- Following the revival of ancient philosophy during the Renaissance, many prominent scholars began to look at the fundamental theorems that were thought to govern the universe. The first of these scientists to challenge the established ways were Galileo and Copernicus, who told the world that they were not the center of the universe and that the universe could be predicted through physics. These new philosophies were opposed by the conservative forces of the Catholic Church and their crony monarchies. Many leading scientists were censured and imprisoned, like Galileo, which actually caused greater publicity for their cause. The Enlightenment grew out of the ideas of the Scientific Revolution and further advocated for the freedom and independence that all people deserved to develop their ideas. Many people in the era did a little of both, which reinforced both ideals and pushed forward the inevitable march of progress.
- Nicholas Copernicus
- 1473-1573
- Was a Polish astronomer who first postulated about the Earth not being the center of the universe.
- His book, De revolutionibus orbium coelestium, described how the Sun was in fact the center of the universe, which contradicted Church theology, earning him many enemies, but also founding the basis for modern astronomy.
2. Johannes Kepler
- 1571-1630
- Was a German astronomer and mathematician who established laws of planetary motion
- His work in the field of planetary motion founded the basis of our modern sciences in the subject. In addition, he innovated telescopes and published many books of science and mathematics.
3. Isaac Newton
- 1642-1727
- Was an English mathematician and physicist who postulated about gravity and more or less invented Calculus
- Newton took the work of others and came up with Newtonian laws of physics, which are still used as the base principles for the study of physics. He also pioneered the field of calculus with his contemporary Gottfried Leibniz.
4. John Locke
- 1632-1704
- Was an English philosopher and one of the most influential of the Age of Enlightenment
- He combined the works of many contemporaries such as Descartes and Bacon to propose ideas about the origin of human nature. His ideas about guaranteed rights of man strongly influenced the American Revolution.
- 1564-1642
- Was an Italian astronomer whose work has earned him the name "father of modern physics."
- He invented the first real telescope and used to to observe Venus and Jupiter, which led to his discovery of several of Jupiter's moons. He also published many works that outlined the fundamentals of kinematics and astrological physics.
6. Francis Bacon
- 1561-1626
- Was an English philosopher and statesman who was highly influential in England
- He popularized the use of the scientific method, which he outlined in his most popular work, Novum Organum.
7. Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
- 1756-1791
- Was a German composer who is often considered the pinnacle of Classical music.
- He was a precocious child who composed musical works that stand as masterpieces of Western music and society in general.
8. Renee Descartes
- 1596-1650
- Was a French philosopher and mathematician who introduced revolutionary ideas to both fields.
- The Cartesian coordinate system was created by him along with the basis for modern philosophy.
9. Frederick the Great
- 1712-1786
- Was King of Prussia who is considered today to be an Enlightened ruler.
- He centralized his country's government bureaucracy and promoted religious toleration. He was also a major sponsor of the arts and was a skilled composer and flutist.
10. Catherine the Great
- Ruled 1762-1796
- Was a German Princess who married Peter III of Russia and eventually succeeded him as Empress of Russia
- She was a major sponsor of the arts and humanities in Russia and she ushered in an era of Enlightenment, which also brought around many education reforms including the first institute of higher learning for women in Russia.
- Heliocentricism
- 16th century
- The astronomical model in which the Earth and planets revolve around the Sun, which is stationary
- This new scientific idea changed the way people thought about the Earth, it marked the start of the Scientific Revolution.
2. Royal Society of London
- Founded in 1660
- Is one of the oldest scientific societies in the world and acts as a scientific advisor to the Parliament
- Societies brought scientists together for mutual advice, companionship and assistance in all realms of science.
3. Scientific Method
- 1483-1546
- Was a process by which Isaac Newton discovered many of his laws governing the universe.
- He used synthesis to combine the work of Kepler and Galileo to establish his law of universal gravitation, among others.
4. The Prussian Law Code of 1794
- 1794
- Was a major reform to the Prussian law code that was proposed and implemented by Fredrick II
- The code eliminated torture of prisoners, streamlined the legal system, and and encouraged impartiality in law.
5. Cartesian Dualism
- 1641
- Is a philosophy that the mind and body are separate entities.
- Rene Descartes was the major proponent of this philosophy during the Enlightenment, which instigated a wave of philosophical debate that continues to this day
6. Natural Rights
- 18th century
- Are rights that are not contingent upon the laws, customs, or beliefs of a government that are unalienable and not able to be taken away.
- Natural laws were new concepts of the Enlightenment that changed politics in Europe
7. War of the Austrian Succession
- 1740-7140
- Was a war between two coalitions over Maria Theresea's right to hold her father's throne.
- Maria was named the rightful ruler under the Pragmatic sanction, however the Prussians used her succession of her father as an excuse to take the wealthy province of Silesia from the Austrian Empire.
8. Haskalah Movement
- 18th-19th centuries
- Was the Jewish equivalent of the Enlightenment that was happening at that time in Europe
- The most prominent leader of this movement, Moses Mendelssohn, argued that Jews should not isolate themselves, but rather join in the Enlightenment and all it has to offer.
9. American Revolution
- 1775-1783
- Was a conflict between the American colonies and Great Britain that ended with the creation of the United States
- Inspired by the ideals of the Enlightenment, the Americans rebelled and many European countries came to their aid to weaken the hated British.
10. Partition of Poland
- 18th Century
- Were agreements between Prussia, Russia, and Austria that slowly chopped up Poland between the three powers.
- The powers decided to avoid bloodshed and made a series of agreements to divide the weak Poland between the three, which was a cause of extreme anger among the Polish people.
- Did the ideals of the Scientific Revolution overthrow the old ways or were they just more of the same and who was responsible?
While many revolutions may claim to bring sweeping change, they simply mark a small change in a system that does not overthrow it. For example, the American Revolution was a revolt that changed power from one group of white, rich, Protestant, landowning aristocrats to another group ofwhite, rich, Protestant, landowning aristocrats. Many revolutions go this way, however the Scientific Revolution did not. The Scientific Revolution ushered in sweeping change that permanently changed the very pillars of science and the known world through advances made by astronomers, physicians, and physicists.
Many prominent astronomers of the Scientific Revolution flipped the modern understanding on its head. The first major figure, Nicholas Copernicus, was a Polish scientist who was confused by his observations in his telescope. For centuries, the leading scientific minds followed the Aristotelian Universe, which was Geocentric. This meant that Earth was the center of the universe, and that everything else revolved around it. Copernicus observed that the planets were not rotating around the Earth, rather that they rotated about the Sun. This belief, called Heliocentricism but also the Copernican Hypothesis by his contemporaries, directly refuted the old beliefs which many institutions supported. In fact, Copernicus was so afraid about the revolutionary nature of his hypothesis that he refrained from publishing his book, On the Revolutions of Heavenly Spheres, until a year before his death.
Significant advances were also made in the field of medicine, which helped many people avoid the barbaric medical practices of the Renaissance and Middle Ages. Again, there were longstanding theories related to the body, developed by the Ancient Greeks, that stated that the body operated on four humors (blood, phlegm, black bile, and yellow bile). This meant that the most common medical practice was to assume that one of these humors was imbalanced, so doctors drained blood to restore balance. Most people nowadays see the awful idea that blood letting is, however in that time it was an accepted practice. It most likely would have stayed that way if not for William Harvey. He was a British physician who, through many dissections, explained how the body worked. He drew from works such as Andreas Vesalius' On the Structure of the Human Body to explain how the circulatory system works and the importance of blood in the body. Seeing as people no longer have their blood drained when they are sick, it is certain that Harvey's work did in fact change the old perspective on the human body.
Perhaps the greatest advancements of the Scientific Revolution were made in the field of physics by an early pioneer: Galileo Galilee. Galileo was an Italian physicist who was the early founder of the study of physics. He discovered, through his experimental method, the law of inertia which disproved the commonly held beliefs of Aristotelian Physics. Despite his achievements however, his location in Italy prevented him from publishing his theories that were in opposition to the accepted belief of the Catholic Church. His ideas were so different that he was placed under house arrest for the rest of his life following his attempts to get published. He was not a heretic out to take down the Catholic Church, rather he wished to show them a more refined and correct version of the universe.
Many people were key to the shift in old world ideology that occurred during the Scientific Revolution, however Nicolas Copernicus, William Harvey, and Galileo Galilee were all the first to stand up in their fields. while there were many famous men, like Johannes Kepler and Isaac Newton who followed them, they were the first to stand up and tell the world that it had believed in the wrong view since Ancient Greece. This stance showed how the Scientific Revolution, as a whole, rejected preconcieved notions that were thought to have governed universe and instead came up with new ones that hold true to this day.
E) Top Dog Analysis:
- Despite the multitudes of intelligent and innovative scientists during the Scientific Revolution, the top man of the era was Sir Isaac Newton. Newton was a wealthy farmer by birth, however he decided to pursue his studies instead and attended Cambridge University, where due to his time relative to the rest of the Scientific Revolution, he was exposed to the leading theories of the era regarding mathematics and science. Newton was especially interested in mathematics, where he simultaneously founded the study of Calculus along with Gottfried Liebinz. He published his studies in mathematics, however he is best remembered for his contributions in the field of physics. Newton, by his own admission, "stood on the shoulders of giants". He meant by this that he was at the tail end of the Scientific Revolution, and thus he had all the research and hypothesis of his predecessors, which helped him develop his law of universal gravitation and his laws of motion, which concluded several decades and many brilliant scientist's work in the realm of physics. He summed up most of his life's work in a book, Principia Mathematica, which is still to this day considered one of the most important works of science and the Scientific Revolution as a whole.
F)Timeline:
G) Images:
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