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in the vicinity of the earth from the component parts of the universe (McGraw Hill Dictionary of Scientific and Technical Terms, 5th ed)

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Harrow School Beijing A Levels (age 16-18): The path to universities worldwide Scientific Revolution is a period when new ideas in physics, astronomy, biology, human anatomy, chemistry, and other sciences accelerated a transformation of views that had prevailed starting in Ancient Greece and continuing through the Middle Ages, and laid the foundation of modern science.[1] According to most accounts, the scientific revolution began in Europe towards the end of the Renaissance era and continued through the late 18th century, the later period known as The Enlightenment. It was sparked by the publication (1543) of two works that changed the course of science: Nicolaus Copernicus's De revolutionibus orbium coelestium (On the Revolutions of the Heavenly Spheres) and Andreas Vesalius's De humani corporis fabrica (On the Fabric of the Human body). Philosopher and historian Alexandre Koyr coined the term scientific revolution in 1939 to describe this epoch.[2]

Contents

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1 Significance of the revolution 2 New ideas 3 Ancient and medieval background 4 New approaches to nature o 4.1 The mechanical philosophy o 4.2 The Chemical Philosophy o 4.3 Empiricism o 4.4 Mathematization 5 Scientific developments 6 Theoretical developments 7 Contrary views 8 See also o 8.1 Revolutions 9 Notes 10 Sources

Significance of the revolution

The science of the middle ages was significant in establishing a base for modern science. The Marxist historian and scientist J. D. Bernal asserted that "the renaissance enabled a scientific revolution which let scholars look at the world in a different light. Religion, superstition, and fear were replaced by reason and knowledge".[3] James Hannam says that, while most historians do think something revolutionary happened at this time, that "the term 'scientific revolution' is another one of those prejudicial historical labels that explain nothing. You could call any century from the twelfth to the twentieth a revolution in science" and that the concept "does nothing more than reinforce the error that before Copernicus nothing of any significance to science took place".[4] Despite some challenges to religious views, however, many notable figures of the scientific revolutionincluding Nicolaus Copernicus, Johannes Kepler, Tycho Brahe, Isaac Newton, and Galileo Galileiremained devout in their faith. This period saw a fundamental transformation in scientific ideas across physics, astronomy, and biology, in institutions supporting scientific investigation, and in the more widely held picture of the universe. People questioned all manners of things and this in part led to the scientific revolution, which in turn heavily shaped modern sciences. The scientific revolution led to the establishment of several modern sciences. Many contemporary writers and modern historians claim that there was a revolutionary change in world view. In 1611 the English poet, John Donne, wrote:
[The] new Philosophy calls all in doubt,

The Element of fire is quite put out; The Sun is lost, and th'earth, and no man's wit Can well direct him where to look for it[5] Mid-20th century historian Herbert Butterfield was less disconcerted, but nevertheless saw the change as fundamental:
Since that revolution turned the authority in English not only of the Middle Ages but of the ancient worldsince it started not only in the eclipse of scholastic philosophy but in the destruction of Aristotelian physicsit outshines everything since the rise of Christianity and reduces the Renaissance and Reformation to the rank of mere episodes, mere internal displacements within the system of medieval Christendom.... [It] looms so large as the real origin both of the modern world and of the modern mentality that our customary periodization of European history has become an anachronism and an encumbrance.[6]

More recently, sociologist and historian of science Steven Shapin opened his book, The Scientific Revolution, with the paradoxical statement: "There was no such thing as the Scientific Revolution, and this is a book about it."[7] Although historians of science continue to debate the exact meaning of the term, and even its validity, the scientific revolution still remains a useful concept to interpret the many changes in science.

New ideas

Galileo Galilei. Portrait in crayon by Leoni

The scientific revolution was not marked by any single change. The following new ideas contributed to what is called the scientific revolution:

The replacement of the Earth as center of the universe by the Sun as the center of the solar system The replacement of the Aristotelian theory that matter was continuous and made up of the elements Earth, Water, Air, Fire, and Aether by rival ideas that matter was atomistic or corpuscular[8] or that its chemical composition was even more complex[9] The replacement of the Aristotelian idea that heavy bodies, by their nature, moved straight down toward their natural places; that light bodies, by their nature, moved straight up toward their natural place; and that ethereal bodies, by their nature, moved in unchanging circular motions[10] with the idea that all bodies are heavy and move according to the same physical laws The replacement of the Impetus theory that all motions require the continued action of a cause by the concept of inertia: that motion is a state that, once started, continues indefinitely without further cause[11] The replacement of Galen's treatment of the venous and arterial systems as two separate systems with William Harvey's concept that blood circulated from the arteries to the veins "impelled in a circle, and is in a state of ceaseless motion"[12]

However, according to Galileo, the core of what came to be known as the scientific method in modern physical sciences is stated in his book Il Saggiatore to be the concept of a systematic, mathematical interpretation of experiments and empirical facts: "Philosophy [i.e., physics] is written in this grand bookI mean the universewhich stands continually open to our gaze, but it cannot be understood unless one first learns to comprehend the language and interpret the characters in which it is written. It is written in the language of mathematics, and its characters are triangles, circles, and other geometrical figures, without which it is humanly impossible to understand a single word of it; without these, one is wandering around in a dark labyrinth."[13] Many of the important figures of the scientific revolution, however, shared in the Renaissance respect for ancient learning and cited ancient pedigrees for their innovations. Nicolaus Copernicus (14731543),[14] Kepler (15711630),[15] Newton (16431727)[16] and Galileo Galilei (15641642)[17][18][19][20] all traced different ancient and medieval ancestries for the heliocentric system. In the Axioms Scholium of his Principia Newton said its axiomatic three laws of motion were already accepted by mathematicians such as Huygens (16291695), Wallace, Wren and others, and also in memos in his draft preparations of the second edition of the Principia he attributed its first law of motion and its law of gravity to a range of historical figures.[21] According to Newton himself and other historians of science,[22] his Principia's first law of motion was the same as Aristotle's counterfactual principle of interminable locomotion in a void stated in Physics 4.8.215a1922 and was also endorsed by ancient Greek atomists and others. As Newton expressed himself:
All those ancients knew the first law [of motion] who attributed to atoms in an infinite vacuum a motion which was rectilinear, extremely swift and perpetual because of the lack of resistance... Aristotle was of the same mind, since he expresses his opinion thus...[in Physics 4.8.215a19-22], speaking of motion in

the void [in which bodies have no gravity and] where there is no impediment he writes: 'Why a body once moved should come to rest anywhere no one can say. For why should it rest here rather than there ? Hence either it will not be moved, or it must be moved indefinitely, unless something stronger impedes it.'[23]

If correct, Newton's view that the Principia's first law of motion had been accepted at least since antiquity and by Aristotle refutes the traditional thesis of a scientific revolution in dynamics by Newton's because the law was denied by Aristotle.[citation needed] The geocentric model was nearly universally accepted until 1543 when Nicolaus Copernicus published his book entitled De revolutionibus orbium coelestium and was widely accepted into the next century. At around the same time, the findings of Vesalius corrected the previous anatomical teachings of Galen, which were based upon the dissection of animals even though they were supposed to be a guide to the human body.

Antonie van Leeuwenhoek, the first person to use a microscope to view bacteria.

Andreas Vesalius (15141564) was an author of one of the most influential books on human anatomy, De humani corporis fabrica,[24] also in 1543. French surgeon Ambroise Par (c.1510 1590) is considered as one of the fathers of surgery; he was leader in surgical techniques and battlefield medicine, especially the treatment of wounds. Partly based on the works by the Italian surgeon and anatomist Matteo Realdo Colombo (c. 1516 - 1559), the anatomist William Harvey (15781657) described the circulatory system.[25] Herman Boerhaave (16681738) is sometimes referred to as a "father of physiology" due to his exemplary teaching in Leiden and textbook 'Institutiones medicae' (1708). It was between 1650 and 1800 that the science of modern dentistry developed. It is said that the 17th century French physician Pierre Fauchard (16781761) started dentistry science as we know it today, and he has been named "the father of modern dentistry".[26] Pierre Vernier (15801637) was inventor and eponym of the vernier scale used in measuring devices.[27] Evangelista Torricelli (16071647) was best known for his invention of the

barometer. Although Franciscus Vieta(15401603) gave the first notation of modern algebra, John Napier (15501617) invented logarithms, and Edmund Gunter (15811626) created the logarithmic scales (lines, or rules) upon which slide rules are based. It was William Oughtred (15751660) who first used two such scales sliding by one another to perform direct multiplication and division; and thus is credited as the inventor of the slide rule in 1622. Blaise Pascal (16231662) invented the mechanical calculator in 1642.[28] The introduction of his Pascaline in 1645 launched the development of mechanical calculators first in Europe and then all over the world. He also made important contributions to the study of fluid and clarified the concepts of pressure and vacuum by generalizing the work of Evangelista Torricelli. He wrote a significant treatise on the subject of projective geometry at the age of sixteen, and later corresponded with Pierre de Fermat (16011665) on probability theory, strongly influencing the development of modern economics and social science.[29] Gottfried Leibniz (16461716), building on Pascal's work, became one of the most prolific inventors in the field of mechanical calculators ; he was the first to describe a pinwheel calculator in 1685[30] and invented the Leibniz wheel, used in the arithmometer, the first massproduced mechanical calculator. He also refined the binary number system, foundation of virtually all modern computer architectures. John Hadley (16821744) was mathematician inventor of the octant, the precursor to the sextant. Hadley also developed ways to make precision aspheric and parabolic objective mirrors for reflecting telescopes, building the first parabolic Newtonian telescope and a Gregorian telescope with accurately shaped mirrors.[31][32]

Denis Papin, best known for his pioneering invention of the steam digester, the forerunner of the steam engine.

Denis Papin (16471712) was best known for his pioneering invention of the steam digester, the forerunner of the steam engine.[33] Abraham Darby I (16781717) was the first, and most famous, of three generations with that name in an Abraham Darby family that played an

important role in the Industrial Revolution. He developed a method of producing high-grade iron in a blast furnace fuelled by coke rather than charcoal. This was a major step forward in the production of iron as a raw material for the Industrial Revolution. Thomas Newcomen (1664 1729) perfected a practical steam engine for pumping water, the Newcomen steam engine. Consequently, he can be regarded as a forefather of the Industrial Revolution.[34] In 1672, Otto von Guericke (16021686), was the first human on record to knowingly generate electricity using a machine, and in 1729, Stephen Gray (16661736) demonstrated that electricity could be "transmitted" through metal filaments. The first electrical storage device was invented in 1745, the so-called "Leyden jar", and in 1749, Benjamin Franklin (17061790) demonstrated that lightning was electricity. In 1698 Thomas Savery (c.1650-1715) patented an early steam engine.[35] German scientist Georg Agricola (14941555), known as "the father of mineralogy", published his great work De re metallica.[36] Robert Boyle (16271691) was credited with the discovery of Boyle's Law. He is also credited for his landmark publication The Sceptical Chymist, where he attempts to develop an atomic theory of matter. The person celebrated as the "father of modern chemistry" is Antoine Lavoisier (17431794) who developed his law of Conservation of mass in 1789, also called Lavoisier's Law.[37] Antoine Lavoisier proved that burning was caused by oxidation, that is, the mixing of a substance with oxygen. He also proved that diamonds were made of carbon and argued that all living processes were at their heart chemical reactions. In 1766, Henry Cavendish (17311810) discovered hydrogen. In 1774, Joseph Priestley (1733 1804) discovered oxygen.

Gottfried Leibniz (1646-1716) refined the binary system, foundation of virtually all modern computer architectures.

German physician Leonhart Fuchs (15011566) was one of the three founding fathers of botany, along with Otto Brunfels (1489- 1534) and Hieronymus Bock (14981554) (also called Hieronymus Tragus).[38] Valerius Cordus (15151554) authored one of the greatest pharmacopoeias and one of the most celebrated herbals in history, Dispensatorium (1546).[39]

In his Systema Naturae, published in 1767, Carl von Linn (17071778) catalogued all the living creatures into a single system that defined their morphological relations to one another: the Linnean classification system. He is often called the "Father of Taxonomy".[40] Georges Buffon (17071788), was perhaps the most important of Charles Darwins predecessors. From 1744 to 1788, he wrote his monumental Histoire naturelle, gnrale et particulire, which included everything known about the natural world up until that date.[41] Along with the inventor and microscopist Robert Hooke (16351703), Sir Christopher Wren (16321723) and Sir Isaac Newton (16421727),[42] English scientist and astronomer Edmond Halley (16561742) was trying to develop a mechanical explanation for planetary motion. Halley's star catalogue of 1678 was the first to contain telescopically determined locations of southern stars.[43] Many historians of science have seen other ancient and medieval antecedents of these ideas.[44] It is widely accepted that Copernicus's De revolutionibus followed the outline and method set by Ptolemy in his Almagest[45] and employed geometrical constructions that had been developed previously by the Maragheh school in his heliocentric model,[46][47] and that Galileo's mathematical treatment of acceleration and his concept of impetus[17] rejected earlier medieval analyses of motion,[18] rejecting by name; Averroes, Avempace, Jean Buridan, and John Philoponus(see Theory of impetus). The standard theory of the history of the scientific revolution claims the 17th century was a period of revolutionary scientific changes. It is claimed that not only were there revolutionary theoretical and experimental developments, but that even more importantly, the way in which scientists worked was radically changed. An alternative anti-revolutionist view is that science as exemplified by Newton's Principia was anti-mechanist and highly Aristotelian, being specifically directed at the refutation of anti-Aristotelian Cartesian mechanism, as evidenced in the Principia quotations below, and not more empirical than it already was at the beginning of the century or earlier in the works of scientists such as Benedetti, Galileo Galilei, or Johannes Kepler.

Ancient and medieval background

Further information: Science in the Middle Ages

The scientific revolution was built upon the foundation of ancient Greek learning and science in the middle ages, as it had been elaborated and further developed by Roman/Byzantine science and medieval Islamic science.[48] The "Aristotelian tradition" was still an important intellectual framework in by the 17th century, although by that time natural philosophers had moved away from much of it.[49]

Ptolemaic model of the spheres for Venus, Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn. Georg von Peuerbach, Theoricae novae planetarum, 1474.

Key scientific ideas dating back to classical antiquity had changed drastically over the years, and in many cases been discredited.[49] The ideas that remained, which would be transformed fundamentally during the scientific revolution, include:

Aristotle's cosmology which placed the Earth at the center of a spherical cosmos, with a hierarchical order to the Universe. The terrestrial and celestial regions were made up of different elements which had different kinds of natural movement. o The terrestrial region, according to Aristotle, consisted of concentric spheres of the four elementsearth, water, air, and fire. All bodies naturally moved in straight lines until they reached the sphere appropriate to their elemental compositiontheir natural place. All other terrestrial motions were non-natural, or violent.[50] o The celestial region was made up of the fifth element, Aether, which was unchanging and moved naturally with circular motion.[51] In the Aristotelian tradition, astronomical theories sought to explain the observed irregular motion of celestial objects through the combined effects of multiple uniform circular motions.[52] The Ptolemaic model of planetary motion: Ptolemy's Almagest demonstrated that geometrical calculations could compute the exact positions of the Sun, Moon, stars, and planets in the future and in the past, and showed how these computational models were derived from astronomical observations. As such they formed the model for later astronomical developments. The physical basis for Ptolemaic models invoked layers of spherical shells, though the most complex models were inconsistent with this physical explanation.[53]

It is important to note that ancient precedent existed for alternative theories and developments which prefigured later discoveries in the area of physics and mechanics; but in the absence of a strong empirical tradition, dominance of the Aristotelian school, and in light of the limited number of works to survive translation in an era when many books were lost to warfare, such developments remained obscure for centuries and are traditionally held to have had little effect on the re-discovery of such phenomena; whereas the invention of the printing press made the wide dissemination of such incremental advances of knowledge commonplace. Meanwhile, however, significant progress in geometry, mathematics, and astronomy was made in the medieval era, particularly in the Islamic world as well as Europe.

The Arctic Circle is one of the five major circles of latitude that mark maps of the Earth. For Epoch 2011, it is the parallel of latitude that runs 66 33 44 (or 66.5622) north of the Equator.[1] The region north of this circle is known as the Arctic, and the zone just to the south is called the Northern Temperate Zone. The equivalent polar circle in the Southern Hemisphere is called the Antarctic Circle. The Arctic Circle marks the southern extremity of the polar day (24-hour sunlit day, often referred to as the "midnight sun") and polar night (24-hour sunless night). North of the Arctic Circle, the sun is above the horizon for 24 continuous hours at least once per year and below the horizon for 24 continuous hours at least once per year. On the Arctic Circle those events occur, in principle, exactly once per year, at the June and December solstices, respectively. In fact, because of atmospheric refraction and because the sun appears as a disk and not a point, part of the midnight sun may be seen on the night of the northern summer solstice up to about 50 (90 km (56 mi)) south of the Arctic Circle; similarly, on the day of the northern winter solstice, part of the sun may be seen up to about 50 north of the Arctic Circle. That is true at sea level; those limits increase with elevation above sea level although in mountainous regions, there is often no direct view of the horizon. The position of the Arctic Circle is not fixed, but directly depends on the Earth's axial tilt, which fluctuates within a margin of 2 over a 40,000 year period,[2] notably due to tidal forces resulting from the orbit of the Moon. The Arctic Circle is currently drifting northwards at a speed of about 15 m (49 ft) per year, see Circle of latitude for more information.

Gibbous moon 25px | Gibbous moon | Denotes a waxing gibbous moon or a soli-lunar arc in the range 135-180. | Full moon 25px | Full ... 32 KB (3,575 words) - 17:45, 23 March 2011

The Tropic of Capricorn, or Southern tropic, marks the most southerly latitude at which the Sun can appear directly overhead. ... 11 KB (1,108 words) - 12:28, 25 June 2011