Summary+-+Chapter+16+(The+Scientific+Revolution)


 * __Toward a New Heaven and a New Earth: The Scientific Revolution and the Emergence of Modern Science__**

//PS: This is taken STRAIGHT from the Chapter Sixteen Study Guide//

At the same time that kings were consolidating power and seeking a new social order based on absolute rule, an intellectual revolution took place which changed learned people's views of the universe, man's nature, and even the nature of truth itself. This revolution in science provided new models for heaven and earth. The Scientific Revolution began in the field of astronomy, and conclusions drawn by mathematicians and observers like Copernicus, Kepler, Galileo, and Newton both provided new understandings of the universe and its laws and called into question the wisdom of ancient and medieval scholars. Inspired by this study of astronomy and the realization that by empirical observation one can learn new things about the universe, scholars, questioned and revised their opinions about medicine and the human sciences. With the revolution in empirical studies came a new emphasis on human reason. Started by Rene Descartes and his famous //Discourse on Method//, the claims for rationalism focused attention on the nature and capacities of man's mind. While empiricism and rationalism were at times in conflict, they eventually merged to create a scholarship that rejected both traditional and authority in favor of continual reevaluation of established knowledge. Religious doctrines were challenged and religious sensitivities ruffled by these secular endeavors, and scientists often found themselves at odds with religious powers. Even some of the scientists themselves were disturbed by the results of their studies. Pascal sought to reconcile science and religion, but his life was too brief to develop his ideas fully. Yet science was too careful about its conclusions to be discredited and too useful to the world to be silenced. Scientific societies, sponsored by kings who saw benefits to their ambitions in science's achievements, disseminated amazing new discoveries and the general public enjoyed the fruits od scientific research. The modern world of progress and doubt was on its way.

__Sir Isaac Newton (1642-1727):__ -attended Cambridge University and invented calculus (a system showing a mathematical rate of change) -investigated the composition of light (prism experiments) -worked on universal law of gravitation [all pieces of matter in the universe exert forces on each other] - wrote __Principia__ in which he defined mass, velocity, acceleration and three laws of motion (1- object continues in a state of rest or uniform motion until acted upon by another force, 2- the rate of change of motion of an object is directly proportional to the force acting upon it, 3- for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction) -laws explained that every object in the universe is attracted to every other object in the universe by a force -proposed the idea of the “world machine” (the world operated absolutely in time, space and motion) -extremely interested in aspects of the occult world and alchemy -often tried to suppress his tendencies toward Hermetic tradition -wrote __Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosophy__ (last highly influential book to be written in Latin), filled with proofs demonstrating gravity a culmination of his theories

__Vesalius (1514-1564):__ -studied in Paris with Galen and received doctorate in medicine form the university of Padua -emphasized practical research as the principle avenue to understanding the human anatomy, published __On the Fabric of the Human Body__ -personally dissected bodies and carefully examined organs and the human structure -discovered that blood flows in both veins and arteries and makes a complete circuit as it passes through the body

__William Harvey (1578-1657)__ -wrote __On the Motion of the Heart and Blood__ which was based on many careful observations and experiments -demonstrated the heart and not the liver was the beginning of circulation of blood in the body -also stated that blood did indeed flow in both veins and arteries and make a complete circuit as it passes through the body

__Anton van Leeuwenhoek (1632-1732)__ -Dutch tradesman and scientist from the Netherlands, known as the ‘father of microbiology’ -best known for his work on the improvement of the microscope and contributions toward the establishment of microbiology -observed and described single-cell organisms -was first to record microscopic observations of muscle fibers, bacteria and blood flow in capillaries