2. I. Background to the Revolution
A. Medieval Scientists relied upon
Aristotle for their scientific knowledge.
i. Changes from 1400-1500 scientists to
adopt new views and methods.
B. Renaissance humanists discovered
works of Ptolemy, Archimedes, and
Plato.
i. They learned that many ancient thinkers
disagreed with Aristotle.
3. C. Technical problems, spurred a
movement towards observation and
measurement.
i. Telescope and microscope made
fresh observations and discoveries
possible.
D. Copernicus, Kepler, Galileo, Newton
and others—developed new theories
that became the foundation of the
Scientific Revolution.
4. II. A Revolution in Astronomy
A. Medieval philosophers constructed a
geocentric model of the universe
called the Ptolemaic system.
B. Copernicus published “On the
Revolutions of the Heavenly Spheres”
i. He believed his heliocentric system was
more accurate than Ptolemy’s.
ii. Copernicus believed that the planets
moved around the sun.
5.
6. C. Johannes Kepler’s observations confirmed
that the Sun was at the center of the
universe.
i. Kepler tracked the elliptical orbits of the planets.
ii. Ptolemy had insisted that the orbits were
circular.
D. Isaac Newton published his views of
universal law of gravitation.
i. He believed that the universe is attracted to
every other object by a force called gravity.
ii. Explains why planets travel in an elliptical
pattern.
iii. This theory will be the world view until Einstein’s
theory of relativity.
7. III. Breakthroughs in Medicine and
Chemistry
A. Medicine at this time was dominated
by the Greek physician Galen.
i. His views on anatomy were often wrong
because he used animals, not people, for
dissection.
8. B. Andreas Vesalius—New anatomy.
i. He presented an accurate view of the
individual organs and general structure of
the human body.
ii. He believed that there were two kinds of
blood.
C. Robert Boyle- Developed Boyle’s Law
i. The volume of a gas varies with the
pressure exerted on it.
9. IV. Women and the origins of Modern
Science
A. Margaret Cavendish— in her book
“Observations upon experimental
philosophy” she criticized the belief that
humans, through science, were the
masters of nature.
B. Maria Winkelmann a famous astronomer
discovered a comet.
i. She was denied job as assistant astronomer
because of her gender.
10. V. Descartes and Reason
A. Rene Descartes asserts that he can
rationally be sure of only one thing—
his own existence.
i. He asserted he would accept only those
things his reason said were true.
B. Descartes believed “I think, therefore
I am”
C. Descartes Father of modern
rationalism.
i. This system is based on the idea that
reason is the chief source of knowledge.
11. VI. The Scientific Method
A. During Scientific Revolution, people
were concerned about how they could
best understand the physical
universe.
i. Created the scientific method.
ii. Francis Bacon was most responsible for
this method.
B. Bacon believed in using inductive
reasoning, or making generalizations
from observations to test hypotheses.
