3.4 The Scientific Revolution

• History
• Middelbare school
• vwo
• Leerjaar 2

3. The Time of Regents and Monarchs

4.  Scientific Revolution

What is this lesson about?

The seventeenth century was the age of new scientific discoveries. An increasing number of universities were established. This led to a new generation of scientists who discovered scientific laws, some of which are still valid today. 

What caused this thirst for knowledge? 

Which methods were used? 

And who were some of those famous scientists?

Word Duty

WORD DUTY

Science: knowledge about the natural world based on facts learned through experiments and observation

Revolution: a dramatic change in the way people live.

Scientific Revolution: a period of big changes in different fields of science; new scientific ideas 

gradually replaced classical-religious ideas 

Empirical thinking: research based on observing and experimenting 

Rationalism: research based on reasoning and logic (sometimes difficult for women:-)

Heliocentrism: current worldview in which the earth revolves around the sun (helios = sun).

Geocentrism: Biblical world view in which men believe the Earth is the centre of the universe (geo = earth)

Important dates in this lesson:

1662 forming of the Royal Society in England

people in this lesson

Isaac Newton

Christiaan Huygens

Galileo Galilei

Main Questions

1. What is the Scientific Method?
2. What caused the Scientific Revolution?
3. How did the Scientific Revolution change the worldview of people?
4. Who were some of the most famous scientists from that age and what did they accomplish?

The rise of universities 

Up to the sixteenth century, there were only a few universities in Europe. If you lived in the Low Countries and wanted to study at a university, you had to move to Paris, Cologne or Leuven. In the sixteenth century, many universities emerged in big cities. 

After the Dutch Revolt, it was nearly impossible for students in the northern provinces to study in Leuven because the Spanish controlled this city. For this reason, William of Orange founded the University of Leiden in 1575. It enabled students from the northern provinces to study different subjects, like maths and physics. William of Orange also argued that a university would supply well-educated men for the government of the country.

 

library of the Leiden University in 1610.

source A

The anatomical theatre of Leiden was an institution used in teaching anatomy. It was built in 1596. Engraving by Willem Swanenburg (1610).

Museum Boerhaave, Leiden - Anatomical Theatre during radio recording

source B

The Anatomy Lesson of Dr. Nicolaes Tulp is a 1632, oil painting on canvas by Rembrandt housed in the Mauritshuis museum in The Hague, the Netherlands. 

The painting is regarded as one of Rembrandt's early masterpieces.

In the work, Dr. Nicolaes Tulp is pictured explaining the musculature of the arm to medical professionals. Some of the spectators are various doctors who paid commissions to be included in the painting. The painting is signed in the top-left hand corner Rembrandt. f[ecit] 1632. This may be the first instance of Rembrandt signing a painting with his forename (in its original form) as opposed to the monogramme RHL (Rembrandt Harmenszoon of Leiden), and is thus a sign of his growing artistic confidence.

The Royal Society

Scientists were an international community. They didn’t keep secrets, but published their findings in books and pamphlets. In England, in 1662, a group of scientists formed the Royal Society. They met, talked through their latest ideas, and performed experiments. Communication was important. They invited important scientists from all over Europe to their meetings, and published accounts of the meetings that were read all over Europe and its colonies.

In the rest of this section, we shall take a look at a number of influential scientists who lived during the scientific revolution. This is going to be a group PROJECT.

 

Source C

Colbert presents scientists to king Louis XIV.

The French Academy of Sciences (French: Académie des sciences) is a learned society, founded in 1666 by king Louis XIV at the suggestion of Jean-Baptiste Colbert, to encourage and protect the spirit of French scientific research. It was at the forefront of scientific developments in Europe in the 17th and 18th centuries, and is one of the earliest Academies of Sciences.

Summary Lesson 3.4

Lesson 3.4 overview

Copy this overview in your notebook and fill in the following terms: empirical thinking,  sharing results, reasoning and logic, rationalism, humanists, Scientific Method, everything is work of God, observing and experimenting, scientific laws

Middle Ages

Renaissance

17th century scientific revolution

Reasoning

Only God knows

Logic

Scientific method

Church is right

Empiral Thinking

Write down a question about something from this
lesson that you find difficult.

Who discovered gravity?

1. Christian Huygens
2. Galileo Galilei
3. Isaac Newton
4. Hugo Grotius

What is the biblical view of planets revolving around the earth?

1. Heliocentrism
2. Geocentrism
3. Absolutism
4. Galaxyism

The sixteenth century was the age of the scientific revolution.

1. True
2. False

Give an example of Huygens' discoveries

Before Isaac Newton, gravity didn't exist.

1. True
2. False

Rationalism is based on...

1. Reasoning
2. Experiments
3. Empirical thinking
4. emotional thinking

I: Huygens studied in Leiden
II: DJ Armin v. Buuren graduated in Leiden

1. Only I is correct
2. Only II is correct
3. Both are correct
4. Both are false

congratulations

congratulations