• Few scholars openly challenged the accepted theories of the past

• GEOCENTRIC THEORY–Earth - center of the universe, everything

else moved around the Earth. –Supported by Aristotle

and Ptolemy (Greek)

Before the Scientific Revolution…

The ScientificRevolution

SCIENTIFIC REVOLUTION

• Late Middle Ages (Mid-1500s), new ideas challenged old

• …called the scientific revolution!

• Brought forth by exploration and learning done during the Renaissance (1500-1700)

COPERNICUS• Circa 1500 in Prussia • Astronomy: the study of stars, planets, and

other heavenly bodies• HELIOCENTRIC

THEORY: – sun is the center of the

universe & fixed– gravity: center of

earth & lunar sphere– “movement” of stars

is actually earth rotating

TYCHO BRAHE• Denmark, late 1500s• Differed with

Copernicus • Sun & moon revolved

around Earth• Made important

observations & recorded data

JOHANNES KEPLER• Germany, early 1600s• Follower of Heliocentric

Theory• planets move in

elliptical orbits (not circles)

• Laws of planetary motion

• Solar System

GALILEO GALILEI• Italy, early 1600s• Astronomer, physicist,

mathematician & philosopher

• The Experimental Method: “father of modern science”

• Supported Copernicus • Used improved telescope to

observe the location and relationship of heavenly bodies

• Studied time using pendulums– Weights hung to swing freely

• Gravity experiments– Elaborated on work of Aristotle– Determined that all objects fall at

the same rate

THE CHURCH INTERFERES• The church felt its authority threaten by new

discoveries in science• Were especially against Heliocentric Theory

– God’s Earth was at the center of the universe• Galileo was brought to trial in 1633

– Roman Inquisition found him “vehemently suspect of heresy”

– Galileo was forced to recant, held under house arrest until he died in 1642

• 1771: Ban on printing his works lifted• 1992: the year the Catholic Church finally

acknowledged that Galileo was correct!

Thanks… I guess.

SCIENTIFIC METHOD• people began to base science on observation

and experimentation • …not ancient authorities and the church• Logical procedure for gathering information

and testing ideas

1. Derive a question based on observation

2. Formulate a hypothesis

3. Test hypothesis

4. Analyze and interpret data into a conclusion

FRANCIS BACON

• England, early 1600s• Argued for empirical

experimental methods– Practical & useful…

and profitable• Championed & made

popular scientific innovation

RENE DESCARTES

• France, early 1600s• Influential, original thinker• Mathematics, philosophy• Doubt everything• Start with evidence, use

deductive reasoning to create scientific laws

ISAAC NEWTON• England, late 1600s• United experimentation and

theoretical math• Created mathematical laws

that explain motion & mechanics

• Famous gravity experiments

WOMEN IN SCIENCE?• Learning institutions &

societies of the era excluded women.

• Some noblewomen and artisans engaged via male family members

• Male scientists suggested that female minds were inferior to men’s

IMPACT

• New advancements in science brought new ideas in other areas…

• If the government & church was wrong about old science, it could be wrong about other areas of life as well

• People begin to think differently about their religious institutions and governments