The Scientific Revolution for AP World History

Nov 4, 2023

6 min read

The Scientific Revolution, a pivotal period in history that unfolded from the late 16th to the 18th centuries, completely reshaped our understanding of the world. It marked a departure from traditional beliefs, ushering in an era where empirical observation, experimentation, and reason took center stage. The discoveries made during this time not only revolutionized our comprehension of the natural world but also laid the groundwork for modern science. Read the Google Slides to learn more about the Scientific Revolution.

Introduction

The Scientific Revolution, a transformative period that unfolded from the late 16th to the 18th century, marks a pivotal moment in the history of human understanding. It was characterized by a profound shift in the way people viewed and studied the natural world. During this era, scientists, philosophers, and thinkers challenged long-standing dogmas and relied on empirical observation, experimentation, and the application of reason to explore the mysteries of the universe. This intellectual transformation led to groundbreaking discoveries in fields such as astronomy, physics, biology, and chemistry. Figures like Galileo Galilei, Johannes Kepler, and Isaac Newton reshaped our understanding of the cosmos and the laws governing it. The Scientific Revolution not only laid the foundations of modern science but also heralded a new era of human inquiry, critical thinking, and the pursuit of knowledge based on evidence and reason.

Galileo Galilei

Galileo Galilei, an Italian scientist born in 1564, was a key figure in the history of science. His work in the early 17th century had a big impact on how we understand the world. He made major contributions in physics, math, and astronomy. Galileo is best known for improving the telescope and using it to look at things in space, like the Moon, Jupiter, and Saturn. He discovered four of Jupiter’s largest moons, now called the Galilean moons. This showed that not everything in the sky revolved around the Earth.

Galileo also supported the idea that the Sun was at the center of our solar system, which was different from what the Catholic Church believed at the time. This caused problems for him with the Church. He was put on trial by the Roman Catholic Inquisition in 1633 and had to take back his support for the Sun-centered idea. However, his work set the foundation for how we do science today, with a focus on observing things and asking questions. His determination to seek the truth still inspires scientists and thinkers today.

Johannes Kepler

Johannes Kepler, a German mathematician and astronomer who lived from 1571 to 1630, is celebrated as one of the key figures in the Scientific Revolution. Kepler’s groundbreaking work laid the foundation for our modern understanding of the cosmos. He is best known for his laws of planetary motion, which revolutionized our understanding of how planets move in their orbits. Kepler’s first law, known as the law of ellipses, showed that planets follow elliptical paths around the Sun, rather than the previously accepted circular orbits.

His second law, the law of equal areas, explained that a line joining a planet to the Sun sweeps out equal areas in equal times, meaning that planets move faster when they are closer to the Sun in their elliptical orbits. Kepler’s third law, the law of harmonies, established a mathematical relationship between a planet’s distance from the Sun and the time it takes to complete its orbit. These laws provided a precise and accurate description of the motion of celestial bodies.

Kepler’s work significantly influenced the development of Isaac Newton’s law of universal gravitation. Kepler’s achievements in astronomy and mathematics expanded our understanding of the universe, making him one of the foundational figures in the history of science and astronomy.

Isaac Newton

Isaac Newton, an English physicist, mathematician, and astronomer, is one of the most influential scientists in history. He was born in 1643 and lived during the late 17th century. Newton is best known for his groundbreaking work in physics, where he formulated the laws of motion and the law of universal gravitation. His laws of motion laid the foundation for classical mechanics and explained how objects move and interact with each other. The law of universal gravitation, one of his most famous discoveries, described the force of attraction between all objects with mass and provided a unified explanation for the motion of celestial bodies.

In addition to his work in physics, Newton made significant contributions to mathematics, especially in the development of calculus. His publication “Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosophy” (1687) is considered one of the most important scientific works ever written. Newton’s work had a profound and lasting impact on science, shaping our understanding of the physical world and serving as a cornerstone of modern physics and mathematics. His ideas and principles continue to be fundamental to scientific exploration and have influenced countless scientific advancements and technological innovations.

The Printing Press and the Scientific Revolution

The connection between the printing press and the Scientific Revolution is profound and transformative. In the mid-15th century, Johannes Gutenberg’s invention of the printing press with movable type revolutionized the production and dissemination of knowledge. It enabled the efficient and widespread distribution of written material, including scientific works, which had a profound impact on the Scientific Revolution.

Before the printing press, knowledge was primarily shared through handwritten manuscripts, making it scarce, expensive, and often limited to the privileged few. With the advent of the printing press, scientific ideas, discoveries, and theories could be published and distributed on a scale previously unimaginable. This democratization of information was a catalyst for the rapid exchange of ideas and the growth of scientific communities.

Scientists and scholars could now publish their findings and share them with a broader audience. This facilitated collaborative research, critique, and further exploration of scientific concepts. As a result, scientific progress accelerated, and the Scientific Revolution gained momentum.

Notable scientific works, such as Nicolaus Copernicus’s “On the Revolutions of the Celestial Spheres” and Andreas Vesalius’s “De humani corporis fabrica,” were published and widely distributed thanks to the printing press. These works challenged existing beliefs and laid the groundwork for new scientific paradigms.

The Protestant Reformation and the Scientific Revolution

The connection between the Protestant Reformation and the Scientific Revolution is both historical and intellectual, as these two transformative movements unfolded during overlapping periods of the 16th and 17th centuries. The Protestant Reformation, initiated by figures like Martin Luther and John Calvin, challenged the authority of the Catholic Church and promoted the idea of individual interpretation of religious matters. This emphasis on individualism and the questioning of established authorities also extended to the natural world.

The Reformation created an environment of critical thinking and intellectual exploration, fostering a spirit of inquiry that was not limited to religious matters. This atmosphere encouraged scientists and philosophers to question traditional beliefs and embark on empirical investigations. The Scientific Revolution, characterized by the application of reason, observation, and experimentation to understand the natural world, was directly influenced by the Reformation’s principles of individual conscience and the right to personal interpretation.

Prominent scientists such as Galileo Galilei and Johannes Kepler, who made groundbreaking discoveries in astronomy, benefited from this climate of critical inquiry. They challenged long-held beliefs about the cosmos, aligning with the Protestant Reformation’s call to reevaluate traditional religious doctrines. Furthermore, the Protestant emphasis on literacy and education contributed to an increase in scientific knowledge, as people began to read and interpret the Bible in their vernacular languages.

Major Discoveries of the Scientific Revolution

Heliocentrism: The heliocentric model, proposed by Nicolaus Copernicus and later refined by Johannes Kepler and Galileo Galilei, replaced the geocentric view and established that the Sun, not the Earth, was at the center of the solar system.

Law of Universal Gravitation: Isaac Newton formulated the law of universal gravitation, which described the force of attraction between all objects with mass and explained the motions of planets, moons, and objects on Earth.

Laws of Planetary Motion: Johannes Kepler’s three laws of planetary motion described the elliptical orbits and the equal area law, explaining how planets move in their orbits.

Microscopy: The invention of the microscope allowed scientists like Anton van Leeuwenhoek to make groundbreaking observations in the field of microbiology, discovering microorganisms and advancing our understanding of cellular life.

Telescopic Discoveries: Galileo Galilei’s observations with a telescope led to the discovery of the Galilean moons of Jupiter, sunspots, the phases of Venus, and the rings of Saturn, challenging traditional astronomical beliefs.

Scientific Method: The Scientific Revolution emphasized empirical observation, experimentation, and the systematic application of reason to the study of the natural world. This approach laid the foundation for modern scientific methodology.

Advances in Medicine: Scientists like William Harvey made significant contributions to the understanding of human anatomy and circulation of blood, challenging traditional beliefs.

Advancements in Chemistry: Alchemists, such as Robert Boyle, made significant strides in the development of modern chemistry, laying the groundwork for the understanding of chemical elements and the nature of matter.

Mathematical Innovations: The era saw the development of calculus by figures like Isaac Newton and Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz, revolutionizing mathematics and enabling the precise description of changing quantities.

Astronomical Observations: Tycho Brahe’s detailed astronomical observations, though pre-telescopic, laid the foundation for future advancements in astronomy and the formulation of planetary motion laws.