Scientific Revolution

The Scientific Revolution was a time of change in beliefs and thoughts during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. The movement was a reaction to centuries of scientific stagnation in Europe. Throughout the Middle Ages, scholars were taught what was accepted as truth—information that dated to Ancient Greece and Rome—without question. Theories were not tested. With the dawning of the Italian Renaissance, humanists studied the classics but also began to draw their own conclusions. They found that what they had been taught was not supported by their research. They questioned ancient ideas that were perpetuated by the Roman Catholic Church. These Renaissance developments opened the doors that allowed the Scientific Revolution to begin and grow.

Some of the great scientific and mathematical minds in history came to fruition during this time: Nicolaus Copernicus, Rene Descartes, Galileo Galilei, Johannes Kepler, and Sir Isaac Newton were chief among them. Algebra, calculus, and trigonometry were developed. Physics and geometry advanced. The centuries-old central ideas of astronomy were challenged. The events of this period changed the course of the world.

Overview

For centuries, the Roman Catholic Church largely oversaw education, which was available to those with the means to pay. Most books were kept and copied by religious orders, and higher education, which was restricted to the wealthy population, was attained at universities that in most cases were sponsored by the Church.

Polish astronomer Nicolaus Copernicus was educated in his homeland and Italy. He later worked for his uncle, a bishop, and for the Church as a canon, a position that allowed him to study astronomy. At that time, students were taught that Earth was at the center of the universe and that it remained stationary. Students were taught that all celestial bodies, including the sun, revolved around Earth. Yet what Copernicus found as he studied astronomical records contradicted Church teachings. His own observations told him this geocentric theory was wrong. In his major work, De Revolutionibus Orbium Coelestium, which was published in 1543, he explained that Earth rotates on an axis, marking each day, and revolves around the sun, marking a year by its orbit. He replaced the geocentric theory with the scientifically supported heliocentric system theory, though the Church bitterly opposed this thinking.

French philosopher Rene Descartes was educated by Jesuits yet was careful to keep faith and reason separate in his studies and thinking. He began as a student of mathematics. Descartes had several dreams in 1619 that affected the course of his life. The dreams inspired his ideas of philosophy and analytical geometry. He began studying truth and published a thesis on physics, supporting the heliocentric view of the universe. This put him at odds with the Church, where he remained for the rest of his life. Descartes practiced deductive reasoning and published many works. He said that what may be doubted cannot lead to truth. His work influenced and inspired generations of philosophers.

Italian astronomer, philosopher, and physicist Galileo Galilei became famous for the laws of motion and gravity. While a mathematics professor, he experimented with the speed at which objects fall. When he learned about a new invention called a telescope, he improved on the idea and built one. He discovered the topography of the moon, four moons of Jupiter, sunspots, and the phases of Venus. When he voiced his support for Copernicus's heliocentric theory of the universe, Galileo was accused of heresy. The Church banned him from teaching that the sun was the center of the universe. Galileo responded sixteen years later with a book in which two men debate the Copernican and geocentric theories. He was arrested, convicted, and sentenced to life in prison. He wrote his theories on the laws of motion and the principles of mechanics while under house arrest before his death.

German astronomer and mathematician Johannes Kepler is credited with developing the scientific method, which involves documentation of data and the formation of an accurate theory. Kepler was greatly influenced by the work of Copernicus and defended his ideas. Using data collected by Danish astronomer Tycho Brahe before the invention of the telescope, Kepler answered a number of perplexing questions about the movements of Mars when he discovered that the planet has an elliptical orbit. He published his findings and his first two laws of planetary motion in 1609 in the Astronomia Nova. These laws are (1) "Planets move in ellipses with the sun at one focus"; and (2) "The radius vector describes equal areas in equal times." In 1618, he discovered the third law, which states "The squares of the periodic times are to each other as the cubes of the mean distances." His 1621 Epitome Astronomiae explains heliocentric astronomy in-depth. Kepler developed logarithms and created perpetual tables, correctly calculating both the past and future positions of planets.

English mathematician and physicist Sir Isaac Newton is credited with discoveries in mathematics, optics, mechanics and gravitation, and chemistry. He incorporated the findings of Galileo and Kepler to advance understanding of science and mathematics. According to legend, Newton was inspired to study gravity by the drop of an apple in his orchard. His early work involved calculations of pendulums in motion, centripetal force using a stone in a sling, and the force needed to keep Earth's moon in orbit. Through his calculations, he developed the law of universal gravitation and an understanding of the universe. Newton developed calculus, discovered the mathematical patterns in light and color, and uncovered the composition of white light—this work laid the foundation for the modern study of optics. His 1687 Philosophiae Naturalis Principia Mathematica, which he had largely developed while in his twenties, explains how gravity, a universal force, applies to everything in the universe.

The Scientific Revolution was responsible for changing thoughts and beliefs in Europe. The work performed during this period established the scientific method as the standard in research.

Bibliography

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"Isaac Newton (1643 – 1727)." BBC. BBC. Web. 9 Oct. 2014. <http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/historic‗figures/newton‗isaac.shtml>

"Isaac Newton's Life." Isaac Newton Institute for Mathematical Sciences. Isaac Newton Institute for Mathematical Sciences. Web. 9 Oct. 2014. <https://www.newton.ac.uk/about/isaac-newton/life>

"Johannes Kepler." Ames Research Center. NASA. Web. 9 Oct. 2014. <http://kepler.nasa.gov/Mission/JohannesKepler/>

"Rene Descartes (1596 – 1650)." The European Graduate School. The European Graduate School. Web. 9 Oct. 2014. <http://www.egs.edu/library/rene-descartes/biography/>