Copernicus and the Scientific Revolution
Erin Arroz
Professor Rebecca Koerselman
Western Civilization Section D
29 November 2013
Copernicus and the Scientific Revolution The Scientific Revolution of the sixteenth and seventeenth century is known for its cosmological discoveries and its introduction to a new way of investigating nature. This revolution challenged the medieval perspective and influenced great minds such as Galileo, Francis Bacon, and Foucault. Thinkers of the Scientific Revolution rejected utter reliance on authorities, such as the Church, and strived for knowledge based on reasoning and direct observation. This sort of idea was so groundbreaking since it went against the widely accepted view of Aristotle and Ptolemy theories. In these views, earth stood at the center of the universe and was motionless as the planets revolved around it. The earth was believed to have resided above hell, and beyond the stars was where God dwelled. So, how did this Aristotelian/Ptolemaic view that had lasted for some 450 years come shattering down? Historians point to a man who was annoyed by the complex theories of his time: Nicolaus Copernicus. Copernicus was born in Poland in 1473 and became a mathematician, astronomer, and clergyman. Although very little is known about his early education, it is known that he later received a Renaissance education, which gave him an outlook that enabled him to cut ties with traditional views. Though there were some who disagreed with the traditional views before Copernicus, he receives credit for beginning the Scientific Revolution by being the first to cut ties with Aristotelian cosmology and theorize a heliocentric universe; thus, laying out the foundation for the Scientific Revolution which would overturn the medieval concept of the universe and start the idea of using a more direct scientific investigation and observation. Copernicus’s sun-centered universe began this Scientific Revolution since it was a radical change from Aristotelian and Ptolemaic
Professor Rebecca Koerselman
Western Civilization Section D
29 November 2013
Copernicus and the Scientific Revolution The Scientific Revolution of the sixteenth and seventeenth century is known for its cosmological discoveries and its introduction to a new way of investigating nature. This revolution challenged the medieval perspective and influenced great minds such as Galileo, Francis Bacon, and Foucault. Thinkers of the Scientific Revolution rejected utter reliance on authorities, such as the Church, and strived for knowledge based on reasoning and direct observation. This sort of idea was so groundbreaking since it went against the widely accepted view of Aristotle and Ptolemy theories. In these views, earth stood at the center of the universe and was motionless as the planets revolved around it. The earth was believed to have resided above hell, and beyond the stars was where God dwelled. So, how did this Aristotelian/Ptolemaic view that had lasted for some 450 years come shattering down? Historians point to a man who was annoyed by the complex theories of his time: Nicolaus Copernicus. Copernicus was born in Poland in 1473 and became a mathematician, astronomer, and clergyman. Although very little is known about his early education, it is known that he later received a Renaissance education, which gave him an outlook that enabled him to cut ties with traditional views. Though there were some who disagreed with the traditional views before Copernicus, he receives credit for beginning the Scientific Revolution by being the first to cut ties with Aristotelian cosmology and theorize a heliocentric universe; thus, laying out the foundation for the Scientific Revolution which would overturn the medieval concept of the universe and start the idea of using a more direct scientific investigation and observation. Copernicus’s sun-centered universe began this Scientific Revolution since it was a radical change from Aristotelian and Ptolemaic
Cited: Brasch, Frederick E. "The First Edition of Copernicus ' "De Revolutionibus"" Quarterly Journal of Current Acquisitions 3.3 (1946): 19-22 Gingerich, Owen. "From Copernicus to Kepler: Heliocentrism as Model and as Reality." Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society 17.6 (1973): 513-22 Grant, Edward. "Late Medieval Thought, Copernicus, and the Scientific Revolution." Journal of the History of Ideas 23.2 (1962): 197-220 Harkness, Deborah E. The Jewel House: Elizabethan London and the Scientific Revolution. New Haven: Yale UP, 2007 Naylor, Ron. "Galileo, Copernicanism and the Origins of the New Science of Motion." The British Journal for the History of Science 36.2 (2003): 151-81 Wood Science Foucault 's Pendulum. 1985. Photograph. Oklahoma Baptist University, Shawnee.