Scientific Revolution
by: Sara Wright
Background information and Impact
From 1550 to 1700, Europe experienced a Scientific Revolution where new ideas in physics, astronomy, biology, anatomy changed the way Europeans viewed the natural world.
During the renaissance people began to question old beliefs, ideas of the Roman Catholic church, and thought humans could accomplish almost anything. The Age of exploration also played apart as to why people began to question everything because the discovery of new lands led people to search for other things. Due to people wanting to know what was real or not many people began to study things for answer to their questions.
Francis Bacon
- People only looked to the bible or famous philosophers at the time looking for answers. Because of this Bacon developed a new way of gathering information about nature: The Scientific Experiment
- "To learn about Nature, we have to pull Nature out of her comfort zone. We need to put Nature in a place where we control as many of the factors as possible and make her perform the same activity again and again. Only then can we begin to eliminate the factors that confuse our attempts to understand nature."
- Works:
- The Pillars of Hercules
- The Advancement of Learning ("The King should take order for the collecting and perfecting of a Natural and Experimental History, true and severe with literature and book-learning), such as philosophy may be built upon, so the sciences and philosophers serve as a basis)
- Book of Jeremiah
-each book contains some type of anti-religious and materialistic concepts that go against England's political theory which of course upset the church for him not following the bible directly...
- Bacon’s ideas are still used today. The importance to science of experimental data and observations are now beyond doubt.
Issac Newton
-(1643-1727) was an English scientist and philosopher who formulated the Laws of Motion and the Law of Universal Gravitation.
-Discovered & explained the theory of gravity and also studied the physics of motion, light, & heat.
- Works
- developed physical law that has become known as Newton's Law of Universal Gravitation.
-Philosphia Naturalis Principia Mathematica
-Created Calculus
-Ideas and mathematical foundations laid out in Philosophiae Naturalis Principia Mathematica is still relevant. for example, in the European Space Agency’s mission to deploy the Philae lander on a comet, Newton’s theory of gravity played a crucial role.
- those at the church we not exactly effected on Newtons discovery's. They actually encouraged Newton due to his faith in god.
Nicholas Copernicus
-this the concept of the earth and laid thee foundation for modern astronomy.
-works: Copernicus used early trigonometry to show that the observations of the movements of the planets in the sky are most easily explained by assuming that the Earth and other planets orbited around the Sun. He published this in 1543 in Poland. Copernicus also made contributions to Mathematics.
- impact on church: Copernicus's doctrine was opposed by the church for many years. In 1616 the Catholic church declared that it was contrary to the scriptures. Galileo had been a champion of Copernicus in Italy and was forced to recant and spent the rest of his life (1564-1642) under house arrest by order of the inquisition.
Galileo Galilei
-Born: February 15, 1564
-Died: January 8, 164
- Galileo was a physicist,mathematician, astronomer, and philosopher.
- Galileo’s research was based on modern philosophies of science, and he believed that the universe should be described by mathematics.
- works:
-he revolutionized the use of the telescope, contributed to the experimental scientific method, and created inertia in physics, which is the idea that an object in motion has an inertia which allows it to stay in motion unless an external force is forced upon it
- faced many struggles with the Catholic Church though, he was able to support his argument of the heliocentric theory with the fact that it was just a mathematical theory which did not present a threat to the Church.though in 1633 due to his heliocentric ideas and stood trial and was forced to give up his ideas and to live under house arrest till he died.
- In today's society the spacecraft launched by NASA in October 18, 1989 was named in Galileo’s honor as the spacecraft’s mission was around Jupiter. In addition, the Copernican theory would never have developed into the 21st century if not for Galileo’s effort to prove by observing the phases of Venus relative to the sun from the Earth.
Johannes Kepler
-lived between 1571 and 1630.
- Kepler was a leading astronomer of the Scientific Revolution known for formulating the Laws of Planetary Motion.
- was a German mathematician and astronomer who discovered the movements of the planets around the sun.
-Works:
- Kepler's laws of planetary motion and the Kepler conjecture. He also revolutionized science by brings together physics and astronomy.
-His Protestant beliefs won him little favor with the Catholic church, and the Lutheran church shunned him for his sympathies with Calvinist beliefs. He was forced to relocate more than once to avoid persecution, as well as to escape political dangers from wars.
- his impact today for the 3 laws of planetary motion helped set the foundation for much of Newton's physics/astronomy work later on, and for all we know, Newton has provided us today with much mathematical and physical knowledge.
William Harvey
-was an English physician. He was the first known to describe completely and in detail the systemic circulation and properties of blood being pumped to the brain and body by the heart,
-Works or discoveries:
- De Moto Cordis – the Motion of the Heart. Its full title in English is: Anatomical Studies on the Motion of the Heart and Blood in Animals
- correctly describe blood’s circulation in the body.
- He showed that arteries and veins form a complete circuit. The circuit starts at the heart and leads back to the heart.
- The church during his time was okay with his studies but he still had to be careful do to another studding the same theory as him that had brought the uprising of both the Protestants and the Catholic Church and ended up being burned at the stake for heresy therefore. Harvey must have been aware of such risk and was very cautious.
- Harvey impacted on today's society because with out him we wouldn't be able to preform heart surgery's or help women who are having trouble with their fetuses.
Robert Boyle
- "Father of Chemistry"
- He defined elements, compounds and mixtures and he coined the new term ‘chemical analysis,’ a field in which he made several powerful contributions.
-Works:
- discovered Boyle’s Law – the first of the gas laws – relating the pressure of a gas to its volume; he established that electrical forces are transmitted through a vacuum, but sound is not; and he also stated that the movement of particles is responsible for heat. He was the first person to write specific experimental guidance for other scientists, telling them the importance of achieving reliable, repeatable results.
- due to Boyle's discoveries he led us to better understanding of the particles that make up the world
Andreas Vesalius
- (31 December 1514 – 15 October 1564)
- Andreas Vesalius was a Belgian physician- first person to dissect a human to learn about the insides of the human body for surgery and anatomy.
-Works:
- Vesalius wrote a pamphlet on blood letting, a popular treatment for a variety of illnesses. Vesalius pamphlet was supported by his knowledge of the blood system and he showed clearly how anatomical dissection could be used to test speculation, and underlined the importance of understanding the structure of the body in medicine.
- Vesalius published 'De Humani Corporis Fabrica'. The book was based largely on human dissection, and transformed anatomy into a subject that relied on observations taken directly from human dissections.
- produced anatomical charts of the blood and nervous systems
- his findings did cause problems with the church for example the church said the heart controlled the entire body, emotion, feelings, and contains the soul however Vesalius proved that all nerves come not from the heart but from the brain.
- without Vesalius discoveries we would not have the surgery's and medicine to treat illnesses today.