Scientific Awakening

1. Scientific Awakening A directional change in thinking

2. Scientific Awakening • Definition: • Period of time when people began to define scientific method and apply it to search for truth

3. Basic Definitions • Science: A process of understanding and organizing knowledge • Described nature • Technology: A combination of skills and creativity which are mastered in their environment • Art and technology were identical

4. Scientific Awakening – Steps • Merging science and technology • Technology previously independent of science • Use of mathematics • Use of experimentation and inductive reasoning • Science separated from philosophy • Basic ancient truths were questioned • Focus on physics, not ethics and metaphysics • History viewed as progressive

5. "The rise of the scientific spirit was a notable feature of the Renaissance [and, especially, just afterwards]: men no longer accepted without question the opinions of the ancients about the universe and the laws governing the natural world; dogma was subjected to experiment, and when it failed to survive the test it was rejected and new theories were formulated. Thus science in the modern sense was born, and rapid progress was made in mathematics, physics, chemistry, and biology. But the immediate consequences for technology were confined to a few specialized fields; in the main, technological progress still depended upon the use of empirical methods by practical men. On the whole, up to 1750 science probably gained more from technology than vice versa." – T.K. Derry and T. I. Williams, A Short History of Technology

6. Scientific Awakening (Overview)

7. Ptolemy Model of the Universe Moon Earth Mercury Motion of Mercury

8. Tycho Brahe’s Model Earth not at center of circles

9. Copernicus • Realized the earth turns on an axis • Proposed a solar centered system • Book of Revolutions

10. Copernicus • Problems • Not all epicycles could be eliminated • Common sense seems to contradict • 1000 mph wind • No sense of spinning • Scriptures seem to contradict

11. “And the sun stood still, and the moon stayed, until the people had avenged themselves upon their enemies. Is not this written in the book of Jasher? So the sun stood still in the midst of heaven, and hasted not to go down about a whole day.” – Joshua 10:13

12. “And thus, according to his word the earth goeth back, and it appeareth unto man that the sun standeth still; yea, and behold, this is so; for surely it is the earth that moveth and not the sun.” - Helaman 12:15

13. “According to the church, propositions which are stated but not rigorously demonstrated, such as the Copernican system itself, were not condemned outright, if they seemed to contradict Holy Scripture; they were merely relegated to the rank of ‘working hypotheses’ with an implied: ‘wait and see; if you bring proof, then, but only then, we shall have to reinterpret Scripture in the light of this necessity.” — Arthur Koestler, The Sleepwalkers, p442

14. Galileo • Called the successor to Archimedes • Study of pendulums • Chandelier in a cathedral

15. Galileo’s Contributions • Linked science and math with observation • Established math as language of science

16. Galileo “Truth cannot be found in the book of Aristotle but in the book of Nature; and the book of Nature is written in the language of mathematics.” - Galileo

17. Galileo’s Contributions • Linked science and math with observation • Established math as language of science • Engineering skills • Manufacturing • Music and art capabilities • Optic developments • Founded modern astronomy • Secularized science

18. Galileo “God is the author of two great books—the book of scripture and the book of nature. These cannot be in conflict; so any apparent contradictions come from fallible human interpretations…Scripture is a book about how to go to heaven; not a book about how heaven goes.” - Galileo

19. Galileo “I do not feel obliged to believe that the same God who has endowed us with sense, reason, and intellect has intended us to forgo their use.” - Galileo Galilei

20. Galileo’s Trial • Court scientist to the Medici family • Many discussions about Copernican theory • Taught Copernican theory widely as truth • Ordered by the church to teach it as a theory • Wrote a book on the theory • Three people discussing • Court on defiance of previous church order • Sentenced to house arrest and silence

21. Kepler's Laws of Planetary Motion • The orbits of the planets are ellipses, • with the Sun at one focus of the ellipse. Major axis II. The line joining the planet to the Sun sweeps out equal areas in equal times as the planet travels around the ellipse. III. The ratio of the squares of the revolutionary periods for two planets is equal to the ratio of the cubes of their semi-major axes (half the major axis).

22. Francis Bacon • Court Chancellor • Development of scientific method • Died from pneumonia

23. "Method is like a pathway and if the pathway leads in the right direction, you will eventually get to the truth. [Bacon's pathway was induction combined with experimentation]... Genius [like Aristotle] is the ability to run quickly. However if a genius is on the wrong pathway, he will never be able to come to the truth since he will just move more quickly in the wrong direction." – Bacon

24. Francis Bacon "This is the foundation of all, for we are not to imagine or suppose, but to discover what nature does or may be made to do." – Bacon, Novum Organum

25. Francis Bacon 1. Some people are like ants: they just build up a store of supplies (information or facts). 2. Some are like spiders: they build a complex system that is beautiful to behold (but it is made from the spider's own internal stuff and not materials from nature. It is not related to the real world.) • Some are like honey bees: they take materials from nature and convert it into materials that are useful for humankind (this is the model we should all pursue.) – Bacon

26. Bacon’s Truths • Sensory perception (empirical knowledge) more reliable in examining the world than pure logic or theology. • Manipulation of the world instead of just observation. • Principle of cause and effect accepted as inviolate. • Theory developed after experiments were interpreted. (Inductive reasoning given precedence over deductive reasoning.) • Interpretation of data to be unbiased. • Well supported and accepted theories become laws.

27. Renè Descartes • Foundations of analytical geometry • Discourse on Method • Cogito ergo sum (I think, therefore I am) • Dualism (mind-body problem) • Reductionism • Banned by Catholic Church

28. Renè Descartes • Results of Descartes philosophy • Basis of French science (theory) • Scrutiny of ancient philosophers • Excitement in scientific investigation

29. "Being and Doing" “To be is to do” -Socrates “To do is to be” -Descartes “Do be do be do” -Sinatra

30. Descartes

31. Blaise Pascal • Skeptic who recognized limits of empiricism • Pensées • Converted to science by Descartes • Strong experimentalist • Discoveries perpetuate human progress • Contributions

32. "In the Thoughts it is fully expounded as the difference between the geometrical and the intuitive temperaments. By geometrical, Pascal means the mind when it works with exact definitions and abstractions in science or mathematics; by intuitive, the mind when it works with ideas and perceptions not capable of exact definition. A right-angle triangle or gravitation is a perfectly definite idea; poetry or love or good government is not definable. And this lack of definition is not due to lack of correct information; it comes from the very nature of the subject." – Barzun, Jacques, From Dawn to Decadence, Perennial, 2000, p216-218.

33. Isaac Newton • The greatest scientist who ever lived • Disinterested student • Time at the farm • Cambridge—professor of math • Never married • Manic depressive

34. Isaac Newton • Avoided publishing findings due to criticism • Principia Mathematica • Discovery of gravity • Greatest scientific work • Discoveries in math and optics • Developed Calculus • Introduced Modeling

35. Isaac Newton “In the preceding books I have laid down the principles…[that] are the laws of certain motions, and power or forces…It remains that from the same principles I now demonstrate the frame of the System of the World.” - Newton

36. Isaac Newton “If I have seen further [than others], it is by standing on the shoulders of Giants.” -Sir Isaac Newton

37. "Newton was driven with a zeal that would unnerve the most devoted scholar: experimenting for days without food or sleep; staring at the sun until the image continued to burn unrelievedly in his head; probing his eye with a darning needle to investigate optical effects. He set out to test the limits of the physical world and in the process often discovered his own." – Isacoff, Stuart, Temperament, Vintage Books, 2001, p. 10.

38. Isaac Newton's belief in God and the concept of gravity To clarify his thoughts on the subject, sometime around 1720 Newton wrote what he perceived as a personal credo, a form of amalgamation of science and religion–a guide, perhaps, for future explorers. This included a clear picture of the role he saw for Christ in the universal scheme of things–not least the function of the spiritual body of Jesus as the medium by which celestial mechanics was maintained. ‘Jesus was beloved of God before the foundation of the world,’ he wrote, ‘and had glory with the father before the world began and was the principle of the creation … the agent by whom God created all things in this world.’ To summarise, the spiritual body of Jesus, the first created, was the facilitator for the creation of the physical universe, provided the means via which the cosmos continued to function mechanically, and acted as a medium via which forces acted at a distance without any visible, tangible, measurable mechanism. –John White, Isaac Newton: The Last Sorcerer

39. Chemistry • Alchemists • Robert Boyle • Antoine Lavoisier

40. "Not for nothing has Lavoisier become known as the Newton of chemistry. Yet he was no single-minded pioneer. During his brief fifty years of life he not only established modern chemistry, but also found time to occupy (simultaneously) several top-level administrative positions, as well as contributing technological advances in a number of disparate fields: ballooning, the mineralogical mapping of France, urban street lighting, the Paris water supply, the efficiency of gunpowder and a full-scale model farm, to name but a few." – Strathern, Paul, Mendeleyev's Dream, New York: Berkley Books, 2000, p.225.

41. Consequences of Scientific Revolution • Community of scientists formed • Royal Society • Papers were read and published • Scientists subjected to critical audience • Science accepted as the preferred method of getting "truth"

42. Thank You

43. Scientific Awakening

44. Euclid vs. Riemann Euclidean geometry a priori assumptions: 1. The shortest distance between two points is a straight line. 2. Two parallel lines never cross. 3. Two non-parallel lines cross at one and only one point. - Newton then derived that mass is a constant that relates time, length, and speed or acceleration. Riemann geometry a priori assumptions: 1. The shortest distance between two points is a curve. 2. Two parallel lines cross at infinity. - Einstein then derived that mass is a variable that depends upon time, length, and speed or acceleration. — From H. Clay Gorton, “The Transitory Nature of Telestial Knowledge”

45. "All over Europe, from Poland to southern Italy, a new mindset was gelling [at the time of the scientific revolution]. An indication of this is that several important discoveries were made, all but simultaneously, by different individuals who could not possibly have known of each other's work, let alone resorted to plagiarism. Here indeed was a new development. Science didn't just advance as a result of great discoveries by great men. Just as important as these individual geniuses was the advent of a new way of thinking – which could lead several thinkers to the same discovery at once... One example will suffice. Galileo completed his geometric sector for calculating the trajectory of projectiles (cannon balls) in 1597. Just a year later, an uncannily similar device was produced independently in London by the Elizabethan mathematician Thomas Hood... Meanwhile the Dutch mathematician Dirk Borcouts, who corresponded with Descartes, was also working on his own bronze sector for calculating projectiles." – Strathern, Paul, Mendeleyev's Dream, New York: Berkley Books, 2000, p.132.

46. "Science was developing into a body of knowledge which frequently prompted those working within it in the same direction. This has led to the understanding that scientific discovery is to a certain extent predetermined. If 'inflammable air' had not been discovered by Cavendish (or Boyle, or whoever), it would sooner or later have been discovered by someone. Science could now be viewed as a cultural-historical phenomenon, rather than simply the creation of individual geniuses working alone." – Strathern, Paul, Mendeleyev's Dream, New York: Berkley Books, 2000, p.216-217.

47. Faith and Empiricism And now as I said concerning faith— faith is not to have a perfect knowledge of things; therefore if ye have faith ye hope fort things which are not seen, which are true. - Alma 32:21

48. "An ambitious young journalist had submitted a paper to the Academie, in the hope of gaining election to this prestigious body. The paper had been on the nature of fire... According to the paper, this [the extinguishing of a flame in an enclosed space] happened because the air heated by the flame expanded, and thus pressure mounted around the flame, diminishing its size, until finally it disappeared... It fell to the Academician Lavoisier to inform the misguided journalist that his paper was [wrong]. The journalist felt deeply insulted by Lavoisier's dismissive rejection. The journalist's name was Jean-Paul Marat. By 1791 Marat had become one of the leading members of the Jacobins, the extremist advocates of what would soon become the Terror. In 1791 Marat publicly attacked Lavoisier in the Jacobin newspaper... Lavoisier was arrested. Despite the frantic efforts of Mme Lavoisier, her husband was brought to trial. The judge expressed his opinion that 'The Republic has no need of scientists', and sentenced Lavoisier to death. He was guillotined the same day." – Strathern, Paul, Mendeleyev's Dream, New York: Berkley Books, 2000, p.240-241.

49. Electricity • William Gilbert • Stephen Gray • Benjamin Franklin

50. Faith and Empiricism Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. - Hebrews 11:1