Ch. 16 Flashcards
Scientific Revolution and Enlightenment (mostly evidence) (118 cards)
natural philosophy
Study of the nature, purpose, and functions of the universe
science today and was based on the ideas of Aristotle
Thomas Aquinas
Medieval theologian who synthesized Aristotelian philosophy with Christian doctrines
Aristotle
Greek philosopher; celestial spheres and sublunar world; opposite of inertia; geocentrism
Medieval thought
Ptolemy
Hellenized Egyptian; planets move in small epicycles
Medieval thought
Ptolemy’s Geography
Advances in medieval cartography; latitude, and longitude; only includes Europe, Asia, and Africa (no knowledge of the Pacific Ocean and Americas)
Nicolaus Copernicus
Polish cleric; heliocentrism; astronomer
Publishes his book the year of his death due to fear of ridicule
On the Revolutions of the Heavenly Spheres
Copernican hypothesis; heliocentrism (sun is at the center of the universe)
Destroyed basic ideas of Aristotelian physics
Tycho Brahe
Danish astronomer; agrees with Copernican hypothesis & Ptolemaic ideas’ built sophisticated observatories
Rudolphine Tables
started by Tycho Brahe containing details tables of planetary motion for Holy Roman Emperor Rudolph II
finished by Kepler
Johannes Kepler
Finishes Brahe’s work; 3 laws of planetary motion (orbits of planets around the sun are elliptical, planets do not move at a uniform speed in their orbits, the time it takes a planet to orbit the Sun is proportional to its distance from the Sun); agrees with Copernicus
Cast horoscopes = prove alchemy and magic are still present even among the educated
Galileo Galilei
Florentine; law of inertia; disproves Aristotle’s ideas; telescope; agrees with Copernicus
Sidereal Messenger
Telescope’s findings; the moon has craters (disproves Aristotle’s ideas of perfect spheres)
Galileo
Dialogue on the Two Chief Systems of the World
Ideas on heliocentrism
Is persecuted for this text and is threatened with torture
Galileo
heliocentrism
The idea that the Sun is at the center of the universe
Threatens understanding of mankind’s place in creation, as stated in Genesis = this is why the church is against these ideas
Isaac Netwon
English scientist; agrees with Copernicus; law of universal gravitation (all objects are attracted to one another and the force of attraction is proportional to their mass and inversely proportional to the square of the distance between them)
Intensely religious and fascinated by alchemy
Principia
Integrates Copernicus’ astronomy (as corrected by Kepler’s laws) and Galileo and his predecessors’ physics
Netwon
Francisco Hernández
He was the personal physician of King Philip II, who sent him to New Spain to find specimens. Fills 15 volumes with illustrations of 3000 previously unknown plants
cinchona bark
1st effective treatment for malaria
(example of discoveries)
Carl Linnaeus
Swede; devises a formal system of naming and classifying living organisms (still used today)
astrology
Inspired by the belief that the movement of heavenly bodies influenced events on Earth
many astronomers also work as astrologers
magic and alchemy
Strives to understand and control hidden connections perceived among different elements of the natural world.
Alchemists believed base metals could be turned into gold
did not interfere with religion
Francis Bacon
English politician and writer; greatest early propagandist for experimental method (rejects medieval and Aristotelian speculative method; empiricism); inductive method
empiricism
Acquiring evidence through observation and experimentation
Accepted in England
royal society
Founded by Bacon’s followers who met up weekly to conduct experiments and discuss findings
Still exists today