FREE ESSAY ON SCIENTIFIC REVOLUTION

SCIENTIFIC REVOLUTION

The Scientific Revolution
The Scientific Revolution brought many new ideas and beliefs not only to Europe but the
entire world. The most widely influential was an epistemological transformation that we
call the Scientific Revolution. In the popular mind, we associate this revolution with
natural science and technological change, but the scientific revolution was, in reality,
a series of changes in the structure of European thought itself: systematic doubt,
empirical and sensory verification, the abstraction of human knowledge into separate
sciences, and the view that the world functions like a machine. These changes greatly
changed the human experience of every other aspect of life, from individual life to the
life of the group. This modification in worldview can also be charted in painting,
sculpture and architecture; you can see that people of the seventeenth and eighteenth
centuries are looking at the world very differently. The Scientific Revolution brought
about many changed in both biology and astronomy. The former was concerned with the
basics of physiology and anatomy; the latter was concerned with the issue of the solar
system. These (and other) developments tended to proceed along independent lines until
the great scientific academies of the 18th century both brought them together and helped
spread their findings to the rest of society. 
Copernicus was a man who played a significant role in this revolution. Before Copernicus
was the Ptolemaic system. Ptolemy's model of the universe was accepted throughout the
middle Ages, though not without revision. His model was a little ragged at the edges and
more accurate observations revealed discrepancies, particularly in regard to the movement
of the planets. Using tables based on Ptolemy's model, medieval astronomers made
predictions regarding the position of this or that planet and the planets did not show up
on time. Even Ptolemy had known that the simplest model, which had each planet moving in
a circular orbit about the Earth. To compensate, he invented the notion of epicycles;
that is, a circular orbit whose center in turn moved in a circular orbit. For example,
Venus did not move directly around the Earth, but rather moved in its own orbit. The
center of this orbit, however, did move around the Earth. Everything moved in perfect
circles, of course, because a circle was a perfect shape and Heaven was a place of
perfection. However many question arose about this theory. By the later middle Ages,
increasingly accurate observations had led to increasing elaborations of Ptolemy's
systems. Epicycles were added to epicycles until the planets were clanking about in a
ludicrous contraption of scores of intersecting circles. Many among the learned were
uncomfortably aware that the situation was downright embarrassing. With as many as 200
and more epicycles wheeling about, the whole system was looking less and less divine. The
invention of accurate timekeeping devices was, by the 15th century, badly fraying the
fabric of the Ptolemaic universe. (Shapin)
The first bold step in the Scientific Revolution was taken by Nicolaus Copernicus
(1473-1543). In De Revolutionibus Orbium Coelestium, published in the year of his death,
Copernicus suggested a new explanation of the apparent motions of heavenly bodies.
Following the hypothesis of Aristarchus, Copernicus put the sun in the center of the
motionless sphere of the fixed stars and had the planets (including the earth) move in
concentric circles around it. The moon circled the earth, which rotated around its own
axis and also slowly changed the direction of its axis. The heliocentric system of
Copernicus challenged (and eventually replaced) the Ptolemaic system that had stationary
earth as its center. The heliocentric theory gave modern astronomy a new direction but it
did not remove the complexity that cumbered the Ptolemaic system. To reconcile the
circular and uniform planetary motion with the available observational evidence,
Copernicus also had to amend his system with epicycles and eccentricity of the planets'
orbits in relation to the sun (Jeans, Growth 128-29). The real significance of the
heliocentric system lay in the long-term changes, which it effected. Major upheavals in
the fundamental concepts of science, occur by degrees. The work of a single individual
may play a preeminent role in such a conceptual revolution, but if it does, it achieves
preeminence either because, like De Revolutionibus, it initiates revolution by a small
innovation which presents science with new problems, or because like Newton's Principia,
it terminates revolution by integrating concepts deriving from many sources (Copernican
Revolution 182). The Copernican exposition of celestial mechanics may appear less
impressive than the Newtonian, but without one the other would not have been possible.
The Copernican theory was solidified and advanced in the work of Tycho Brache and
Johannes Kepler. Tycho Brache (1546-1601) did not accept the heliocentric model of the
universe, but through his work he contributed to its refinement. An excellent observer,
he made new instruments, which significantly improved the accuracy of angular
measurement, and then devoted most of his life to constructing new, precise planetary
tables (Hull 132-33). Kepler, who became Tycho's assistant in his youth, completed the
task and published the new tables after Tycho's death. In contrast to his teacher's
preference for observation, Kepler had a theoretical slant and a strong belief in
mathematics. Like many of the ancient Greeks, he assumed that celestial bodies must move
according to simple geometrical laws, which could be discovered (Jeans, Growth 165).
After decades of painstaking and frustrating investigation of the planets' orbits and
velocities, he finally succeeded in proving his assumptions. In 1609 he announced that
the orbit of Mars is an ellipse with the sun at one focus, and that the planet's velocity
changes in such a way that the line joining Mars to the sun covers equal areas of the
ellipse in equal times. In the following years, Kepler extended these laws to the other
planets and formulated a third law which stated that, for all the planets, the square of
the periodic time is proportional to the cube of its mean distance from the sun (Hull
136-37). Kepler's discovery was as important for the development of science as the work
of Copernicus, in spite of its apparently limited, technical character. The achievement
of Copernicus was revolutionary in content, but not so in method. All the main
propositions of De Revolutionibus were based on ancient authority. Copernicus had the
sense to give the heliocentric concept serious consideration and the mathematical skill
to develop it in detail, but he never questioned the Greek assumption that celestial
geometry must be based on the figures of sphere and circle because of their supposed
perfection (Hull 128). He was a typical Renaissance man, freed from the oppressive
authority of the church, but unable to sever himself from dependence on the authority of
the classics which brought him that freedom. Kepler, on the other hand, represented a
truly modern scientific spirit. He was the first to introduce important scientific
notions for which there was no ancient authority (Hull 135). With his discoveries, Kepler
gave modern science a spirit of independence, a sense of freedom from any preconceived
notions, regardless of the authority, which might stand behind them. He thus further
strengthened the belief in the power of human intellect as a primary means of learning to
understand the world.
Isaac Newton was a man who took all of these ideas, and wrote them out mathematically.
Newton's synthesis was just brilliant. Newton was secretive, petty and vindictive. He was
also a genius. This meant that all of his brilliant achievements were conceived alone. He
worked intensively on problems being debated within Europe's scientific community. One
problem concerned planetary orbits. Relying on their own observations, astronomers such
as Copernicus, Galileo and Kepler determined that the natural (inertial) motion of
planets was circular or elliptical. Basing his theory purely on logic, he insisted that
the natural motion was a straight line. Newton began tackling this problem with the
assumption that planetary orbits were elliptical (as Kepler had maintained). This meant
that he could not make his calculations with Euclidean geometry, which provided formulas
for only regular' shapes, such as circles, squares and triangles. He therefore developed
calculus a major breakthrough in the history of mathematics. Newton did not want to share
his invention with anyone else. So he made his discoveries with calculus but wrote them
out in the conventional mathematics of his time. His first rough calculation set the
moon's orbit time at 27.25 days-- just about the exact time Newton had uncovered a law of
nature that was both universal and susceptible to mathematical calculations. This
discovery would fundamentally alter the way human beings viewed themselves and the
universe in which they lived. With his work, Newton made the natural world seem knowable
to those who employed the scientific method of observation, experimentation and
calculation. (Shapin)
Galileo was also a huge contributor to the Scientific Revolution. His scientific
successes were due to his ability to make what some historians have called thought
experiments. Galileo also contributed to the development of the scientific method. He was
drawn to the system of Copernicus and Kepler because they made use of geometric
reasoning. Galileo's preference for mathematical calculations to knowledge derived only
from his senses does not mean that he never made us of observation. Indeed, he was the
first to use a telescope in astronomical work. The first telescope was made in Holland,
by a Dutch lens maker who hit on the idea of putting two lenses at each end of a tube and
looking through it. Galileo read about this invention in a letter and forthwith built his
own. He ground his own lenses, constructed his own tube, and produced a telescope with a
power of magnification of about 10 -- more than twice as powerful as the one the Dutch
had made. That Galileo could do this after merely having read a description of the device
is a testament to his skill as a craftsman. Galileo built his telescope in 1610 when he
was living in Venice. The first thing he did with his invention was tried to make money
from it. Galileo soon had orders to build more telescopes. Had he done only this, he
would have been known as a great inventor. But he went further. He pointed his telescope
up to the night sky, and what he found there changed the scientific world forever. He
studied the moon and found that it was composed of the same substances as the earth and
that it produced no light of its own, but only reflected rays from the sun. He turned his
telescope on the sun itself and saw that it had spots. The sun was not a perfect
substance and since the spots moved, the sun rotated on its axis in the same direction as
the planets moved in their orbits. He found the four satellites of Jupiter and saw that
they revolved around the planet. These discoveries conformed his belief in the
heliocentric system and suggested that other heavenly bodies had the same properties as
the earth. 
The Scientific Revolution was the single most important factor in the creation of the new
worldview of the eighteenth century Enlightenment. Many ideas were brought into light
that changed views and perceptions of the world. The most important idea of the
enlightenment was that the methods of natural science could be used to examine and
understand all aspect of life. This is what the intellectuals meant reason. Nothing was
to be accepted on faith. Everything was to be submitted to the rational, critical,
scientific way of thinking. However this brought the Enlightenment into a conflict with
churches, which rested their beliefs on authority of the Bible and Christian theology.
Another key of the enlightenment was the scientific method was capable of discovering
laws of human society as well as those of nature. This led to the birth of social
science. This led to that of progress. With the skills needed to discover laws of human
existence, Enlightment thinker believed it was possible for humans to create better
societies and people. Therefore the enlightenment was secular. It revived and established
the Renaissance on worldly ideas. Enlightenment in return had a huge effect on the
culture and thought of urban middle classes and aristocracy. However it did not appeal to
the poor and peasants. These groups were confident in old popular beliefs that
enlightenment was trying to change.
Overall the scientific revolution has transformed Europeans and their perception of the
world. Europeans as well as others began to venture to other countries, trade and develop
new social groups. It improved navigation, which in return facilitated overseas trade and
helped enrich leading merchants. In another aspect some people had change of views when
it came to religion and their beliefs on the world and what they believed in. This
revolution I believe had few consequences for economic life and living standards of the
people. The revolution was a significant period in time that showed points in social,
economical, religion, and educational points in that era. Overall it was a benefit to
that era and the time we live in today.
The Scientific Revolution
The Scientific Revolution brought many new ideas and beliefs not only to Europe but the
entire world. The most widely influential was an epistemological transformation that we
call the Scientific Revolution. In the popular mind, we associate this revolution with
natural science and technological change, but the scientific revolution was, in reality,
a series of changes in the structure of European thought itself: systematic doubt,
empirical and sensory verification, the abstraction of human knowledge into separate
sciences, and the view that the world functions like a machine. These changes greatly
changed the human experience of every other aspect of life, from individual life to the
life of the group. This modification in worldview can also be charted in painting,
sculpture and architecture; you can see that people of the seventeenth and eighteenth
centuries are looking at the world very differently. The Scientific Revolution brought
about many changed in both biology and astronomy. The former was concerned with the
basics of physiology and anatomy; the latter was concerned with the issue of the solar
system. These (and other) developments tended to proceed along independent lines until
the great scientific academies of the 18th century both brought them together and helped
spread their findings to the rest of society. 
Copernicus was a man who played a significant role in this revolution. Before Copernicus
was the Ptolemaic system. Ptolemy's model of the universe was accepted throughout the
middle Ages, though not without revision. His model was a little ragged at the edges and
more accurate observations revealed discrepancies, particularly in regard to the movement
of the planets. Using tables based on Ptolemy's model, medieval astronomers made
predictions regarding the position of this or that planet and the planets did not show up
on time. Even Ptolemy had known that the simplest model, which had each planet moving in
a circular orbit about the Earth. To compensate, he invented the notion of epicycles;
that is, a circular orbit whose center in turn moved in a circular orbit. For example,
Venus did not move directly around the Earth, but rather moved in its own orbit. The
center of this orbit, however, did move around the Earth. Everything moved in perfect
circles, of course, because a circle was a perfect shape and Heaven was a place of
perfection. However many question arose about this theory. By the later middle Ages,
increasingly accurate observations had led to increasing elaborations of Ptolemy's
systems. Epicycles were added to epicycles until the planets were clanking about in a
ludicrous contraption of scores of intersecting circles. Many among the learned were
uncomfortably aware that the situation was downright embarrassing. With as many as 200
and more epicycles wheeling about, the whole system was looking less and less divine. The
invention of accurate timekeeping devices was, by the 15th century, badly fraying the
fabric of the Ptolemaic universe. (Shapin)
The first bold step in the Scientific Revolution was taken by Nicolaus Copernicus
(1473-1543). In De Revolutionibus Orbium Coelestium, published in the year of his death,
Copernicus suggested a new explanation of the apparent motions of heavenly bodies.
Following the hypothesis of Aristarchus, Copernicus put the sun in the center of the
motionless sphere of the fixed stars and had the planets (including the earth) move in
concentric circles around it. The moon circled the earth, which rotated around its own
axis and also slowly changed the direction of its axis. The heliocentric system of
Copernicus challenged (and eventually replaced) the Ptolemaic system that had stationary
earth as its center. The heliocentric theory gave modern astronomy a new direction but it
did not remove the complexity that cumbered the Ptolemaic system. To reconcile the
circular and uniform planetary motion with the available observational evidence,
Copernicus also had to amend his system with epicycles and eccentricity of the planets'
orbits in relation to the sun (Jeans, Growth 128-29). The real significance of the
heliocentric system lay in the long-term changes, which it effected. Major upheavals in
the fundamental concepts of science, occur by degrees. The work of a single individual
may play a preeminent role in such a conceptual revolution, but if it does, it achieves
preeminence either because, like De Revolutionibus, it initiates revolution by a small
innovation which presents science with new problems, or because like Newton's Principia,
it terminates revolution by integrating concepts deriving from many sources (Copernican
Revolution 182). The Copernican exposition of celestial mechanics may appear less
impressive than the Newtonian, but without one the other would not have been possible.
The Copernican theory was solidified and advanced in the work of Tycho Brache and
Johannes Kepler. Tycho Brache (1546-1601) did not accept the heliocentric model of the
universe, but through his work he contributed to its refinement. An excellent observer,
he made new instruments, which significantly improved the accuracy of angular
measurement, and then devoted most of his life to constructing new, precise planetary
tables (Hull 132-33). Kepler, who became Tycho's assistant in his youth, completed the
task and published the new tables after Tycho's death. In contrast to his teacher's
preference for observation, Kepler had a theoretical slant and a strong belief in
mathematics. Like many of the ancient Greeks, he assumed that celestial bodies must move
according to simple geometrical laws, which could be discovered (Jeans, Growth 165).
After decades of painstaking and frustrating investigation of the planets' orbits and
velocities, he finally succeeded in proving his assumptions. In 1609 he announced that
the orbit of Mars is an ellipse with the sun at one focus, and that the planet's velocity
changes in such a way that the line joining Mars to the sun covers equal areas of the
ellipse in equal times. In the following years, Kepler extended these laws to the other
planets and formulated a third law which stated that, for all the planets, the square of
the periodic time is proportional to the cube of its mean distance from the sun (Hull
136-37). Kepler's discovery was as important for the development of science as the work
of Copernicus, in spite of its apparently limited, technical character. The achievement
of Copernicus was revolutionary in content, but not so in method. All the main
propositions of De Revolutionibus were based on ancient authority. Copernicus had the
sense to give the heliocentric concept serious consideration and the mathematical skill
to develop it in detail, but he never questioned the Greek assumption that celestial
geometry must be based on the figures of sphere and circle because of their supposed
perfection (Hull 128). He was a typical Renaissance man, freed from the oppressive
authority of the church, but unable to sever himself from dependence on the authority of
the classics which brought him that freedom. Kepler, on the other hand, represented a
truly modern scientific spirit. He was the first to introduce important scientific
notions for which there was no ancient authority (Hull 135). With his discoveries, Kepler
gave modern science a spirit of independence, a sense of freedom from any preconceived
notions, regardless of the authority, which might stand behind them. He thus further
strengthened the belief in the power of human intellect as a primary means of learning to
understand the world.
Isaac Newton was a man who took all of these ideas, and wrote them out mathematically.
Newton's synthesis was just brilliant. Newton was secretive, petty and vindictive. He was
also a genius. This meant that all of his brilliant achievements were conceived alone. He
worked intensively on problems being debated within Europe's scientific community. One
problem concerned planetary orbits. Relying on their own observations, astronomers such
as Copernicus, Galileo and Kepler determined that the natural (inertial) motion of
planets was circular or elliptical. Basing his theory purely on logic, he insisted that
the natural motion was a straight line. Newton began tackling this problem with the
assumption that planetary orbits were elliptical (as Kepler had maintained). This meant
that he could not make his calculations with Euclidean geometry, which provided formulas
for only regular' shapes, such as circles, squares and triangles. He therefore developed
calculus a major breakthrough in the history of mathematics. Newton did not want to share
his invention with anyone else. So he made his discoveries with calculus but wrote them
out in the conventional mathematics of his time. His first rough calculation set the
moon's orbit time at 27.25 days-- just about the exact time Newton had uncovered a law of
nature that was both universal and susceptible to mathematical calculations. This
discovery would fundamentally alter the way human beings viewed themselves and the
universe in which they lived. With his work, Newton made the natural world seem knowable
to those who employed the scientific method of observation, experimentation and
calculation. (Shapin)
Galileo was also a huge contributor to the Scientific Revolution. His scientific
successes were due to his ability to make what some historians have called thought
experiments. Galileo also contributed to the development of the scientific method. He was
drawn to the system of Copernicus and Kepler because they made use of geometric
reasoning. Galileo's preference for mathematical calculations to knowledge derived only
from his senses does not mean that he never made us of observation. Indeed, he was the
first to use a telescope in astronomical work. The first telescope was made in Holland,
by a Dutch lens maker who hit on the idea of putting two lenses at each end of a tube and
looking through it. Galileo read about this invention in a letter and forthwith built his
own. He ground his own lenses, constructed his own tube, and produced a telescope with a
power of magnification of about 10 -- more than twice as powerful as the one the Dutch
had made. That Galileo could do this after merely having read a description of the device
is a testament to his skill as a craftsman. Galileo built his telescope in 1610 when he
was living in Venice. The first thing he did with his invention was tried to make money
from it. Galileo soon had orders to build more telescopes. Had he done only this, he
would have been known as a great inventor. But he went further. He pointed his telescope
up to the night sky, and what he found there changed the scientific world forever. He
studied the moon and found that it was composed of the same substances as the earth and
that it produced no light of its own, but only reflected rays from the sun. He turned his
telescope on the sun itself and saw that it had spots. The sun was not a perfect
substance and since the spots moved, the sun rotated on its axis in the same direction as
the planets moved in their orbits. He found the four satellites of Jupiter and saw that
they revolved around the planet. These discoveries conformed his belief in the
heliocentric system and suggested that other heavenly bodies had the same properties as
the earth. 
The Scientific Revolution was the single most important factor in the creation of the new
worldview of the eighteenth century Enlightenment. Many ideas were brought into light
that changed views and perceptions of the world. The most important idea of the
enlightenment was that the methods of natural science could be used to examine and
understand all aspect of life. This is what the intellectuals meant reason. Nothing was
to be accepted on faith. Everything was to be submitted to the rational, critical,
scientific way of thinking. However this brought the Enlightenment into a conflict with
churches, which rested their beliefs on authority of the Bible and Christian theology.
Another key of the enlightenment was the scientific method was capable of discovering
laws of human society as well as those of nature. This led to the birth of social
science. This led to that of progress. With the skills needed to discover laws of human
existence, Enlightment thinker believed it was possible for humans to create better
societies and people. Therefore the enlightenment was secular. It revived and established
the Renaissance on worldly ideas. Enlightenment in return had a huge effect on the
culture and thought of urban middle classes and aristocracy. However it did not appeal to
the poor and peasants. These groups were confident in old popular beliefs that
enlightenment was trying to change.
Overall the scientific revolution has transformed Europeans and their perception of the
world. Europeans as well as others began to venture to other countries, trade and develop
new social groups. It improved navigation, which in return facilitated overseas trade and
helped enrich leading merchants. In another aspect some people had change of views when
it came to religion and their beliefs on the world and what they believed in. This
revolution I believe had few consequences for economic life and living standards of the
people. The revolution was a significant period in time that showed points in social,
economical, religion, and educational points in that era. Overall it was a benefit to
that era and the time we live in today.