Aim: How did The Scientific Revolution change the way people thought about the world?

Do Now: answer the two question on your handout!

What is the Scientific Revolution?What is the Scientific Revolution?The Scientific Revolution develops as an offshoot of the Renaissance. The same questioning spirit that fueled the Renaissance led scientists to question traditional beliefs and the Church about the workings of the universe. It was a new way of thinking about the natural world.

♦ Before 1500, the Bible and Aristotle were the only authorities accepted as truth

♦ A geocentric model of the universe, in which the Earth is at the center was supported during the Middle Ages

Causes of the Scientific RevolutionCauses of the Scientific Revolution

♦ Printing pressPrinting press spread new ideas spread new ideas

♦ Age of ExplorationAge of Exploration fueled a great deal of fueled a great deal of scientific research because of technology scientific research because of technology needed for navigationneeded for navigation

♦ Translation of the Translation of the works of Muslim scholarsworks of Muslim scholars opened the minds of European thinkers to opened the minds of European thinkers to new scientific knowledgenew scientific knowledge

New Ideas About the UniverseNew Ideas About the UniverseThree scientists challenged traditional theories about the universe and the Greco-Roman idea that the Earth was the center of the universe:

•Copernicus (mid-1500’s)

•Galileo Galilei (early 1600’s)

•Isaac Newton (late 1600’s)

Remember Nicholas Copernicus? Up to the time of Copernicus, people thought that there was a

sort of crystal sphere the kept the planets, moon, and stars in orbit around the Earth. It was Copernicus that proposed the idea that the Earth revolved around the sun, and not vice versa… The sun was the center of the Universe, not the Earth.

Most scholars rejected Copernicus’s theory.

NONSENSE!!!

Video Clip on Copernicus

Galileo

Copernicus was right!!!

He built a telescope and became the first man to use this tool to study the moon and planets. What he saw made Galileo believe Copernicus's idea that the Earth was not the center of the universe.

Galileo Galilei

The Church punished him for his belief in this idea. He was questioned by the Inquisition and forced to

confess that his ideas were wrong.

Why would the Church try to prevent this idea from

becoming popular? Galileo Video Clip

Question: If you drop a baseball and a bowling ball off a ten story building, which

one will hit the ground first?

Galileo GalileiGalileo was an Italian mathematics teacher, astronomer and

physicist, and one of the first true scientists. He used an experiment to test one of Aristotle’s theories.

Galileo’s Experiment:

Finds objects of different weights will fall at the same speed (in a vacuum).

Aristotle’s theory:

Heavier objects fall faster than lighter ones

The Scientific Method

This new method relied on experimentation and observation rather than past authorities. It is still used by scientists today.

Galileo Galilei Fun Facts (1564 - 1642)

- He was one of the first Europeans to build and use a telescope (he didn’t invent it!)

- Galileo used a telescope to observe the moon, and saw craters. This proved that the moon was not a perfect sphere… hmm… trouble…

- He saw moons on Jupiter (thus we have the Galilean Moons of Jupiter)- Aristotle didn’t mention moons… they’re they are!!!

Question:

When something falls, why does it fall down? Why doesn’t it fall up or sideways?

Isaac Newton“For every action, there is an equal and

opposite reaction” – Isaac Newton

Newton

I am enjoying

this uneventful

day

OUCH!

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 don’t 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 and motion.

Newton (1642-1727)

By the mid-1600’s, the accomplishments of Copernicus and Galileo had shattered the old views of astronomy and physics.

Isaac Newton brought it all together

under a single theory of motion.

Newton’s discovery was that the same force Newton’s discovery was that the same force ruled the motions of the planets, the ruled the motions of the planets, the pendulum, and all matter on earth and in pendulum, and all matter on earth and in space. space.

Every object in the universe attracts every Every object in the universe attracts every other object. The degree of attraction other object. The degree of attraction depends on the mass of the objects and the depends on the mass of the objects and the distance between them.distance between them.

Law of Universal Gravitation

Question:

Have you ever wondered whether or not you really exist?

Rene Descartes

“I think, therefore I

am.”

•Descartes believed everything should be doubted until proved by reason. Tradition should not be accepted as truth.

•Instead of using experimentation, Descartes relied on mathematics and logic. He linked algebra and geometry as a new tool for scientific research.

“The Father of Modern Philosophy”

Descartes shifts thinking from

"what is true" to

"of what can I be certain?“

Descartes shifted the authoritative power of truth

from God to Man.

(While traditional concept of "truth" implies an external

authority, "certainty" instead relies on the judgment of the

individual Man)

Rene Descartes

New Inventions of the Scientific Revolution

♦ Edward Jenner introduced the first vaccine for smallpox. (inoculation- injecting a germ in the body to create an immunity).

♦ Telescope (1608, Dutch) A Dutch glass maker constructed a primitive telescope. Galileo heard about it and improved on the design.

♦ Microscope (1590s, Dutch)

♦ Barometer (early 1600s, Italian) - measure air pressure

♦ Thermometer (1611) for chemical and medical studies

When all was said and done…

the major thinkers of the Scientific Revolution (Copernicus, Galileo, Newton, Descartes) had revealed a universe which

seemed like a perfectly run machine, comprehensible by the human mind and the enlightened scientific understanding it had

now gained.

Let’s test your knowledge!

Galileo and Isaac Newton promoted the idea that knowledge should be based on

a. The experiences of past civilizations

b. Experimentation and observation

c. Emotions and feelings

d. The teachings of the Catholic Church

During the Scientific Revolution and the Enlightenment, one similarity in the work of many scientists and philosophers was that they

a. Relied heavily on the ideas of medieval thinkers

b. Favored an absolute monarchy as a way of improving economic conditions

c. Received support from the Catholic Church

d. Examined natural laws governing the universe

Which statement best describes the effects of the works of Copernicus, Galileo, Sir Isaac Newton, and Descartes?

a. The acceptance of traditional authority was strengthened

b. The scientific method was used to solve problems.

c. The English government increased funding for

education d. Interest in Greek and Roman drama was

renewed.

Close - Answer the following:1. How did the Scientific Revolution Change the way people thought about the world?

2. Martin Luther applied the questioning spirit of the Renaissance to religion. Galileo and Newton applied the questioning spirit of the Renaissance to science. Predict what else people might begin to question in the years following the Renaissance. Explain how this might impact Europe.