scientific revolution

							                                 SCIENTIFIC REVOLUTION

I.   SCIENTIFIC REVOLUTION
     A. GENERAL REMARKS
        1. IT IS A PARADOX THAT AN AGE MARKED BY CONTINUAL WAR, DESTRUCTION &
            POLITICAL CONFUSION ALSO GAVE BIRTH TO A GREAT NEW HOPE
            a. SCIENCE
        2. FOR WHILE DIPLOMATIC & RELIGIOUS ISSUES CONTINUED TO DOMINATE EUROPE’S
            POLITICAL LIFE IN 16-17TH C.
            a. REFORMATION & COUNTER-REFORMATION
            b. RELIGIOUS WARS - FRANCE, ENGLAND, GERMANY
            c. WITCHCRAFT CRAZE
            d. GOVT CHANGES - ABSOLUTISM - CONSTITUTIONALISM
            e. DISCOVERY NEW WORLDS
        3. EUROPE’S INTELLECTUAL LIFE SHAKEN BY CHANGE OF CONSCIOUSNESS THAT
            AFFECTED MOST ALL
        4. DISCOVERIES IN EVERY FIELD OF KNOWLEDGE WERE CHANGING SHAPE OF REALITY
            a. ASTRONOMY
            b. MATHEMATICS
            c. PHILOSOPHY
            d. NATURAL SCIENCE
        5. ADVENT OF WHAT HISTORIANS CALL SCIENTIFIC REVOLUTION
        6. CREATED NEW MODEL OF UNIVERSE & FORMULATED SCIENTIFIC METHODS OF
            INDUCTIVE & DEDUCTIVE REASONING
        7. ADDED A NEW DIMENSION TO WAY INTELLECTUAL & EDUCATED PEOPLE THOUGHT
        8. IN THE PAST RELIGION & THEOLOGY WERE MAIN SUBJECTS OF DISCOURSE
        9. NOW WORLD VIEW W/HOW NATURE WORKED INDEPENDENTLY OF GOD
        10. IT WAS IMPACT ON HOW PEOPLE THOUGHT & BELIEVED THOUGH, NOT IN NEW
            TECHNOLOGY
            a. THAT WOULD HAVE TO COME IN 19TH C.
        11. SCIENTIFIC REVOLUTION OF 16-17TH C WAS FORERUNNER OF TECHNOLOGICAL
            REVOLUTION
            a. IT LAID THE GROUNDWORK
        12. WE THINK OUR NEW TECHNOLOGY IS EARTH SHATTERING SUCH AS COMPUTERS, SPACE
            TRAVEL,
        13. BUT THINK WHAT IT WAS LIKE BACK THEN
        14. MAN HAD BEEN THINKING SAME WAY FOR NEARLY 2000 YRS
        15. THEN HE STARTED QUESTIONING & LOOKING AT EARTH, ETC, IN NEW LIGHT
        16. ONCE BARRIERS HAD BEEN BROKEN BY REFORMATION, CONQUESTS, ETC. IT ALLOWED
            PEOPLE TO THINK IN NEW WAYS
        17. UNLIKE EARLIER CHRISTIAN INTELLECTUALS, THE PROFESSIONAL & AMATEUR
            SCIENTISTS OF 17TH C WERE CONVINCED OF THE SUPERIORITY OF THEIR OWN TIME
        18. OUR AGE HAS SEEN MORE HISTORY IN ITS HUNDRED YRS THAN THE ENTIRE WORLD
            HAD IN THE LAST 4000 YRS
            a. LISTING INVENTION OF PRINTING, ARTILLERY, COMPASS AS PRINCIPAL AGENTS OF
                IMPROVEMENT
            b. CF W/OUR OWN AGE THINKING IT HAS SURPASSED ANY PREVIOUS AGE IN
                TECHNOLOGY
        19. IN EVERY EUROPEAN COUNTRY SCHOLARS & ENTHUSIASTIC LAY MEN & WOMEN WERE
            BANDING TOGETHER IN SCIENTIFIC ACADEMIES TO INVESTIGATE THE MYSTERIES OF
            NATURE USING RATIONAL REASONING
            a. ENGLISH ROYAL SOCIETY
            b. FRENCH ACADEMIE DES SCIENCES
            c. BERLIN ACADEMY OF SCIENCE
        20. FEAR OF UNKNOWN WAS GIVING WAY BEFORE WHAT FRANCIS BACON CALLED
            MANKIND’ S EMPIRE OVER NATURE
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  B. FRANCIS BACON 1561-1626
     1. THOUGH NOT AN EXPERIMENTAL SCIENTIST HIMSELF
         a. ENGLISH PHILOSOPHER & STATESMAN
     2. HE WAS CHIEF THEORIST & PROPAGANDIST FOR SCIENTIFIC REVOLUTION
     3. IN HIS NOVUM ORGANUM HE ANNOUNCED A NEW WAY OF THINKING
         a. INDUCTIVE METHOD
     4. THIS WOULD LEAD TO A COMPLETE REORGANIZATION OF HUMAN KNOWLEDGE
     5. BASIS FOR OUR MODERN EXPERIMENTAL SCIENCE
     6. KNOWLEDGE NOT BASED ON AUTHORITIES
     7. BUT ON SCIENTIFIC METHOD OF
         a. OBSERVATION
         b. MEASUREMENT
         c. EXPERIMENTATION
         d. HYPOTHESIS
         b. VERIFICATION
     8. IF YOU WANT TO LEARN MORE ABOUT PLANTS, ETC.
     9. THEN YOU OBSERVE THEM, COLLECT SAMPLES, COMPARE, CONTRAST,
     10. NOT SPECULATE ABOUT THEM
     11. NEW ATLANTIS
         a. HIS UTOPIAN SOCIETY USING NEW SCIENTIFIC METHODOLOGY
     12. AS A CONSEQUENCE ENGLAND TOOK OVER LEAD FROM ITALY CONCERNING THESE NEW
         IDEAS OF SCIENCE
     13. AS THIS OCCURRED DURING CIVIL WAR TIMES AGREEMENT REACHED TO DISCUSS
         NEUTRAL SUBJECT “SCIENCE” AS OPPOSED TO CONTROVERSIAL SUBJECTS “RELIGION” &
         “POLITICS”
     14. OFFSHOOT - OUR OWN RELUCTANCE TO DISCUSS VERBOTEN SUBJECTS “RELIGION” &
         “POLITICS”

II. VIEW OF EARTH & SUN PRE SCIENTIFIC REVOLUTION
    A. ARISTOTLE
       1. GREEK PHILOSOPHER 4TH C. B.C.
       2. HIS VIEW OF EARTH, ETC. PREVAILED 2000 YRS
       3. AT CENTER OF UNIVERSE WAS MOTIONLESS EARTH JUST ABOVE HELL
       4. AROUND EARTH MOVED 10 SEPARATE TRANSPARENT CRYSTAL SPHERES
       5. FIRST 8 SPHERES IN ORDER
          a. MOON
          b. SUN
          c. 5 KNOWN PLANETS (MERCURY, VENUS, MARS, JUPITER & SATURN)
          d. FIXED STARS
    B. MIDDLE AGES
       1. REFINED ARISTOTLE’S IDEAS & ADDED IN PTOLEMY’S
       2. ABLE TO USE ARTISTOLE’S PRE CHRISTIAN IDEAS AS THEY FIT INTO CHRISTIANITY’S
          BELIEFS
       3. BUT ADDED 2 MORE SPHERES TO ACCOUNT FOR CHANGES IN THE STARS’ POSITIONS
       4. BEYOND 10TH SPHERE WAS HEAVEN, GOD & SOULS OF SAVED
       5. ANGELS KEPT SPHERES MOVING IN PERFECT CIRCLES
    C. GALILEO GALILEI 1564—1642
       1. IN 1610 LITERATE EUROPEANS EXCITED BY PUBLICATION OF GALILEO’S MESSAGE FROM
          THE STARS
          a. IT PROMISED TO UNFOLD GREAT & MARVELLOUS SIGHTS. CALLING THEM TO THE
              ATTENTION OF EVERY ONE”
          b. HE DESCRIBED THE NEW DUTCH INVENTION TELESCOPE (PUTTING 2 GLASSES
              TOGETHER) THAT MADE DISTANCE OBJECTS APPEAR TO BE NEARBY
       2. AFTER STUDYING REFRACTION, HE CONSTRUCTED TELESCOPES UNTIL HE HAD BUILT
          ONE THAT MAGNIFIED OBJECTS NEARLY A THOUSAND TIMES
       3. TURNING IT ON THE HEAVENS HE OBSERVED THE UNEVEN SURFACE OF MOON, A VAST
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       CROWD OF NEW STARS & PERHAPS MOST IMPORTANT FOUR OF THE MOONS OF JUPITER
   4. OF COURSE HIS INSISTENCE ON THE HELIOCENTRIC (SUNCENTERED) SYSTEM OF
       PLANETS WAS NOT NEW
   5. IT HAD BEEN REVIVED FROM THE ANCIENT GREEK ASTRONOMER ARISTARCHUS BY
       ITALIAN-TRAINED POLE NICOLAS COPERNICUS NEARLY 70 YRS EARLIER
   6. BUT USING HIS TELESCOPES GALILEO WAS ABLE TO SEE W/HIS OWN EYES WHAT
       COPERNICUS HAD MERELY SPECULATED
   7. THE COPERNICAN UNIVERSE WAS NO LONGER JUST A HYPOTHESIS
       a. IT HAD BEEN BECOME VERIFIABLE FACT
   8. FURTHERMORE, GALILEO SHOWED NONE OF HIS PREDECESSOR’S RELUCTANCE TO
       SHARE HIS FINDINGS W/THE PUBLIC
       a. COPERNICUS’ ON THE REVOLUTIONS OF THE HEAVENLY SPHERES WAS NOT
          PUBLISHED UNTIL YR OF HIS DEATH (1543)
D. REACTIONS TO GALILEO
   1. SUCCESS OF GALILEO’S MESSAGE FROM STARS IMMEDIATE & GREAT
   2. THOUSANDS OF TELESCOPES BUILT USING HIS IDEAS
   3. HIS FINDINGS WERE WRITTEN UP IN LITERARY & POPULAR WORKS
       a. BEN JOHNSON SATIRIZED THE “NEW WORLD DISCOVERED IN THE MOON”
          (1) PLAY PERFORMED FOR JAMES I
       b. 1613 MEDICI COURT ENTERTAINED BY A BALLET IN WHICH “JUPITER, ON AN
          IMMENSE CLOUD, SANG WHILE 4 LITTLE STARS, RECENTLY DISCOVERED BY SIGNOR
          GALILEO ORBITED AROUND HIM BEFORE CHANGING INTO KNIGHTS AND STARTING
          TO FIGHT
   4. THE POPULAR NOTORIETY GALILEO CREATED, COUPLED W/HIS UNWILLINGNESS TO
       PRESENT HELIOCENTRISM AS A MERE HYPOTHESIS & NOT A FACT LED TO HIS TRIAL BY
       THE INQUISITION
   5. & FORCED DENIAL OF HIS EARLIER WRITINGS
   6. THROUGH HIS IMPRISONMENT DURING LAST YRS OF HIS LIFE WAS HUMILIATING IT DID
       NOT LESSEN HIS FAME & FURTHER DISCOVERIES
   7. JUST LAST YR HE WAS EXONERATED BY THE PAPACY
   8. THE SEVEREST CRITICS IN YRS TO FOLLOW WERE THE CHURCHMEN
       a. CARDINAL BARONIUS REMINDED BOTH ASTRONOMERS & ORDINARY STARGAZERS
          THAT THE HOLY SPIRIT INTENDED TO TEACH US HOW TO GO TO HEAVEN. NOT HOW
          THE HEAVENS GO.
       b. FRENCH PRIEST & PHILOSOPHER MAIJEBRANCHE MEN WERE NOT CREATED TO
          DEVOTE THEIR ENTIRE LIVES OOGLING THROUGH A TELESCOPE
       c. STERNER CLERICS SAID MORE SCANDALOUS. MORE HATEFUL & MORE HARMFUL TO
          CHRISTIANITY THAN ANYTHING IN WORKS OF CALVIN. LUTHER & ALL OTHER
          HERETICS COMBINED WERE NEW THEORIES
       d. EVEN GALILEO’S FELLOW-SCIENTISTS WERE BY NO MEANS UNANIMOUS IN THEIR
          ACCEPTANCE OF THIS SUN-CENTERED UNIVERSE IDEA
          (1) ANTI WERE BACON, WILLIAM HARVEY, PHILOSOPHERS DESCARTES & PASCAL
   9. TYCHO BRAHE 1546-1601, DANISH ASTRONOMER IMPROVED THE INSTRUMENTS &
       OBSERVATION OF THE HEAVENS
   10. HIS ASSISTANT JOHANN KEPLER 1571-1630, A GERMAN ASTRONOMER &
       MATHEMATICIAN CALCULATED PLANETARY ORBITS & FORMULATED HIS FAMOUS 3
       LAWS OF PLANETARY MOTION
       a. MOTION IS ELLIPICAL NOT CIRCULAR
       b. BUT HE NEVER CEASED TO SEE ASTRONOMY AS AN OUTPOST OF NUMEROLOGY
          (1) THE OCCULT SCIENCE OF NUMBERS
       c. BEHIND HIS RESEARCHES WAS THE HOPE THAT HE MIGHT FIND THE MATHEMATICAL
          KEY TO ALL KNOWLEDGE
       d. PLUS HIS MANY WRITINGS ON ASTROLOGY & PLANETARY INFLUENCES ON MAN’S
          PSYCHIC AURA
E. RENE DESCARTES 1596-1650
   1. FRENCH MATHEMATICIAN & PHILOSOPHER
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     2. REFUSING TO BELIEVE ANYTHING HIS SENSES TOLD HIM
     3. & REJECTING ALL COMMONLY HELD IDEAS BECAUSE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF HUMAN
         ERROR
     4. FINALLY FOUND ONE THING HE COULD NOT DOUBT: THE EXISTENCE OF HIS OWN
         DOUBTING MIND
         a. COGITO. ERGO SUM -= I THINK, THEREFORE I AM
     5. HE THEN WENT ON TO DEDUCE OTHER TRUTHS FROM IT UNTIL HE HAD
         RECONSTRUCTED REALITY AFRESH
     6. HIS OTHER FAMOUS CONTRIBUTION TO SCI REV WAS DEDUCTIVE METHOD
         a. HE BEGAN BY FORMULATING A FEW UNDENIABLE CONCLUSIONS
         b. WHICH AVOIDED ALL CONCLUSIONS UNTIL AN IMMENSE AMOUNT OF EVIDENCE
            HAD BEEN GATHERED THROUGH OBSERVATION & EXPERIMENT
            (1) ULTIMATE TRUTH BY ADVANCING BY LOGICAL STEPS FROM SIMPLE SELF-
                EVIDENT TRUTHS TO MORE COMPLEX TRUTHS
         c. IN OTHER WORDS GENERAL CONCLUSIONS ARE DERIVED THROUGH LOGIC FROM
            ASSUMED TRUTHS RATHER THAN THROUGH EXPERIMENT & OBSERVATION OF
            BACON’S INDUCTIVE METHOD
     7. HIS METHOD SOMETIMES LED TO ERRONEOUS NONSENSE
     8. WHEN A CONTROVERSY AROSE IN SCIENTIFIC COMMUNITY OVER WHETHER OR NOT A
         VACUUM COULD EXIST HE REFUSED TO ACCEPT EVIDENCE OF LABORATORY
         EXPERIMENTS
     9. HE INSISTED THAT A VACUUM WAS IMPOSSIBLE, BECAUSE, LIKE THE NONEXISTENCE OF
         GOD, IT COULD NOT BE CONCEIVED BY THE MIND
     10. BUT DESPITE WEAKNESSES IN HIS SYSTEM IT WOULD BE DIFFICULT TO OVERESTIMATE
         HIS INFLUENCE ON EUROPEAN THOUGHT IN 17-18TH CENTURIES
     11. LIKE GALILEO’S MESSAGE FROM THE STARS HIS DISCOURSE ON METHOD ADDRESSED
         NOT TO SCHOLARS BUT TO LITERATE PUBLIC
     12. EVEN AFTER NEWTON HAD CHALLENGED SPECIFICS OF DESCARTES’ SCIENTIFIC
         PROPOSITIONS, HE CONTINUED TO BE REVERED AS A MATHEMATICIAN
         a. INVENTOR OF ANALYTICAL GEOMETRY
            (1) UNION OF ALGEBRA & GEOMETRY

III. SCIENCE OF MAN: BIOLOGY & MEDICINE
     A. GENERAL REMARKS
        1. KNOWLEDGE OF HUMAN ANATOMY GREATLY INCREASED BY GRADUAL ACCEPTANCE
           OF DISSECTING CADAVERS
        2. MICHAELANGELO & LEONARDO DA VINCI REN HAD DONE SO
        3. PADUA WAS FIRST EUROPEAN MEDICAL SCHOOL TO BUILD A DISSECTING THEATER 1594
        4. WHILE DOCTORS & BIOLOGISTS MAIN PARTICIPANTS, EVEN LAYMEN INVOLVED
           a. CHRISTOPHER WREN 1632-1723 ARCHITECT OF ST. PAUL’ S CATHEDRAL IN LONDON
           b. INTRIGUED BY CURATIVE POSSIBILITIES OF BLOOD TRANSFUSIONS
           c. HE HYPOTHESIZED THAT AN OLD MAN MIGHT BE REJUVENATED BY A TRANSFUSION
               OF SHEEP’S BLOOD
        5. MORE ON MEDICICAL TREATMENT LATER
     B. WILLIAM HARVEY 1578-1657
        1. ENGLISH PHYSICIAN
        2. 1ST ANNOUNCED THEORY OF CIRCULATION OF BLOOD
        3. GALEN 2ND A.D. PRYSICIAN HAD CLAIMED 2 CENTERS OF BLOOD, LIVER SOURCE OF
           BLOOD IN VEINS & HEART SOURT OF ARTERIAL BLOOD
        4. HARVEY DEMONSTRATED ALL BLOOD PASSED THRU HEART, FLOWING AWAY FROM
           HEART THROUGH ARTERIES & BACK TO IT THRU VEINS
        5. THIS DISCOVERY MARKED A BREAK W/MEDIEVAL MEDICAL IDEAS
        6. HE EMPLOYED INDUCTIVE METHOD OF BACON BY OBSERVING & EXPERIMENTING WITH
           LIVING ANIMALS
        7. ALSO ANNOUNCED HE HAD DISCOVERED ESSENTIAL ELEMENT IN ALL REPRODUCTION
           IN FEMALE OVUM
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  C. ANTON VAN LEEUWENHOEK 1632-1723
     1. DUTCH BIOLOGIST
     2. USED NEW IDEAS OF DUTCH PUTTING 2 GLASSES TOGETHER NOT ONLY TO MAKE A
        TELESCOPE BUT TO MAKE A MICROSCOPE
     3. HE DISCOVERED TINY CREATURES = PROTOZOA = HITHERTO UNKNOWN
        a. CALLED THEM LITTLE WOEBISSIES
     4. THE INFINITE COMPLEXITY OF LIVING THINGS IN THE MICROSCOPIC WORLD WAS
        NEARLY AS PHILOSOPHICALLY DISTRUBING AS THE UNEXPECTED COMPLEXITY OF THE
        ASTRONOMICAL WORLD
     5. HE LOCATED HUMAN SPERM & ADVANCED UNDERSTANDING OF REPRODUCTIVE
        BIOLOGY
     6. BATTLE OVER WHETHER OVUM OR SPERM WAS PRIMARY REPRODUCTIVE AGENT WAS
        TO CONTINUE FOR CENTURIES

IV. LAST GREAT THINKER OF SCIENTIFIC REVOLUTION
    A. ISAAC NEWTON 1642—1727
       1. A FARM BOY WHO BECAME A CAMBRI-DGE PROFESSOR & MEMBER OF PARLIAMENT
       2. HE BROUGHT TOGETHER THE VARIOUS DISCOVERIES OF 17TH C SCIENCE IN HIS
           MATHEMATICAL PRINCIPLES OF NATURAL PHILOSOPHY
           a. USUALLY CALLED PRINCIPIA 1687
       3. LIKE MANY OF NEWTON’S CONTRIBUTIONS, PRINCIPLE OF GRAVITATION & LAWS OF
           MOTION WERE NOT ORIGINAL
       4. BUT THEY WERE A CLEARER FORMULATION OF DISCOVERIES MADE BY OTHERS
       5. & TODAY EVERYONE’S PICTURE NOW OF UNIVERSE
       6. I.E. LAW OF GRAVITATION
           a. FAMOUS APPLE STORY
           b. SUN, PLANETS & THEIR SATELLITES ARE HELD IN THEIR ORBITS BY FORCE OF
               MUTUAL ATTRACTION
           c. FORMULA W/SOME MODIFICATION EINSTEIN STILL HOLDS
       7. EVEN HIS INVENTION OF INFINITESIMAL CALCULUS PARALLELED BY LEIBNIZ &
           FORESHADOWED BY PASCAL
       8. BUT TO THE MEN OF TIME, NEWTON WAS THE BRILLIANT MATHEMATICIAN WHOSE
           GRAVITATIONAL THEORY UNLOCKED THE FINAL SECRETS OF NATURE & MADE THE
           PHYSICAL WORLD FULLY INTELLIGIBLE AT LAST
       9. HIS WRITINGS ENCOURAGED EUROPE TO STUDY NATURE DIRECTLY & AVOID
           METAPHYSICAL & SUPERNATURAL
       10. EVEN BEFORE VOLTAIRE POPULARIZED HIS IDEAS, HE WAS GIVEN EXTRAORDINARY
           HONORS BY HIS FELLOW-ENGLISH
       11. WHEN HE DIED HIS FUNERAL WAS AS SPLENDID AS ANY KING’S - BURIAL WESTMINSTER
           ABBEY
       12. THE PHILOSPHES WHO EXALTED NEWTON CHOSE TO OVERLOOK HIS PREOCCUPATION
           W/MYSTICAL THEOLOGY & APOCALYPSE
       13. THEY FORGOT HIS ALCHEMY & FONDNESS FOR CONSULTING AN OCCULT DOCTOR WHO
           DRESSED ENTIRELY IN GREEN