
Galileos Discoveries

• Galileo was called to Rome to stand trial in
  1633.
• Under the threat of torture, he read a signed
  confession stating the ideas of Copernicus were
  false.
• He lived under house arrest until his death in
  1642.

16
The Scientific Method

• The revolution in scientific thinking developed
  into a new approach to science called the
  scientific method.

17
The Scientific Method

• The scientific method is a logical procedure for
  gathering and testing ideas.
• It begins with a problem or question arising from
  an observation.
• Scientists next form a hypothesis, or unproved
  assumption.
• The hypothesis is then tested.
• Scientists then interpret the data.
• Finally, the conclusion either confirms or
  disproves the hypothesis.

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The Scientific Method

• The scientific method did not develop overnight.
• The work of two important thinkers of the 1600s,
  Francis Bacon and Rene Descartes, helped to
  advance the new approach.

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The Scientific Method

• Francis Bacon, an English politician and writer,
  felt scientists should observe the world and
  gather information about it first.
• Then they should draw conclusions from that
  information.

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The Scientific Method

• In France, Rene Descartes developed analytical
  geometry, which linked algebra and geometry.
• He believed everything should be doubted until
  supported by reason.

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The Scientific Method

• The only thing he knew for certain was that he
  existed because he wrote, I think, therefore I
  am.
• From this starting point, he followed a train of
  strict reasoning to arrive at other basic truths.

22
The Scientific Method

• Scientists have shown that observation and
  experimentation, together with general laws that
  can be expressed mathematically, can lead people
  to a better understanding of the natural world.

23
Newton Explains the Law of Gravity

• By the mid-1600s, the accomplishments of
  Copernicus and Galileo had shattered the old
  views of astronomy and physics. Later, a great
  English scientist Isaac Newton helped to bring
  together their breakthroughs under a single
  theory of motion.

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Isaac Newton

• Isaac Newtons great discovery was that the same
  force ruled the motions of the planets, the
  pendulum, and all matter on earth and in space.
• This was the law of universal gravitation, which
  states every object in the universe attracts
  every other object.

25
Isaac Newton

• What does an apple have to do with gravity?
• Newton was sitting in the shade of an apple tree
  when an apple fell nearby. Newton began to
  wonder why apples always fall to the ground. Why
  dont the fall sideways or up? Newton reasoned
  that the earth must have a power that draws
  objects to it. This was the beginning of the law
  of gravity.

26
Isaac Newton

• In his book, Mathematical Principles of Natural
  Philosophy, he describe the universe like a giant
  clock.
• Its parts all worked together perfectly in ways
  that could be expressed mathematically.
• Newton believed that God was the creator of this
  orderly universe, the clockmaster who had set
  everything in motion.

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Isaac Newton
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The Scientific Revolution Spreads

• Careful observation and the use of scientific
  method eventually became important in many
  different fields.

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Scientific Instruments

• The first microscope was invented by Zacharias
  Janssen in 1590.
• In the 1670s, Anton van Leeuwenhoek used the
  microscope to observe bacteria and red blood
  cells.

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Scientific Instruments

• In 1643, Evangelista Torricelli developed the
  first barometer, a tool for measuring atmospheric
  pressure and predicting weather.
• In 1714, Gabriel Fahrenheit made the first
  thermometer to use mercury in a glass.

31
Medicine

• Being able to control disease is one of the most
  important developments of science.
• In the late 1700s, Edward Jenner introduced the
  first vaccine to prevent smallpox.

32
Discoveries in Chemistry

• Robert Boyle pioneered the use of scientific
  method in chemistry.
• Boyles Law explains how the volume, temperature,
  and pressure of gas affect each other.
• In 1774, Joseph Priestly discovered the gas,
  oxygen.

33
The Enlightenment

• Other scholars and philosophers also applied a
  scientific approach to other areas of life.
• Believing themselves to be orderly, rational, and
  industrious, they thought of themselves as
  enlightened.
• They would become the leaders of a new
  intellectual and social movement called the
  Enlightenment.