The

1
The New Science of the Seventeenth Century

• The Changing Heavens
• Revolutions in Astronomy

2
Revolution or Evolution?

• Historians have long challenged the idea of a
  single Scientific Revolution
• Most scholars agree that the new science of the
  seventeenth century was the culmination of
  centuries of advances
• Still, it is impossible to deny that the
  seventeenth century witnessed an increase in
  knowledge, new methods, and growth of the
  scientific community

3
A paradigm shift?

• In his pioneering 1962 work Kuhn argued that the
  Scientific Revolution represented a paradigm
  shift that allowed certain ideas to become
  thinkable not just an inevitable outcome of
  the progress of science

4
Medieval Universities

• In the Middle Ages, natural philosophers saw
  nature as a book in which they could read the
  mind of God
• Medieval science stood on the shoulders of
  giants and scholars believed that all human
  knowledge had been understood by the ancient
  philosophers
• The rediscovery of Aristotles writings in the
  Twelfth and Thirteenth centuries led to a renewed
  interest in science

5
St. Thomas Aquinas (1225-1274)

• Reconciliation of faith and reason
• Systematization of Aristotles thought with
  Christian doctrine
• Gives the church almost full control over
  intellectual life

6
Humanism and science

• Many of the most famous humanists were not
  interested in science per se they were
  interested in eloquence and morals
• But their interest in classical antiquity also
  pushed them to study the texts of ancient
  philosophers and mathematicians more closely.
• Neoplatonism was influential, as was the
  mechanistic theories of the Greek physicist
  Archimedes

7
New methods of observation

• Renaissance artists were keen on observation and
  description of the world around them the mind of
  a painter should be like a mirror
• For example, Da Vinci encourages dissection of
  corpses renaissance art and architecture works
  with geometry and light
• These artists develop tools and formulas that can
  be extended to the study of astronomy

8
Astronomy

• Aristotle and Ptolemy were the two main sources
  for astronomy they supported the long-held idea
  that the sun, stars, and the planets revolved
  around the earth
• The earth-centred universe was important for a
  couple of reasons
• It was the foundation of theological conceptions
  of the universe
• On a more practical level, it was how the year
  was measured and the calendar was devised

9
The Ptolmaic universe

• Aristotle had described an orderly cosmos
• Things could change on earth, but the heavens
  were thought to be unchanging, moving in perfect
  circles
• People had noticed inconsistencies in this theory
  simple observation of planets showed this
• The mathematician Ptolemy (85-165) had developed
  complicated formulas to explain the irregularities

10
Ptolemys universe
11
Nicholas Copernicus (1473-1543)

• Based on mathematical formulas, he suggested that
  the earth and the planets revolved around the sun
• This would solve many of the problems with the
  calendar and avoid the complicated and
  mathematical formulas upon which Ptolemys system
  relied
• Copernicus did not want to challenge the church
  or ancient authorities
• He did not base his theory on observation

12
Copernicus

• Copernicus did not have a system of physics that
  could explain an earth in motion
• His mathematical ideas were published just before
  his death in On the Revolution of the Heavenly
  Spheres (1543)

13
Observing the heavens

• The work of Copernicus was all theoretical
• It took time for others to take up his theories
  and to prove them by observation
• Tycho Brahe was a Danish nobleman who devoted
  much of his life and resources to observing the
  movement of the heavens
• An example of his audacity is that he discovered
  a new star an impossibility according to
  Aristotle.

14
Tycho Brahe (1546-1601)

• Brahe was not convinced by Copernicus he
  believed the planets orbited the sun and that the
  whole system revolved around the earth, which was
  less challenging to contemporary ideas.
• His observations were very accurate and formed
  the basis of Keplers work

15
Johannes Kepler (1571-1630)

• He did support the Copernican view of the
  universe with modifications
• First, he argued that planets revolved around the
  sun in elliptical orbits not the perfect
  circles that both Ptolemy and Copernicus relied on

16
Kepler

• His Second law was that planets moved at
  different speeds depending upon their distance
  from the sun not uniform speed as Copernicus
  had suggested
• Most scientists in the 17th century rejected this
  idea but it was an integral part of the
  development of Newtons laws of gravity.

17
Galileo Galilei (1564-1642)

• Galileo not only set out to prove Copernicus
  theory through observation, but also argued for a
  new partnership between religion and science
• Ultimately, his argument was unsuccessful

18
Tools of science the telescope

• In 1610, Galileo procured a telescope and began
  making observations of the heavens
• He observed moons orbiting Jupiter which proved
  that the earth was not the only planet with
  objects in orbit around it
• Initially, he received patronage for his work,
  but it quickly brought him into conflict with the
  church

19
Robert Bellarmine (1542-1621)

• Cardinal Bellarmine, one of the leading Jesuit
  scholars, led the attack on Galileo
• Argued against Copernicanism and had his work
  included in the Index of Prohibited Books
• In effect, he managed to silence Galileo for the
  time being

20
Galileos Trial

• After Bellarmines death, Galileo again began to
  promote helicentrism
• The church charged him with heresy, both for
  promoting Copernicus and for offending his patron
  Maffeo Barberini, who had become Pope Urban VII
• He was threatened with excommunication and death
  and he recanted his beliefs
• In secret, he continued to work on his theories
  until his death

21
Conclusion

• While the Catholic Church continued to play down
  the changes in astronomy, scientists across
  Europe continued to rethink the Cosmos and
  humans place in it
• The advances in astronomy laid the foundation for
  a more thorough-going overhaul of scientific
  methods, which we will discuss next time