The Origins of Modern Science

He would later use these observations to defend and promote Nicholas Copernicus’ heliocentric theory. His initial discoveries, which were published in the Starry Messenger, were opposed within the Catholic Church. As a response to his book The Inquisition decla... ... middle of paper ... ...'s feelings on the universe. Galileo feared how people would retaliate to the truth about the universe, since it was contradicting the Bible. He went as far as visiting Rome to plead for the leaders to grant people an opportunity to change their views.

Through the synthesis of mathematics, science gained its most distinguishing fea... ... middle of paper ... ...ence on the framework of the universe. Three scientists who believed in the concept of divine design were Robert Boyle, Johannes Kepler and Sir Issac Newton. Johannes Kepler’s Third Law of Planetary Motion shows how God crafted the universe like a mechanism. Though each of these men made significant contributions to the development of scientific knowledge their chief advancement is more subtle. Under their stewardship science progressed from philosophical speculations into a discipline deeply rooted in empiricism.

He disproved many old assumptions made by the Catholic Church during this time, and through his experimentations provoked a reform that resulted in the beginning of secularism. “The Church concluded that his ideas were at variance with both doctrine and Scriptures and demanded, on pain of death, that he recant his views” (The scientific revolution, pg. 6). Regardless of what the church wanted, Galileo insisted that the universe operated as a world machine, everything could be explained out of mathematics, or else, it was wrong. “His revolutionary argument was this: if a physical model did not fit the mathematical properties of the phenomenon, the physical model was wrong” (The scientific revolution, pg.

Galilei wrote a letter to Dowager Grand Duchess trying to reconcile his astronomical observations with the Bible. Isaac Newton, (1642-1727) was an English scientist and statesman. Although his views were thought to contradict the bible he was the only man of these three which proved his views to be true. He discovered gravity and the laws of motion. He stated that, 'every particle in the universe is attracted to every other particle by a force that is directly related to the product of their masses and inversely related to the squares of the distance between them.

Isaac Newton did several thing that positively affected the scientific community during the Scientific Revolution and still affect society today, he recognized the three laws of motion, discovered gravity, and co-developed calculus. The scientific revolution was a time of inquisition, discovery, and new ideas. The scientific revolution started at the end of the renaissance, with Nicholas Copernicus, who said that the earth revolves around the sun. and ended in the late 18th century, with Isaac Newton, who proposed the three universal laws of motion, and proposed a mechanical universe.1 The scientific revolution lay a foundation for what is now modern science. Many achievements in the numerous fields of science where accomplished in this time period.

Francis Bacon believed that knowledge gained through inductive reasoning (a means of seeking out truth through observing what is happening in the world and coming to conclusions based solely on those observations) was the greatest force of all, and had the power to eventually transform the human race. He also championed the idea that philosophy should be based off of reason and must be completely separate from religion. These ideas were the early steps toward shaping and establishing the scientific method. Descartes, a French mathematician and philosopher, went even further than Bacon in stressing observation and was one of the first efforts to apply the new method of scientific inquiry to philosophy and theories of knowledge. He stressed that a person’s senses can deceive them, and that even with observation and experiments, knowledge gained cannot always be trusted.

Born not long after Bacon’s death, Newton would provide evidence for the existence of these natural laws, and support his theories with scientific experimentation, even developing a new kind of mathematics, infinitesimal calculus, in order to provide support for his theories. The breakthrough philosophical effect of Newton’s discoveries was immense. If the world operat... ... middle of paper ... ...jecting those traditions which interfered with his artistic vision, he created bold new paintings and proved himself an artist of the Enlightenment. It is clear that the Scientific Revolution had a tremendous impact on the thought and art of Europe during the Enlightenment and 18th century. All of the great thinkers of the Enlightenment recognized the scientific revolution and its luminaries as influences on their own thinking.

However, it was curious and somewhat ironic how influential the Bible was in promulgating certain beliefs, since the book itself seemed contrary to empirical evidence in that it was thought to be divinely inspired. In his letter to the Duchess Christina, Galileo Galilei (1564-1642 C.E.) pointed out that it was in itself rather abstract and open to multiple interpretations (The History Channel: Galileo’s Battle for the Heavens). Galileo was the greatest promulgator of Copernicus, the first man to propose a heliocentric universe. There were a few flaws with Copernicus’ universe involving orbits, and Galileo was able to remedy these and formulate the proper order and system of the universe.

People who contradicted the church were considered heretics and were punished. At this time, people believed in the universe that Ptolemy had theorized: that the earth was the center and everything revolved around it. The church did not approve of this theory or any other opposing opinions because it was not an advocate of change. With the new ideas of Copernicus and Galileo, a merging of faith and reason slowly began. Nicholas Copernicus was a Polish astronomer who was born in 1473 and died in 1543.

Scientific Revolution has not only widened our eyes towards new inventions but it has also unlocked our brains to question and intellect to rationalize. In fact, Scientific Revolution in seventeenth century is the period of a new change in World History. Renaissance, a revolutionary period in which people developed the study of arts, their new thinking skills become the leading cause of scientific revolution. Europeans gave importance to learning and application of knowledge which gave birth to new scientific theories and revolution. However, the whole period from 17th to 19th century brought the new changes in people’s lives through new discoveries and inventions in the field of medical and education.