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Astronomy made up the majority of the Scientific Revolution, and only a few significant figures made significant advances in Astronomy, while church dogma hindered many efforts to make sense out of rational theories that were opposed to the Holy Scripture. Aristotle, father of science, was born in 384 B. C. and inaugurated the first theory to make sense of planets, stars, and the universe in general. In the 16 th century Copernicus, created a theory rejecting some of Aristotle's theory's principles. Soon after Copernicus, Tycho Brahe meticulously plotted the theories and mathematical proofs of Copernicus.
Johannes Kepler was a student of Brahe, and made use of Brahe's neatly organized information. Brahe died soon before he could make use of it. Galileo relied on mathematics and empirical evidence to derive his conclusions, and farther promoted and refined Copernicus theory. The telescope helped Galileo immensely in proving his corresponding mathematical evidence.
Sir Isaac Newton was a mathematical genius who had to create calculus to solve his challenging problems, made stunning discoveries with prisms and light, and came up with three physical laws of motion. Ecclesiastical forces suppressed all information contrary to the scripture. 1 The Roman church's threat could be felt by Copernicus, who hesitated for a very long while without publicizing his findings, and Galileo, who renounced his astronomical breakthroughs. Aristotle, Copernicus, Tycho Brahe, Johannes Kepler, and Galileo were each an essential part of the Scientific Revolution that moved from an earth centered universe to faith in a sun centered universe, and all made significant astronomical advances. Newton finalized what Galileo hadnt, created calculus, and made impressive discoveries in physics and light properties. 1 Hooker, Richard. The European Enlightenment and Scientific Revolution. (1996). Aristotle focused on evidence, and scrutinized absolutely everything to insure validity.
He also exposed the famous Ptolemaic system. He used inductive reasoning and dealt with epistemology, or the study of knowledge. The Greeks believed that one should be careful when they assess how sure they are of the knowledge they have, or are studying. Aristotle stated that mathematical knowledge was certain, but everything else was a probability.
Unlike Plato and Socrates, he didnt demand certainty. His ideas were based on the four causes that bring change and motion: the material cause, or substance, the formal cause, the model or structure on which a shape is made, the efficient cause, the means by which something comes into existence, and the final cause, the goal or purpose of a thing. His ideas and beliefs ran counter to those of Plato, although Plato was his teacher. While Plato postulated ideas that the world we live in is but a imperfect copy, Aristotle became the first man to really focus on evidence as opposed to ideas. (Hooker, Richard.
The European Enlightenment and Scientific Revolution. ) Copernicus followed using a mix of evidence, mathematical and observational. Copernicus and other astronomers found that planets and stars did not revolve exactly as predicted, (Hooker, Richard. The European Enlightenment and Scientific Revolution. ) with the Ptolemaic/Aristotelian system. Eventually the number of dichotomous spheres, or spheres in space not corresponding with the Ptolemaic systems principles, reached eighty. Even so, calculations did not correspond with observations.
Copernicus then took theories and had mathematical equations based around them for insurance. He limited the number of devious spheres to 34. The main difficulty with the acceptance of Copernicus new theory was that it ran counter to two common Aristotelian beliefs. Gravity and motion needed to be revised in theory for Copernicus to prevail. This was because The earth was known to be very large and heavy, while the sun and planets were thought to be made of an unearthly, weightless substance that could easily be moved by angels or some other supernatural force. 2 Copernicus theory was also hard for most people to accept because of the alleged sun-centered universe. People were familiar with Aristotle's theory because the idea of an earth-centered universe made people feel superior, and Copernicus theory made them feel useless and inferior. (Rempel, Gerhard.
The Scientific Revolution). Tycho Brahe meticulously plotted all information pertinent to Copernicus theory, and made it easy for his student, Johannes Kepler, to extrapolate the theory. Brahe was a Danish Astronomer. He, like Bacon, favored the inductive method of thinking, and felt that it is important to amass all of the data possible through experimentation and observation.
In fact, Brahe felt that observation and experimentation were the only truth. His observations led him to believe that Mercury and Venus revolved about the sun, and that the sun and remaining planets revolved about Earth. Although this theory didnt run parallel with Copernicus, Brahe dedicated time to chart the heavens, and contributed to the accuracy of Copernicus theory. Brahe died before he had a chance to utilize his information, so his student, Kepler, took over. (Rempel, Gerhard. The Scientific Revolution).
Johannes Kepler believed that simple math laws were best and more valid than complex ones, and this belief drove his experiments. Kepler drew from information plotted by Brahe to confirm that planets follow elliptical orbits around the sun. He found a way to express the size of planets, and how long it would take to go around the sun. Although his planetary charts were more accurate than any other, he still had problems explaining the effects of what we know as gravity.
He instead decided that the force must come from the sun. (Rempel, Gerhard. The Scientific Revolution). In the years 1572 - 1574, a star could be seen in daylight, disproving the Aristotelian. Aristotelians believed, the region of fixed stars is unchanging and permanent. A few years later, a comet passed through a region on the far side of the moon which was supposedly composed of impenetrable, transparent spheres in which the revolving planets were located. These inconsistencies and Kepler's work led Galileo to seek new answers. (Rempel, Gerhard.
The Scientific Revolution). Galileo became an intellectual force soon after these incidents. Galileo employed mathematics, and used his deeply thought-out assumptions to experiment. He implied that an object in motion stays in motion, without stating the laws of inertia.
He also postulated that all objects fall at the same speed, except when an o...
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Research essay sample on History Of Thinkers Who Led The Scientific Revolution
