The Age of Reason
• The seventeenth and eighteenth centuries in
Europe are called the Age of Reason
– Many believed that reason could replace faith in
the Bible
– Emphasis on man’s ability often turned people
away from the Creator
Contributions from the Past
Hippocrates
• Father of Medicine
• Rejected notion that disease was a
supernatural punishment by the gods
Hippocrates
Hippocratic Oath (original)
I will prescribe regiments for the good of my
patients according to my ability and my
judgment and never do harm to anyone
I will not give a lethal drug to anyone if I am
asked, nor will I advise such a plan; and similarly
I will not give a woman a pessary (device) to
cause an abortion.
In every house where I come I will enter only for
the good of my patients.
If I keep this oath faithfully, may I enjoy my life
and practice my art…but if I swerve from it or
violate it, may the reverse be my lot.
Euclid
• Father of Geometry
• Founded a school of Mathematics
• His textbook, Elements, formed the basis for
all geometry textbooks
Euclid
Eratosthenes
• Determined the distance around the earth
• Devised the lines of latitude and longitude
found on maps today.
Albert the Great
• A Dominican friar
• Played an important role in introducing
Muslim documents to medieval universities
Albert the Great
Roger Bacon
• Made significant contributions in the areas of
physics, geography and optics
Roger Bacon
• Medieval science came to a sudden halt with
the appearance of the Black Death
• During the Renaissance, tradition was
replaced with observations
– Scientists experimented, recorded findings, and
reached conclusions
Copernicus
• He believed that the earth revolved around
the sun, not the sun around the earth.
Copernicus
Galileo Galilei
• Used the telescope to support Copernicus’s
ideas
Galileo Galilei
• People were scared of Copernicus and
Galileo’s findings.
– If they were right, the Bible must be wrong
because is says that the sun appears to move
through the heavens
– Also if the earth, man’s home, is not at the center
of the universe, then perhaps man is not
important in this world.
Sir Isaac Newton
• Discovered the laws of gravity and motion
• Developed an advanced form of calculus
• Invented the reflecting telescope
Sir Isaac Newton
Edmond Halley
• Recorded the position and motion of
hundreds of stars.
• Developed theory about the orbit of comets
Edmond Halley
Sir William Herschel
• Discovered the planet Uranus
• Built a massive forty-foot long telescope
Sir William Herschel
Paracelsus
• Stated the body was mostly chemicals and
should be treated with chemicals
Paracelsus
Andreas Vesalius
• Developed his work on anatomy by dissecting
human bodies
Andreas Vesalius
William Harvey
• Discovered that blood is pumped by the heart
and travels through the body in blood vessels
William Harvey
Edward Jenner
• Discovered a way to prevent people from
getting smallpox through a vaccine
Edward Jenner
Robert Boyle
• Contributed to Chemistry with his work with
gases
• He was a Christian who lectured in defense of
Christianity
Robert Boyle
Antoine Lavoisier
• Father of Modern Chemistry
• Named Oxygen and Hydrogen
• Formulated the law of conservation of matter
– matter cannot be created or destroyed,
rather, it can only change form
• Assembled the first known list of elements
Antoine Lavoisier
Three mathematical improvements
1. Use of Arabic numbers
2. The decimal point
3. Mathematical notation
Five thousand, three hundred seventy five plus
ten thousand, six hundred fifty three

Ch. 9 Sec. 2 "The Age of Reason"

Editor's Notes

  • #2 Based on the ability to think clearly and logically
  • #8 Including those used today.
  • #10 Used the math of Euclid
  • #20 Genesis 15:12
  • #23 Halley accurately predicted that a comet which appeared in 1682 would return to our solar system seventy-six years later. This comet was later named Halley's comet
  • #26 Could use it to see the moons around Saturn
  • #32 Vesalius's Fabrica contained many intricately detailed drawings of human dissections, often in allegorical poses.
  • #35 Vaccine – weakened form of a similar disease called cowpox…his research led to the practical elimination of this disease
  • #42 Before they would write out all numbers