THE SCIENTIFIC REVOLUTIONChapter 20

NEW SCIENTIFIC IDEAS New technology, combined with

innovative approaches to seeking knowledge led to a breakthrough in Western thought

The Polish scientist Copernicus became convinced that the Earth was round and that it rotated on its axis as it revolved around the sun

NEW SCIENTIFIC IDEAS To avoid persecution or imprisonment

for his views, Copernicus worked in privacy for 30 years without publishing his ideas

Other scientists took Copernicus’ ideas even further into a scientific understanding of the universe

NEW SCIENTIFIC IDEAS The German astronomer Kepler

provided mathematical proof that the planets revolve around the sun, but at changing speeds and in ellipses, not at a constant speed in circles as Copernicus had believed

NEW SCIENTIFIC IDEAS In 1632, Galileo announced in

publication that his observations confirmed Copernicus’s assertions that not all heavenly bodies revolved around the earth.

NEW SCIENTIFIC IDEAS An outraged Pope Urban VIII put

Galileo on trial After recanting his views, Galileo

helped the establish the universal law of physics

NEW SCIENTIFIC IDEAS Rene Descartes, a French

mathematician saw mathematics as the prefect model for clear and certain knowledge

He believed truth must be reached through reason and said, “I think, therefore I am”

NEW SCIENTIFIC IDEAS In the work Principia, English

mathematician Isaac Newton offered a new understanding of the universe

The book stated Newton’s theory of universal gravitation; to prove his theory, Newton developed Calculus

Newton’s work greatly influenced scientific thought