The Scientific Revolution occurred between the 16th and 17th centuries and overthrew Aristotelian natural philosophy and cosmology. Key developments included Copernicus' heliocentric theory, Galileo's evidence that supported it through telescope observations, Kepler's laws of planetary motion, Harvey's discovery of blood circulation, and Newton's laws of motion and universal gravitation in his Principia. The Royal Society was founded in 1660 in England to promote the new experimental scientific philosophy and method.

1. The Scientific Revolution
Between the 16th and the 17th centuries

2. «Scientific Revolution»
A term commonly referring to the transformation of
thought about nature thanks to which the Aristotelian
tradition was replaced by the so-called «modern
science»
Period: between 16th-17° centuries
1543 : Copernicus De Revolutionibus 1687 : Newton
Principia

3. What was overthrown….
Aristotelian Natural Philosophy
• Traditional natural philosophy was almost exclusively
based on the Aristotelian doctrines

4. Aristotelian Cosmology
The straight lineand the circle: were considered perfect shapes
through which the whole Nature was studied
SUBLUNAR REALM
- Natural place
- Characterized by motion
- Based on generation and
corruption
- Made up of the 4 elements
- They relate with one
another, and they transform
into one another in this way
everything existes, grows,
and becomes something
else .
HEAVENS
- Characterized by uniform
and circular motion
(experiences motion but no
alteration)
- Perfect and incorruptible
- Made up of quintessence or
aether

5. The Scientific Revolution : A TIMELINE
AROUND 1600 (btw Queen Elizabeth I – King James I)
 Sir FRANCIS BACON : 1561-1625
- The «father» of modern science
- Empirical scientific method
- No major scientific discoveries himself
- 3 technological discoveries considered at
the basis of Western scientific progress:
gunpowder, printing, magnet

6. The Scientific Revolution : A TIMELINE
BACON – GILBERT- HARVEY
three groundbreaking English scientific thinkers
 William GILBERT
(1544-1603) court physician
- He proposed that the Earth
was a giant magnet, with its
poles at either geographical
poles
- The Earth rotated around its
axis (De Magnete: 1600)
 William HARVEY
(1578-1657)court physician
- Experiments on the
movement of the blood
in the body of animals

7. The Scientific Revolution : A TIMELINE
 1543: N. Copernicus: heliocentric theory (On the
Revolutions of Celestial Bodies) publ. Just before death
 1584: G. Bruno : the universe is infinitely large, the Earth
isn’t the centre of it burned at the stake as heretic
 1618: J. Kepler: ELLIPSES law of planetary motion
describes the form and operatin of planetary orbits
Final rejection of Aristotelian system
 1630: Galilei: Dialogue on the Two Chief Systems of the
World
1633:Galilei forced to recant his theories supports
heliocentric Copernican view; laws of terrestrial physics =
laws of celestial physics
 1637 Descartes: principles of deductive reasoning

8. 1660 : Charles II and the Restoration
of the Monarchy
• Science took off
• Charles II: interested himself in chemistry
• In 1660: J. Wilkins (from Oxford Univ), Sir C. Wren +
group of talented experimental scientists + some
gentlemen founded THE ROYAL SOCIETY
with the patronage of the King
(1662)

9. The Royal Society
• Centre of the development of the new
scientific philosophy
• The motto: «nullius in verba»: nothing by
words
• Against the dependence on old philosophies
• Simple and useful character of essays
• Practical, tolerant mind based on common
sense these will become key words of the 18th
century (The Enlightenment 1700)

10. The Royal Society : some members
• Sir Christopher Wren (1632-1723)
• Edmond Halley (1656-1742)
• Sir Isaac Newton (1642-1727)
1675: Royal Observatory was established at
Greenwich explorations of the heavens using
modern telescopes

11. Sir Isaac NEWTON
(Trinity College, Cambridge)
• 1703: President of the Royal Society
• Mathematical Principles of Natural
Philosophy- 1687 («Principia Matematica»)
 Nature/the Universe is based on mathematical models (see
Galilei)
 Basis of modern physics and astronomy
• Optics (1704) - written and published in
English
 the discovery of the prism (how rainbows work) :a light ray
entering a prism is split into different colors

12. The Scientific Method
It is the study of the physical world by sensory observation and experiment,
by mathematical measurement and inductive reasoning.
EXPERIMENTAL METHOD
- its father is G. Galilei
- Is applied to physics, chemistry and biology

13. Steps of the Scientific- Experimental
Method
1. make an OBSERVATION: scientists are naturally curious about
the world
2. Form a QUESTION
3. Form a HYPOTHESIS, it provides a direction to further
scientific investigation
4. Conduct an EXPERIMENT: the hypoyhesis must be test; it is
used to prove a hypothesis right or wrong, and to formulate
scientific theories.
5. Record and analyse the data and draw a CONCLUSION: if the
data proves the hypothesis correct, the original question is
answered. On the other hand, if the data disproves the
hypothesis, the scientific inquiry continues.