Scientific Revolution
By Jacob Allen Kula
What is the Scientific Revolution
In the twentieth century it became a common notion that modern science originated in a seventeenth-century "revolution" in thought precipitated by a new method for studying nature. In the later part of the twentieth century, a consensus developed among historians, philosophers, and sociologists of science that the emergence of modern science was more evolutionary than revolutionary. Furthermore, while modern science for 300 years claimed that its methods generated value-free, objective knowledge, the twentieth-century consensus was that, implicitly and explicitly, the practice of science incorporated moral, ethical, and social value judgments.
Some of the most famous scientists
Copernicus
The Polish astronomer Nicolas Copernicus (1473-1543) was the founder of the heliocentric ordering of the planets
Kepler
The German astronomer Johannes Kepler (1571-1630) was one of the chief founders of modern astronomy because of his discovery of three basic laws underlying the motion of planets. Kepler published these laws in his lengthy discussion of the orbit of the planet Mars, the Astronomia nova (1609). The two laws were clearly spelled out also in the book's detailed table of contents. Thus they must have struck the eyes of any careful reader sensitive to an astronomical novelty of such major proportion. Still, Galileo failed to take cognizance of them in his printed works, although he could have used them to great advantage to buttress his advocacy of the Copernican system.
Galileo
Philosopher, physicist, and inventor. At the age of 12, Galileo was enrolled in the monastery school at Vallombrosa. He entered the Vallombrosan order as a novice, but was withdrawn by his father before completing his novitiate training. In 1581 he entered the University of Pisa to pursue the liberal arts course as a prerequisite for entering the school of medicine. After four years of study, Galileo was more interested in mathematics and science than in medicine, and had to withdraw from the university without completing his courses or graduating. He continued to study privately and began to write. In 1586 he wrote a treatise on the hydrostatic balance , and two years later he produced a work on the center of gravity in solids. By then he had attracted the attention of a wealthy patron, the Marquese Guidobaldo del Monte (1545–1607), who was also a very capable mathematician. Guidobaldo used his considerable influence to have Galileo appointed as a lecturer in mathematics at the University of Pisa.