I.
World
views
A.
medieval
– through eyes of religion (Christianity)
B.
1700+
-- through secular and scientific eyes
II.
Old
school view of the heavens – Aristotle – 4th century BC
A.
earth
at center of universe
B.
10
crystal spheres
C.
moon,
sun, 5 planets, fixed stars, changing stars, heaven; angels’ role
D.
sphere-world
was perfect and unchangeable (quintessence)
E.
“sub-lunar”
world was imperfect; earth, water, air, fire move down/up
F.
objects
naturally seek to be at rest
G.
fit
well with Christian doctrine
III.
New
school view
A.
Ptolemy
– 2nd century AD
1.
rules
to calculate/track position of planets; essentially astrology
B.
Copernicus
1.
oddly,
was very religious and sought to glorify God
2.
accepted
the crystal sphere theory
3.
put
sun at the center
4.
revolutionary
implications – stars are still, huge universe, earth was like other planets
(disregard quintessence stuff now)
5.
attacks
from religion – Protestant, later Catholic
6.
unexplained
extra-terrestrial phenomena – new star, comet
C.
Tycho Brahe
1.
eclipse;
also religious
2.
observer
(with naked eye) and collector of data
3.
his
odd solar system (double revolutions)
D.
Johann
Kepler
1.
understudy
of Brahe; also religious (trained as minister)
2.
brilliant
mathematician who developed 3 laws of planetary motion to prove Copernican
theory (sun at center)
a.
orbits
were elliptical
b.
don’t
move at uniform speed
c.
duration
of revolution is directly related to distance from sun
E.
Galileo
1.
a
first experimenter (controlled experiment)
2.
acceleration
experiment concludes rest was not the natural state (things keep going unless
acted on by another force)
3.
telescope
– Jupiter moons disprove impenetrable sphere theory; mountains of moon show
it’s not a perfectly smooth sphere
4.
Pope
okays Galileo to write possible systems, but Galileo judges too; he’s jailed in
papal inquisition, recants
F.
Sir
Isaac Newton
1.
an apple falls on his head…idea!
2.
oddly,
was both interested in alchemy and very religious
3.
wanted a way to prove theories, motion of
objects; he “holes” himself up in his room; just for fun, he discovers/invents calulus.
4.
this
dovetails with Copernicus/Kepler with physics of
Galileo; he “cracks the code”
5.
law
of universal gravitation – everything has gravity F=G(Mm/d2)
IV.
Causes
of scientific revolution
A.
medieval
universities – encourage free thinking
B.
Renaissance
– Greek math irregularities, patronage, free thinking
C.
Navigation
needs – lat/long
D.
New
scientific instruments
E.
Francis
Bacon – inductive reasoning – observe over and over and over and induce a
conclusion; sick from Mexican food; was a scientist in that he did experiments,
observed, and drew conclusions
F.
Rene
Descartes – deductive reasoning – start with an “undeniable” and build on it
logically, from the general to the specific; syllogism; Cartesian dualism =
matter and mind
G.
Modern
scientific method
H.
Religion
– held back the revolution of science, religious chaos made the situation ripe
for no ruler to impose his values