what were the series of events that led to the birth of modern science? quizlet

April 04, 2022 Post a Comment

During the 1500s and 1600s, a handful of brilliant individuals laid the foundations for science equally nosotros know it today. Some historians consider the development of mod science the most of import event in the intellectual history of humankind.

A Revolution in Thinking

The serial of events that led to the nativity of modern scientific discipline is called the Scientific Revolution. Information technology occurred betwixt about 1540 and 1700. Why would the birth of science be called a "revolution"? The answer is that scientific discipline was a radical new idea. It was a completely different mode of looking at the globe.

Earlier the Scientific Revolution, most educated people who studied the world took guidance from the explanations given by authorities like ancient Greek writers and Catholic Church officials. After the Scientific Revolution, educated people placed more importance on what they observed and less on what they were told. They gained knowledge past observing the world effectually them and coming upwardly with logical explanations for what they saw.

Agreement Science

Scientific discipline is a item fashion of gaining knowledge near the world. In fact, the word science comes from a Latin word meaning "knowledge" or "understanding." Science starts with observation. Scientists observe, or look at, the globe. By observing the world they can identify facts about information technology. A famous scientist once said, "Scientific discipline is congenital up with facts, as a house is with stones. Only a collection of facts is no more a science than a pile of stones is a business firm."

And then scientists do more than identify facts. They use logic to explain the facts they accept observed. The explanations scientists develop based on these facts are called theories. Theories are non accepted on faith. They must exist tested to come across if they are true. Scientists design experiments to test their theories. If the experiments keep showing that the theory makes sense, the theory is kept. If the experiments do not support the theory, scientists try a new theory. In this mode, scientists learn more most the world.

As you can see, scientific knowledge is based on observations, facts, and logical ideas, or theories, about them. Before the Scientific Revolution, this method of gaining knowledge was uncommon.

Roots of the Revolution

Some of the primary ideas of science had been expressed long before the Scientific Revolution. In fact, some of the basic ideas of science are ancient.

Greek Thinkers

Many Greek thinkers expressed ideas that, today, nosotros would phone call scientific. The nifty philosopher Aristotle, for example, wrote nigh astronomy, geography, and many other fields. But his greatest contribution to science was the idea that people should observe the globe carefully and depict logical conclusions most what they run across. The use of observation and logic, as y'all accept just read, is important in gaining scientific knowledge.

Another Greek thinker was Ptolemy (TAHL-uh-mee), an ancient astronomer. He studied the skies, recorded his observations, and offered theories to explicate what he saw. Ptolemy was too a geographer who made the best maps of his time. His maps were based on observations of the real world. Aristotle, Ptolemy, and other Greek thinkers were rationalists, people who looked at the world in a rational, or reasonable and logical, way. During the Renaissance, Europeans studied the works of Greek rationalists. As a result, they began to view the globe in a rational fashion. They began to call up like scientists.

Preserving Ancient Knowledge

European scholars could study aboriginal Greek writings because of the work of others. Muslim scholars translated Greek writings into Arabic. They studied them for centuries and added their own new ideas. Later, the Arabic versions were translated into Latin, which was read in Europe. This work preserved aboriginal cognition and spread interest in scientific discipline to Europe.

Other religious scholars also played a role in preserving Greek ideas. The Jewish scholar Maimonides (my-MAHN-uh-deez) studied and wrote near Aristotle, trying to unite his work with Jewish ideas. The Christian scholar Thomas Aquinas tried to unite the work of Aristotle with Christian ideas. Other Christian scholars studied Greek ideas in Europe's universities.

Developments in Europe

The Scientific Revolution was not but the result of European scholars studying ancient Greek writings. Developments in Europe too helped bring nigh the Scientific Revolution. One development that helped lead to the Scientific Revolution was the growth of humanism during the Renaissance. Humanist artists and writers spent much of their time studying the natural world. This interest in the natural world carried forrad into the Scientific Revolution.

Another development was a growing interest in alchemy (AL-kuh-mee). Alchemy was a forerunner of chemistry. Alchemists experimented with diverse natural substances. They were best known for trying to change other metals into gilt. Although they failed at that, alchemists succeeded in using experiments to learn more about how nature worked.

All of these developments—the interest in ancient Greek writings, the growth of humanism, the experiments of alchemists—came together in the early 1500s to bring about the Scientific Revolution.

02 – NEW DISCOVERIES

During the Renaissance, European scholars eagerly read and studied the works of Greek rationalists. Aristotle, Ptolemy, and others were viewed every bit authorities.

So an event took place that caused Europeans to dubiousness some of what the Greeks had said. In 1492, Christopher Columbus sailed due west across the Atlantic Ocean in hopes of reaching Asia. Equally a guide, he took the map of the world that Ptolemy had created. Columbus never reached Asia because he ran into North America instead. Within a few years voyages of exploration made it clear that in that location was an unabridged continent that Europeans hadn't even known existed.

This discovery stunned Europeans. This continent was not on Ptolemy's map. Ptolemy was incorrect. Observation of the real earth had disproved the teachings of an aboriginal authority. Soon, European scholars began to question the accuracy of other Greek authorities. More and more, observations the Europeans made did not fit with what the authorities had described. Such observations helped lead to the Scientific Revolution.

03 – ASTRONOMY

In 1543 an astronomer published a book that contradicted what a Greek potency had written. Many historians think the publication of this book marks the offset of the Scientific Revolution.

Nicolaus Copernicus

The book idea to have marked the beginning of the Scientific Revolution was written past a Polish astronomer, Nicolaus Copernicus (kuh-PUHR-ni-kuhs). His 1543 book was called On the Revolution of the Celestial Spheres. Copernicus was familiar with Ptolemy's theories and writings. Ptolemy had written that the globe was the middle of the universe and that the dominicus and other planets orbited, or circled around, the earth. For 1,400 years, people accepted this conventionalities equally fact.

As Copernicus studied the movements of the planets, withal, what Ptolemy stated made less and less sense to him. If the planets were indeed orbiting the earth, they would accept to be moving in very complex patterns. Then Copernicus tried a dissimilar explanation for what he observed in the sky. Copernicus asked, What if the planets actually orbited the sun? Suddenly, circuitous patterns weren't necessary to make sense of what Copernicus observed. Instead, simple circular orbits would account for the planets' movements.

What Copernicus had done was practice science. Instead of trying to brand his observations fit an old idea, he came up with a different idea—a different theory—to explain what he observed. Copernicus never proved his theory, but the Scientific Revolution had begun.

Brahe and Kepler

Another important astronomer of the Scientific Revolution was Tycho Brahe (TYOO-koh BRAH-huh). Brahe, who was Danish, spent most of his life observing the stars. In the late 1500s, he charted the positions of more than 750 of them.

What Brahe did, all the same, was less important than how he did information technology. Brahe emphasized the importance of conscientious observation and detailed, authentic records. Careful recording of information is necessary so that other scientists can use what has previously been learned. In this fashion, Brahe made an of import contribution to mod science.

Brahe was assisted by the German astronomer Johannes Kepler. Later on, Kepler tried to map the orbits of the planets. But Kepler ran into a problem. According to his observations, the planet Mars did not move in a circle as he expected information technology to. Kepler knew that Copernicus had stated that the orbits of the planets were circular. But Kepler's observations showed that Copernicus was mistaken. In 1609 Kepler wrote that Mars—and all other planets—moved in elliptical, or oval, orbits instead of circular ones. Here was a new theory that fit the observed facts.

Kepler's piece of work helped prove Copernicus'due south theory that the planets orbit the lord's day. In fact, Kepler became one of the first scientists to speak out in support of Copernicus.
Kepler connected to report the planets for the rest of his life. His basic ideas about the planets' movements are nevertheless accepted by scientists today.

04 – GALILEO GALILEI

Galileo Galilei (gal-uh-LEE-oh gal-uh-LAY) was one of the most of import scientists of the Scientific Revolution. He was the first person to study the heaven with a telescope. With his telescope, Galileo discovered craters and mountains on the moon. He too discovered that moons orbit Jupiter.

Galileo was interested in more than astronomy, however. He also was interested in such things every bit how falling objects comport. Today, we apply the term mechanics for the study of objects and movement.

Galileo's biggest contribution to the development of scientific discipline was the way he learned almost mechanics. Instead of just observing things in nature, he set upward experiments to exam what he observed. Galileo was the first scientist to routinely use experiments to exam his theories. For this, he is remembered every bit the father of experimental scientific discipline.

05 – SIR ISAAC NEWTON

The high point of the Scientific Revolution was marked past the publication of a remarkable book. This book, published in 1687, was Principia Mathematica. Its author was the English scientist Sir Isaac Newton. Newton was 1 of the greatest and most influential scientists who ever lived. Newton studied and simplified the work of earlier scientists. In doing so, he:

reviewed everything scientists had been learning,
coupled it with his ain observations and ideas, and
identified iv theories that described how the physical earth worked.

Some of his theories have been proven so many times that they are no longer called theories, but laws.

1 of Newton'southward laws is called the law of gravity. Yous may know that gravity is the force that attracts objects to each other. Information technology's the strength that makes a dropped apple autumn to the basis and that keeps the planets in orbit around the sunday.

Newton's other 3 laws are called the laws of movement. They describe how objects movement in space. You may take heard of 1 of them: "For every action there is an equal and opposite reaction." Newton proposed that the universe was similar a huge automobile. Inside this machine, all objects follow the laws he identified. In brusque, Newton explained how the concrete world worked—and he was correct. Newton's laws became the foundation of nearly all scientific study until the 1900s.

Newton as well invented calculus, an advanced course of mathematics that scientists use to solve complex issues. For this, and for his laws of motility, Newton is remembered equally a great scientist.

06 – NEW INVENTIONS

During the Scientific Revolution, scientists invented new and amend instruments. These helped them written report the natural globe.

Effectually 1590, a Dutch lens maker named Zacharias Janssen invented a simple microscope. The first person to employ a microscope equally a scientific instrument, though, was the Dutch scientist Antoni van Leeuwenhoek (LAY-ven-claw) in the mid-1600s. Examining a drib of pond water with his microscope, he saw tiny plants and animals not visible to the naked middle.

In 1593, Galileo invented the thermometer. Thermometers are used to measure out temperature. About 50 years afterward an Italian physician developed a more than accurate model than Galileo's.

The telescope was probably invented by a Dutch lens maker in 1608. The next year, Galileo built a much-improved telescope that he used to make his important astronomical discoveries.

In 1643, the Italian scientist Evange-lista Torricelli invented the barometer. A barometer is a scientific instrument that measures air force per unit area. Barometers are used to aid forecast the weather.

These instruments—the microscope, the thermometer, the telescope, and the barometer—are very mutual today. In fact, yous have probably used at least one of them yourself. But when they were invented, they were dramatic advances in applied science. They gave scientists the tools they needed to make more than accurate observations of the world and to conduct experiments. They were the tools of the Scientific Revolution.

07 – THE SCIENTIFIC METHOD

Today scientists use a procedure called the scientific method when doing their research. The scientific method is a pace-past-footstep method for performing experiments and other scientific inquiry.

The scientific method combines Salary's thought of a systematic scientific process, Descartes's insistence on proof and articulate reasoning, and the work of other scientists. Using the scientific method, scientists have learned more most the universe in the few hundred years since the Scientific Revolution than in all of the thousands of years that came before. Considering of this, the nuts of the scientific method—observation and experimentation—are considered the main principles of modern science.

At that place are vi basic steps in the scientific method:

1. Stating the trouble. The problem is often a question that begins with why. For example, Copernicus'due south problem today would be stated, "Why do the planets motility as they do?"

2. Gathering information. This tin can involve reading what other scientists accept written and making observations.

three. Forming a hypothesis. A hypothesis is a solution that the scientist proposes to solve the problem. A hypothesis differs from a theory in that a hypothesis has not yet been tested.

4. Testing the hypothesis by performing experiments.

5. Recording and analyzing data gathered from the experiments.

6. Drawing conclusions from the data nerveless.

After scientists have concluded their experiments, they typically publish their results. This sharing of ideas is very important for two reasons. First, publishing results lets other scientiststry to reproduce the experiments. By reproducing experiments, scientists can determine whether the results are the same. If they are, they can be reasonably sure that the results are accurate. Second, publishing results spreads scientific knowledge. New scientific cognition builds on previous cognition. Sir Isaac Newton once wrote, "If I have seen further it is by standing on the shoulders of Giants."

08 – SCIENCE, GOVERNMENT, AND Order

Some of the nearly important furnishings of the Scientific Revolution had naught to exercise with science at all. When philosophers began applying scientific thought to other areas of homo life, they came up with some startling new ideas.

The Ability of Reason

Past the stop of the Scientific Revolution, one matter had become clear to many European thinkers: human reason, or logical thought, was a powerful tool. After all, scientists using reason had made many discoveries about the universe in a relatively short fourth dimension. Since reason had proven itself as a way to learn some of nature'due south great secrets, might reason too be used to solve the bug facing people? Philosophers decided to use reason when they considered society'southward problems similar poverty and war, or what type of government is all-time. This employ of reason to consider the problems of lodge led philosophers to await at the world in a new mode. They thought they could use reason to determine how to better order.

Democratic Ideas

Ane way in which scientists idea they could improve guild was by changing its government. Scientists' use of reason and logic during the Scientific Revolution helped pave the way for the beginnings of democratic thought in Europe. Equally scientists similar Sir Isaac Newton studied the world, they discovered laws that governed nature. In time, some scientists began to think that there must be laws that governed man behavior as well. Once people learned what these laws were, the scientists argued, they could better their lives and their societies. But the idea that people'due south lives were governed by laws had a deeper meaning besides. If all people were governed by the same laws, and so it stood to reason that all people must be equal. This idea of the equality of all people was a primal footstep in the development of democratic ideas in Europe.

09 – SCIENCE AND Religion

The Roman Cosmic Church was a powerful force in Europe during the time of the Scientific Revolution. The birth and growth of science led to conflicts betwixt scientists and the Church.

Reason for Conflict

In that location were two related parts to the conflict betwixt science and the Church. The first was that the new scientific discipline was putting forth ideas that contradicted Church teachings. For example, Copernicus's idea that the earth orbited the dominicus contradicted the Church educational activity that the earth was at the center of the universe.

A second office of the conflict was related to the starting time. When people contradicted the Church building's teachings, they weakened the Church. Church officials were agape that questioning fifty-fifty one Church building pedagogy might atomic number 82 to more and more questions about the Church. People might even start to dubiety key elements of the faith. Church officials feared this would undermine the Church'southward influence.

The Trial of Galileo

The conflict between science and the Church building was illustrated by a trial. Galileo published a book that supported the view that the planets orbit the sun. For this, he was put on trial by the Inquisition, a Church courtroom that investigated people who questioned Church authority. Catholic officials insisted that Galileo publicly reject his findings and accept Catholic teachings that the world was the center of the universe and did not move. Under threat of torture, Galileo agreed. Withal, legend has it that as Galileo left his trial, he muttered, "And nonetheless it does move." Although he is remembered for opposing this Church building teaching, Galileo was a devout Cosmic. He believed that experimentation was a search for an agreement of God's creation.

Noesis and Belief

Many of the scientists you have been reading well-nigh held views similar to Galileo'south. For the scientists of the Scientific Revolution, science and traditional religious beliefs could exist at the same time. Nicolaus Copernicus served as a Church official. Sir Isaac Newton saw a close connectedness between science and religion. For example, Newton believed that all forces in nature were actions directed by God.

Despite the conflicts, science adult rapidly after the Scientific Revolution. Scientists made—and keep to brand—endless discoveries. Scientific noesis has inverse human life dramatically and touches your life every day. Therefore, the Scientific Revolution ranks as 1 of the most influential events in history.