Darwin’s Tea Party:

The Scientific Revolution

 The Scientific Revolution

The Scientific Revolution is a revolution in

thought which established modern science
as a powerful new way to understand reality.
 The Scientific Revolution
The revolution occurs in three phases:
Phase I: 17th-18th c: In astronomy, physics & mathematics
(heliocentric theory, laws of motion, invention of the
calculus)

Phase II: 19th c: In chemistry and biology

(atomic theory, evolution by natural selection)

Phase III: 19th-20th c: In the social sciences

 The Scientific Revolution
This presentation deals only with Phase I:
17th-18th c: In astronomy, physics & mathematics
(heliocentric theory, laws of motion, invention of the
calculus)
 The Scientific Revolution: Phase I
Before The Heliocentric Theory
 Before the Scientific Revolution, the
accepted view was that the earth was the
centre of the universe.
 This is called the geocentric theory
The Scientific Revolution: Phase I
Before The Heliocentric Theory
The Biblical Conception of the universe
1. Waters above the firmament
2. Storehouses of snows
3. Storehouses for hail
4. Chambers of winds
5. Firmament
6. Sluice / windows of heaven
7. Pillars of the sky
8. Pillars of the earth
9. Fountain of the deep
10. Navel of the earth
11. Waters under the earth
12. Rivers of the nether world
A view of the universe as understood in the
Old Testament and influenced by the
ancient Babylonians. A flat earth supports
pillars which support the heavens and the
waters above. Below the earth is Sheol –
the domain of the dead – and the water
below the earth.
 The Scientific Revolution: Phase I
Before The Heliocentric Theory
 The geocentric theory corresponded to
common sense, in that it did appear that
the sun, moon and stars revolved around
the earth.
 Don’t we still say that the sun “rises” and
“sets” ever day?
 The Scientific Revolution: Phase I
Before The Heliocentric Theory
 The geocentric theory also seemed
correspond to the Biblical view of the
universe – at least according to the
Catholic Church at the time.
 Humans, as the “center” of God’s creation
lived on a planet that was also the center
of the universe.
 The Scientific Revolution: Phase I
Before The Heliocentric Theory
Even the Protestant Churches maintained
the geocentric view as the frontispiece of
Martin Luther’s translations shows
 Note how God looks
down on an earth
which is the center
of the universe
 The sun, moon and
stars are pictured
above the earth
 The “waters above”
the earth are also
shown here. In the
Genesis flood story
these were said to
have opened up and
flooded the earth.
 The Scientific Revolution: Phase I
Before The Heliocentric Theory
 Equally important, the ancient Greeks also
accepted a geocentric theory.
 This included Aristotle and the key Greek
geographer and astronomer, Ptolemy (c.
100- c.178)
The Scientific Revolution: Phase I
Before The Heliocentric Theory
One geocentric
universe, please
– all dressed.

Claudius Ptolemy
(c.100-c.178)
The Scientific Revolution: Phase I
Before The Heliocentric Theory

Part of Ptolemy’s
Almagest in Arabic.
This shows the
movement of a
planet, including
retrograde motion,
cycles and epicycles
Ptolemy’s Universe
Note the earth in the
center, with the moon,
Mercury, Venus, Sun,
Mars and Jupiter and
Saturn above. Next comes
the fixed stars and
constellations (signs of the
Zodiac).
Finally at the very top is
the highest heavens,
home of the “Primum
Mobile” (the First Cause)
 The Scientific Revolution: Phase I
Before The Heliocentric Theory
 Thus the geocentric theory was supported
by religion, by the ancient Greeks and by
common sense.
 Despite all this, it was overturned and
replaced by the heliocentric theory in the
modern period.
The Scientific Revolution: Phase I
Before The Heliocentric Theory
 One reason was that geocentrically based
calculations and predictions of where the
stars and planets were, were getting
increasingly wrong since Ptolemy’s time!
The Scientific Revolution: Phase I
Before The Heliocentric Theory
Note how I can
do compass
points without
even looking at
my book
Finally, in the 15th century, a
Polish astronomer by the
name of Copernicus stated
that things would be much
simpler if only we assumed
that the sun, not the earth,
was at the center of the
universe.
Nicholaus Copernicus (1473-1543).
Note the sun like wand with the sun in
the center, of course. In his left hand are
chopsticks, which he also invented.
The Scientific Revolution: Phase I
The Heliocentric Theory
 In other words,
Copernicus
proposed the
Heliocentric
Theory.
 Chart of the
heliocentric theory
from Copernicus’
De Revolutionibus
(1543).
 The Scientific Revolution: Phase I
The Heliocentric Theory
In Italy, another natural philosopher would
soon confirm Copernicus heliocentric view of
the universe.
The Scientific Revolution: Phase I
The Heliocentric Theory

Galileo Galilei (1564-1642)

The Scientific Revolution: Phase I
The Heliocentric Theory

The book that got Galileo

in trouble: Dialogue
Concerning the Two Chief
World Systems. In the
book, the geocentric theory
is presented by a character
called Simplicio (“simple-
minded”) – not exactly a
flattering way to present
the Church’s favoured
theory!
The Scientific Revolution: Phase I
The Heliocentric Theory
 Moon drawings by
Galileo
 Lunar cracks (craters),
mountains and valleys
were disturbing
indications that all was
not as perfect and
incorruptible in the
heavenly spheres, as
Aristotle’s theory
assumed.
The Scientific Revolution: Phase I
The Heliocentric Theory
Galileo pioneered the use of the telescope for astronomical purposes.
 The Scientific Revolution: Phase I
The Heliocentric Theory
Galileo pioneered the experimental method
Galileo’s famous
experiment
supposedly made
from the leaning
tower of Pisa. Here
two balls of different
mass are dropped at
the same time; which
will land first?
The next, even more
famous experiment,
compares the fall of
1 kilo of feathers and
1 kilo of bricks;
which will land first?
The Scientific Revolution: Phase I
The Heliocentric Theory

Galileo spacecraft
named after guess
who and crashed
into Jupiter in 1995.
The Scientific Revolution: Phase I
The Heliocentric Theory

Galileo got in trouble with the

Catholic Church for backing the
heliocentric theory.
The Scientific Revolution: Phase I
The Heliocentric Theory
Sign here
and you get
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Galileo’s trial
according to a
19th century artist
The Scientific Revolution: Phase I
The Heliocentric Theory
 Galileo was placed under house arrest for
supporting the heliocentric theory but that
did not stop the development of science.
The Scientific Revolution: Phase I
The Laws of Motion
Yes, this
is my
natural In England another
hair
colour great scientist arose
who confirmed
heliocentrism and
showed how
powerful and
accurate the new
science could be.
The Scientific Revolution: Phase I
The Laws of Motion

Legend has it that

Newton came up with
the idea of gravity
after an apple fell on
his head
 The Scientific Revolution: Phase I
The Laws of Motion
But besides gravity,
Newton figured out the
laws of motion for all
bodies on the earth or
in space.

Newton’s most famous book, The

Principia otherwise known as the
Mathematical Principles of Natural
Philosophy (published 1707)
 The Scientific Revolution: Phase I
The Laws of Motion
1. A body in motion stays in motion and
a body at rest stays at rest unless
moved by an external force.
2. A body moved by an external force
will accelerate in the same direction as
that force and in inverse proportion to
the mass of that force.
3. For every action, there is an equal and
opposite reaction.
 The Scientific Revolution: Phase I
The Laws of Motion
Three simple laws (+ gravity) explains an
infinite number of facts in the universe,
from…
 The Scientific Revolution: Phase I
The Laws of Motion

…the motion of
planets around
the sun…
Or the motion of the moon
around the earth
The Scientific Revolution: Phase I
The Laws of Motion

To the motion of
projectiles of all sorts
(inlcuding missiles and
canonballs).
Including the
Galileo
spacecraft and
all other
satellites and
spaceships…
 The Scientific Revolution: Phase I
The Laws of Motion

To the motion of the tides…

The Scientific Revolution: Phase I
The Laws of Motion

And the fall of

any object on
the earth!
 The Scientific Revolution: Phase I
The Laws of Motion
No wonder Newton is one of history’s greatest scientists!

He showed that a good scientific theory is simple but explains a heck of a lot!
 The Scientific Revolution: Phase I
The Laws of Motion
And like all the greatest scientists, Newton was inspired to find out
about the “ocean of truth” around us by the ultimate mystery…
 The Scientific Revolution: Phase I
The Laws of Motion

To myself I seem to have been only a boy playing on the seashore, and
diverting myself in now and then finding a smoother pebble or a prettier shell
than ordinary, while the great ocean of truth lay all undiscovered before me.
 The Scientific Revolution:
Reactions to the Scientific Revolution

Some reacted enthusiastically to the new

science, seeing it as a beacon of truth and
certainty in an uncertain world.
 The Scientific Revolution:
Reactions to the Scientific Revolution

Alexander Pope
(1688-1744) said:
“… Nature’s laws lay
hid in night;
God said, Let Newton
be! And all was
Light.”
 The Scientific Revolution:
Reactions to the Scientific Revolution

Some believed Newton

had confirmed that the
universe worked
according to mechanical
principles, like a machine.

The Orloj of Prague, Czech Republic.

Was the mechanical view of the
universe inspired by these mechanical
clocks?
 The Scientific Revolution:
Reactions to the Scientific Revolution
The Orrery, a mechanical
model of the solar system,
was a popular
device to exhibit the
relative size and motion of
the heavenly bodies.
From: The Young
Gentleman's and Lady's
Philosophy (London,
1755) – General Research
Division, NYPL

New York Public Library

website
 The Scientific Revolution:
Reactions to the Scientific Revolution

Some philosophers
really embraced
the mechanical
metaphor, claiming
that even animals
are machines.

Rene Descartes (1596-1650) coined

the famous philosophical phrase “I
think therefore I am”.
 The Scientific Revolution:
Reactions to the Scientific Revolution

Descartes includes
the human body
too.

Descartes, Treatise on Man

Descartes here claims that the

human body is a machine”.
 The Scientific Revolution:
Reactions to the Scientific Revolution

Another
philosopher
enthusiastic about
the advancement
of Science was
Francis Bacon
(1561-1626)
Bacon was famous for his wise
sayings like “Knowledge is
power”. Here he is shown
holding a Hydro Bill.
 The Scientific Revolution:
Reactions to the Scientific Revolution
 Bacon compared the
Scientific Revolution to
the “discovery” of America
– both are about the
discovery of new worlds.
 In the frontispiece to his
book Novum Organum,
ships are shown sailing
past the mythological
“pillars of Hercules”,
traditional limits of the
known world. For Bacon
this is what science was
doing too in the realm of
thought.
 The Scientific Revolution:
Reactions to the Scientific Revolution

 Bacon’s path to scientific knowledge was

by induction: observation of individual
facts to arrive at general conclusions.
 Descartes’ path to scientific knowledge
was by deduction: reason from general
ideas to arrive at particular facts.
 The Scientific Revolution:
Reactions to the Scientific Revolution

 Both Bacon and Descartes were

influenced by the mechanical view of the
universe.
 But both made an exception for the human
mind or soul – which, they claimed was
not mechanical.
 The Scientific Revolution:
Reactions to the Scientific Revolution

 The philosopher de
la Mettrie (1709-51),
however, made no
exceptions to the
mechanical view.
 Humans also were
machines for him.

De la Mettrie with weird hat

 The Scientific Revolution:
Reactions to the Scientific Revolution
William Blake’s Newton.
Blake wasn’t all that crazy
* about the new scientific
view of reality. He prayed
"May God us keep
From single vision, and
Newton's sleep!"

(i.e., the “sleep of reason

which breeds monsters”,
says Blake)
 The Scientific Revolution:
Reactions to the Scientific Revolution
More art from
Blake. This is called
Urizen (i.e., “your
reason”) creating
the world.
Note the compass –
symbol of the
Scientific
Revolution and the
rational approach to
reality

Urizen is the embodiment of all that Blake hated - definition,

restriction, measurement, materialism
 The Scientific Revolution:
Reactions to the Scientific
Revolution
Blake’s opposition to science was especially
sharp as he lived in a time when science
wasn’t just changing people’s ideas…
 The Scientific Revolution:
Reactions to the Scientific
Revolution
But people’s very lives…
The Scientific Revolution

Written & Directed by

Gabriel Tordjman
Starring:
 The Scientific Revolution
 The Bible
 Ptolemy (The ancient Greek geographer & astronomer) (1st c. AD)
 The Catholic Church (1st c AD – now)
 Martin Luther (leader of Protestantism) (1483-1546 )
 Nicholas Copernicus (heliocentric theory scientist) (1473-1543)
 Galileo Galilei (heliocentric theory and experimental scientist,
telescope perfector (1564-1642)
 Isaac Newton (laws of gravity and laws of motion) (1642-1727)
 Rene Descartes (rationalism and dualism) (1596-1650)
 Francis Bacon (philosopher of induction) (1561-1626)
 Alexander Pope (poet) (1688-1744)
 William Blake (artist & poet) (1757-1827)
The Scientific Revolution
The End?