The document discusses key figures of the Scientific Revolution from the 15th to 17th centuries who helped transition Europe from doctrinal passivity to an emphasis on scientific inquiry and experimentation. It describes the contributions of Copernicus, Kepler, Galileo, Descartes, Newton, Bacon, Harvey, and Einstein. Their works challenged prior assumptions, established new methodologies like the scientific method, and laid the foundations for modern science in fields like astronomy, physics, mathematics, and medicine.

1. Precursor of Modern Science
The ScientificThe Scientific
RevolutionRevolution

2. “They realized that
to confine their
attentions to
terrestrial matters
would be to limit
the human spirit”
-Stephen Hawking, on
the masters of the
European Renaissance

3. Symptoms of a Stagnant Europe
• Renaissance Europe was overwhelmed with a general doctrinal
passivity
• Little change to scientific knowledge accrued over the Middle
Ages (500-1350 AD)
• Lack of experimentation and scientific inquiry; more emphasis
placed on Greco-Roman teachings
• Catholic Church perpetuated what it called “absolute truths”,
which were scientific theorems derived from the work of
Aristotle and Ptolemy, through the educational institutions of
the time

4. ““To know thatTo know that
we know whatwe know what
we know, andwe know, and
to know that weto know that we
do not knowdo not know
what we do notwhat we do not
know, that isknow, that is
truetrue
knowledge.”knowledge.”
- Nicolaus- Nicolaus
CopernicusCopernicus

5. Nicolaus CopernicusNicolaus Copernicus
1473-1543
• Was the first to postulate heliocentric cosmology, or the
idea that the Earth was not located in the center of our
Universe
• He instead proposed that planets rotated about the Sun
• Widely considered to be the founder of Astronomy
• Some of the greatest works that Copernicus produced were
the treatise De Revolutionibus Orbium Coelestium (On the
Revolutions of the Celestial Spheres, 1543) and his
manuscript Commentariolus (Little Commentary)
• Copernicus was castigated because of his radical ideas,
which he lacked the evidence and means to support
himself with

6. “I much prefer the
sharpest criticism of a
single intelligent man
to the thoughtless
approval of the
masses.”
- Johannes
Kepler

7. Johannes KeplerJohannes Kepler
Father of Planetary Motion - 1571-1630
• Renowned for his “celestial mechanics”, based upon how he believed
that Earth and the other planets travel about the sun in elliptical orbits
• Made grand contributions to the fields of optics, integral calculus and
geometry
• Created three laws through which planetary motion could be
calculated:
– 1st
Law of Ellipses
– 2nd
Law of Equal Areas
– 3rd
Law of Harmony

8. “All truths are easy to
understand once they
are discovered; the
point is to discover
them.”
- Galileo Galilei

9. Galileo Galilei
1564-1642
 Was an early supporter of experimentation and empiricism
 Rose to prominence within the field of mathematics to earn
his place at the University of Pisa, where he would make
many of his famed scientific discoveries
 Made heavy contributions to the fields of physics, creating
branches of mechanical engineering like kinematics and
dynamics and authoring the Law of Inertia
 After observing the orbital patterns of the moons of
Jupiter, Galileo became a champion of the Copernican idea
of a heliocentric universe
 After publishing his Dialogue Concerning the Two Chief
World Systems in 1632, Galileo was accused of heresy
and was forced to renounce his views. He spent the
remainder of his life under house arrest

10. “It is not enough to
have a good mind; the
main thing is to use it
well.”
- Rene Descartes

11. • Though he was considered a failure of a scientist, Descartes
still holds his place as one of the greatest intellectual minds of
the Scientific Revolution
• Closely associated with the Renaissance philosophical
movement, Descartes was an advocate for rationalism and
deductive reasoning (Cogito ergo sum)
• Perhaps his greatest achievements were in the field of
mathematics, where he linked geometry with algebra
• Was a pioneer of metaphysics, a branch of cognitive physics
focused on the nature of existence and the universe (mind
versus matter)
• Descartes was one of the most influential figures of this time
period; his scientific, mathematic and philosophical
achievements became the foundation on which Newton would
build on
Rene DescartesRene Descartes
1596-16501596-1650

12. “If I have seen further
than others, it is by
standing upon the
shoulders of giants.”
-Sir Isaac Newton

13. Sir Isaac NewtonSir Isaac Newton
• Newton’s contributions to the Scientific Revolution were so diverse and crucial
that he is widely considered to be the most important scientist of all time
• Combining the teachings of Kepler and Galileo with his own ideas, Newton was
able to formally validate the Copernican view of heliocentric cosmology
• Newton was fanatically religious; he authored more Biblical texts than he did
scientific ones
• Newton is perhaps best known for his theories of Universal Gravitation and his
Three Laws of Motion
• His Philosophia Naturalis Principia Mathematica, often called the Principia, is
viewed as the most influential text written during the Scientific Revolution
1642-17271642-1727

14. “Science is but an
image of the truth.”
- Francis Bacon

15. Francis Bacon
 One of the greatest contributors to empiricism, the
concept that experimentation and gathered
experience will equate to knowledge
 Had a prolific career as an attorney and civil servant
 Bacon was a staunch believer in the empirical
method
 Through his own reasoning and evaluation of the
works of others, Bacon was able to consolidate
scientific methodology into the Bacononian
Method, or simply the Scientific Method

16. “All we know is still infinitely
less than all that remains
unknown.”
- William Harvey

17. William HarveyWilliam Harvey
1473-1543
• The first Western European to detail the function of
systemic circulation in the cardiovascular system, the
property of blood being pumped through the body by the
heart
• Through empirical data gathered by dissection, Harvey was
able to disprove the previously-accepted Galenical views of
human anatomy
• His observations included the belief that the blood
circulating through our veins and arteries is uniform and
consistent
• Helped to accurately map out the human physiology

18. "The whole of science"The whole of science
is nothing more thanis nothing more than
a refinement of whata refinement of what
we once thought waswe once thought was
right. Imagine whatright. Imagine what
we will all knowwe will all know
tomorrow."tomorrow."
- Albert Einstein- Albert Einstein