Nicolaus Copernicus The sixteenth and seventeenth centuries were known as the Scientific Revolution. During these centuries, science was starting to answer many questions about the earth. Scientists all around the world were making their assumptions on how the universe worked. Nicolaus Copernicus was a Polish astronomer that also had a theory. The Copernican Theory changed many views and had a great effect on society. Copernicus lived his life in Poland. When he was nineteen, he decided to study at the University of Cracow. At the university he was required to study grammar, rhetoric and logic, arithmetic, geometry, music and astrology or astronomy. Edward Rosen is the author of, Copernicus and the Scientific Revolution. He says, "The subjects offered during his years there are known form university records that are still preserved. The names of the professors who taught those courses are also known. But the students’ records are missing."1 The grades that he received in college are unknown. However, it is known that he did not stay long enough to earn a bachelor’s degree.2 After Copernicus left school he returned home to his uncle, Lucas Waczendrode, who was the bishop of Ermeland.3 His uncle suggested that he enter the canonry n Frauenburg. The canonry is a group of clergymen that belong to a cathedral or other church. Entering the canonry would give Copernicus a stable and secure income for the rest of his life. While he waited for an opening, his uncle sent him for training at the University of Bologna.4 While there he studied mathematics and Greek language for three and half years. He also became more familiar with astronomy. In 1501 Copernicus returned to Frauenburg where he became apart of the canonry. He left quickly and started to study in Italy at the University of Padua. There he studied law and medicine.5 After a lifetime of studying, he is said to have mastered the concepts of math, medicine, theology and astronomy.6 As Copernicus began to study astronomy more, he came to strongly disagree with the Ptolemaic system of astronomy. This system was based on the idea that the earth was fixed in the center and all the other heavenly bodies moved around it. Astronomers believed that the earth was in the center because it was heavy. Copernicus saw many problems associated with this system of astronomy. For example, sometimes the planets appeared to be going in the opposite direction and the brightness of the planets would tend to change as well.
In his book, Repcheck recounts how a Catholic Church cleric invented a highly complicated theory of the heavens’ architecture. Copernicus made a breakthrough by solving a significant astronomical problem. Everybody except the astronomers had earlier accepted Aristotle’s concept that heavenly objects revolved around the earth in perfectly circular orbits. The astronomers were opposed to this notion since their calculations could not work according to it. Repcheck introduces Ptolemy who described a cosmos in which the earth positioned itself somewhat off-center and other heavenly bodies revolved in one circular orbit inside a second ideal circle at changeable speeds. Even though Ptolemy’s model was rather complicated, astronomers found it to be reasonable in their calculations. Astronomers were still using this new concept even 1500 years later. In this regard, the author starts to bring Copernicus into the picture.
The scientific revolution can be considered one of the biggest turning points in European history. Because of new scientific ideas and theories, a new dawn of thinking and questioning of natural elements had evolved. Scientific revolution thinkers such as Newton, Galileo, and Copernicus all saw nature as unknowable and wanted to separate myths from reality. During the scientific revolution during mid 1500-late 1600s, key figures such as Isaac Newton and Nicolaus Copernicus greatly impacted Europe in terms of astronomical discoveries, scientific methods, and the questioning of God to challenge the church’s teachings.
Leonhard Euler was born in Basel, Switzerland as the first born child of Paul Euler and Marguerite Brucker on April 15, 1707. Euler’s formal education started in Basel where he was sent to live with his maternal grandmother on his father’s orders. Euler's father wanted his son to follow him in working for the church and sent him to the University of Basel to prepare him in becoming a pastor. He entered the University in 1720 to gain general knowledge before moving on to more advanced studies. Euler’s pastime was used for studying theology, Greek, and Hebrew in order to become a pastor like his father. During that time at the age of thirteen Euler started gaining his masters in Philosophy at the University of Basel, and in 1723 he achieved his master degree. On his weekends, Euler was learning from Bernoulli in several subjects because Bernoulli noticed that Euler was very intelligent in all types of mathematics and it also helped that Euler’s father was a friend of the Bernoulli Family, at the time Johann Bernoulli was Europe’s best mathematician. Bernoulli would later become one of ...
Johannes Kepler was a German astronomer and mathematician ho discovered that planetary motion is elliptical. Early in his life, Kepler wanted to prove that the universe obeyed Platonistic mathematical relationships, such as the planetary orbits were circular and at distances from the sun proportional to the Platonic solids (see paragraph below). However, when his friend the astronomer Tycho Brahe died, he gave Kepler his immense collection of astronomical observations. After years of studying these observations, Kepler realized that his previous thought about planetary motion were wrong, and he came up with his three laws of planetary motion. Unfortunately, he did not have a unifying theory for these laws. This had to until Newton formulated his laws of gravity and motion.
In 1583, Galileo went to the University of Pisa to study medicine. He didn’t like medicine, but he did enjoy math and physics. After going to a Geometry lecture, Galileo decided to dedicate himself to math. He would soon have to leave the university, without a degree, because of money.
Until 1609 Galileo taught math and made several discoveries in the area of physics. Galileo mathematically described physics and friction as it relates to motion. Galileo also became interested in optics and astronomy. In 1609, Galileo built his first telescope and about a year later. He discovered the Moon, Jupiter’s four largest moons and many new stars. Three of Galileo’s most important works where Letters on Sunspots, The Assayer and Dialogue Concerning the Two Chief World Systems. Galileo’s Letter’s on Sunspots showed of solar imperfections and described axial rotations. Galileo’s The Assayer showed the nature of scientific investigation through observation and mathematics. One of Gal...
more description like family, education, and further more. He began his studies around the early age of
Isaac Newton was born at Woolsthorpe, England on December 25th 1642. When Newton was 12 to about 17 he went to Kings School where he learned latin but unfortunately no math. His mother pulled him out and wanted him to become a farmer. The school called back and asked him if he would go back to finish his education. He went back to finish his education, he was awarded a scholarship. He entered Cambridge University in 1661. He stayed there for eight years. While he was there he took a lot of Physics classes. He has obtained a B.A degree in 1665.Newton graduated with no honors or distinctions, his efforts won him the title of scholar and four years of financial support for future education.
When Galileo Galilei was younger many interesting things happened . Galileo galilei was born in Pisa,Italy ; to Vincenzo Galilei and Giulia Ammannati . As a child Galileo was the eldest of six children yet only four of the names are known because the other 2 children did not survive infancy . Michelangelo was the youngest of the six children. Galileo's full name was Galileo di Vincenzo Bonaiuti da' Galilei. At the age of 8, his family moved to Florence, but he was sent to live with Jacopo Borghini for two years. Galileo was proved to be very intelligent as a child . Galileo was a young boy who enjoyed music and painting as expected because of the household he lived in , Galileo was always constructing mechanical toys for his amusement . Vincenzio was determined his son should learn and inherit his business of selling wool , but he made it his top priority to get him well-educated . When Galileo was 10, his father sent him to a nearby school ; the school was the monastery at Santa Maria Vallombrosa . Monks would teach Galileo to prepare him for University . Galileo studied many different subjects such as Latin,Greek,Logic, and Religion .Galileo became skilled on several musical instruments such as the lute . Galileo also wrote some poems as a kid . Most of what Galileo studied was from the writing of St. Thomas Aquinas . Aquinas was a priest and philosopher who lived from 1226 to 1274 ; he studied ideas of the ancient Greek philosopher Aristotle.
Leonhard Euler was born on April 15, 1707 to pastor, Paul Euler, and grew up with two younger sisters in Basel, Switzerland. By the time he was thirteen years old, Euler had already begun attending lectures at Basel University, and graduated in 1723 with his master’s degree. Euler’s father urged him to further his education by studying theology. Euler complied, but insisted on spending all of his free time studying mathematics. Euler’s teacher, Johann Bernoulli, was very impressed with the articles Euler wrote on reverse trajectory and valued him as a student. By 1727, under Bernoulli’s urging, Euler applied to join the Saint Petersburg Academy of Sciences, but due to financial instability at the academy, Euler decided to join the Russian Navy for three years to assure regular income. After a few years, Euler’s financial situation had increased, and he was able to marry Katharina Gsell and have fifteen children with her. Unfortunately, only three boys and two girls survived. In 1741, Euler worked in the Berlin Academy of Sciences, as head of the Berlin Observatory, while he also tutored the nieces of King Frederich II of Prussia. No matter his age, Leonhard Euler was always very interested in the world of math...
After his trial, Galileo spent the rest of life under house arrest. Galileo finished his book, Discourses and Mathematical Demonstrations concerning Two New Sciences, which was smuggled out of Italy and did not mention copernicanism. His book was then published in Holland in 1638 by Louis Elzivier. Galileo admitted he was amazed by its’ publication. Galileo also made contributions to mechanics and studied motion. He eventually lost his sight and became blind. Even though he was blind Galileo made the Pendulum Clock in 1641. Galileo died January 8, 1642 and was buried in the basement of a church until 1737. Galileo was constantly searching for truth. Perhaps what helped Galileo the most was his willingness and desire to explore new ideas and options in a world that was very narrow minded.
His spent his life almost entirely in his hometown; he did not go more than a hundred miles only when he lived for several months in Arnsdorf as preceptor. Living in that city he worked as a private tutor to earn a living after the death of his father in 1746. When he was thirty-one years old he received his doctorate at the University of Konigsberg, then he started teaching. In 1770 after failing twice in trying to get chance to give a lecture and have rejected offers from other universities, he finally was appointed ordinary professor of logic and metaphysics. He taught at the university and remained there for 15 years, beginning his lectures on the sciences and mathematics, however over time he covered most branches of philosophy.
Much to the dismay of the Church, two astronomers Galileo and Kepler had the audacity to challenge the authorities by suggesting that the sun-not the earth-was at the center of the universe. The church had a stronghold on the way the spiritual and physical world worked, so these discoveries only added to the Church’s resistance to their aims. Their discoveries came only after Kepler and Galileo began to question ancient theories about how the world functioned. These ancient truths were widely held but were inconsistent with the new observations that they had made. Kepler had discovered the laws of planetary motion which suggested that the planet would move in elliptical orbits, while Galileo followed with his discovery of the principle of inertia. Galileo concluded his finding b...
The Copernican Revolution Planetary Astronomy in the Development of Western Thought by Thomas S. Kuhn, is a book that illustrates the importance between man and the natural world from antiquity to the current date. Thomas Kuhn vividly shows us that the Copernican revolution was not only a revolution of scientific theory, but of religious, and conceptual thought as well. Kuhn states in the opening lines of his book that "The Copernican Revolution was a revolution of ideas, a transformation in man's conception of the universe and his own relation to it." Kuhn aims to show us that the transformation of Aristotle's unique, and immobile centre of the universe, to Copernicus' third rock from the sun, had an enormous effect on what we believe and value today.
When his father died in 1591 Galileo had to support his family. He looked for a job that paid more, and became professor of mathematics at the University of Padua where he stayed for eighteen years. He became very interested in astronomy at that time partly because of the discovery of a new star in 1604. (This turned out to be an exploding sun called a supernova). During these years he did more work on his theories of falling bodies, inclined planes and how projectiles travel. This work is still used today, for example in ballistics where computers can predict the path of a shell based on Galileo’s work.