ÿþ<html> <head> <title> WHKMLA : Historical Dictionaries : Scientific Revolution </title> <!-- copyright Alexander Ganse, 2005 --> </head> <body bgcolor="lightblue" text="black" link="blue" vlink="red" alink="brown"> <style> <!-- A{ font-weight: bold; font-size: 10pt; font-face: arial; } --> </style> <DIV align ="center"> <TABLE border = "0" cellspace="0" cellpadding="0" align="center"> <TR> <TD align = "center" valign = "center"> <A HREF = "../../index.html"> <img src = "../../whkmla2.jpg" border = "0"></a></TD></TR></TABLE> <TABLE border = "0" cellspace="0" cellpadding="0" align="center"> <TR> <TD width = "150" height = "36" align = "center" valign = "center"> <font size = "2" face = "arial"><B> Timeline </b></font></TD> <TD width = "36" height = "36" align = "center" valign = "center"> <A HREF = "../../timelines/nhb/tlscirev.html"> <img src = "../../region/arrowleft.gif" width = "36" height = "36" border = "0"> </a></TD> <TD align = "center" valign = "center"> <A HREF = "../../timelines/nhb.html"> <img src = "../banhistdic.jpg" border = "0"> </TD> <TD width = "36" height = "36" align = "center" valign = "center"> <img src = "../../region/arrowright.gif" width = "36" height = "36" border = "0"> </a></TD> <TD width = "100" height = "36" align = "center" valign = "center"> <font size = "2" face = "arial"><B> Biographies </b></font></TD></TR></TABLE> <font size = "3" face = "arial"><B><i>First posted on June 16th 2004 </i></b></font><BR><BR><BR><BR> <TABLE border = "0" cellspace="0" cellpadding="0" align="center"> <TR> <TD align = "center" valign = "center" width = "900"> <font face = "Times Roman" size = "5"><B> Historical Dictionaries : Scientific Revolution </B></font> <BR> <font face = "Times Roman" size = "2"><i> http://www.zum.de/whkmla/histdic/nhb/hdscirev.html </i></font> </B></font></TD></TR></TABLE> <BR><BR> <TABLE border = "0" cellspace="0" cellpadding="0" align="center"> <TR> <TD width="200" valign="top" align="left"> <font size = "2"> <A NAME = "astrology"><B>Astrology</B></A> </font></TD> <TD width="480" valign="top" align="left"> <font size = "2"> The conception that events in the future of individual's lives can be predicted when their time of birth is known, by observing the stars. The pseudo-science of astrology dates back into Babylonian times. In the era of the Scientific Revollution, astrologers earned the financial support of powerful/wealthy persons, often by supplying them with Horoscopes. Ex.: General Wallenstein (30 Years' War) </font></TD> </TR></TABLE> <TABLE border = "0" cellspace="0" cellpadding="0" align="center"> <TR> <TD width="200" valign="top" align="left"> <font size = "2"> <A NAME = "experiments"><B>Experiments</B></A> </font></TD> <TD width="480" valign="top" align="left"> <font size = "2"> Hellenistic science was limited by the common rejection of gaining knowledge by conducting experiments. Archimedes and Eratosthenes were regtarded, by their contemporary scientist colleagues, as cheats, because they used experiments. This view lived on into the 17th century, again postulated by French philosopher Rene Descartes (Discours de la Methode, 1637). However, by then public opinion in the scientific community had shifted toward a position approving of experiments, formulated by Francis Bacon in Novum Organum, 1620. Experiments provided a boost to the Scientific Revolution, as did the development of new instruments such as microscope and telescope. </font></TD> </TR></TABLE> <TABLE border = "0" cellspace="0" cellpadding="0" align="center"> <TR> <TD width="200" valign="top" align="left"> <font size = "2"> <A NAME = "gallicanchurch"><B>Gallican Church</B></A> </font></TD> <TD width="480" valign="top" align="left"> <font size = "2"> The Church of France, which in 1682 declared to respect the pope in spiritual matters, but in matters of administration to be independent from Rome. The Jesuit order soon lost authority; French Scientists no longer had to leave the country, as Rene Descartes had done, to escape the threat posed by the Inquisition. </font></TD> </TR></TABLE> <TABLE border = "0" cellspace="0" cellpadding="0" align="center"> <TR> <TD width="200" valign="top" align="left"> <font size = "2"> <A NAME = "gregoriancalendar"><B>Gregorian Calendar</B></A> </font></TD> <TD width="480" valign="top" align="left"> <font size = "2"> Medieval Europe used the Julian Calendar. Astronomers established, that the Julian Calendar did not coincide with the astronomical year; Pope Gregory XIII, by skipping 15 days and introducing the leap day every 4 years, brought the Gregorian Calendar and the astronomic calendar in coincidence (1582). Immediately introduced in Catholic countries, it took (Protestant) England until 1751 to adapt the measure. </font></TD> </TR></TABLE> <TABLE border = "0" cellspace="0" cellpadding="0" align="center"> <TR> <TD width="200" valign="top" align="left"> <font size = "2"> <A NAME = "heliocentricsystem"><B>Heliocentrism</B></A> </font></TD> <TD width="480" valign="top" align="left"> <font size = "2"> The theory that the earth rotates around the sun and not vice versa (as the Catholic Church insisted on). Postulated by Nicholas Copernicus in a book published in 1543, in the year of his death. Yet in 1633 Galileo Galilei still was forced to recant his statements on this theory. </font></TD> </TR></TABLE> <TABLE border = "0" cellspace="0" cellpadding="0" align="center"> <TR> <TD width="200" valign="top" align="left"> <font size = "2"> Inquisition </font></TD> <TD width="480" valign="top" align="left"> <font size = "2"> see under <A HREF = "hdref.html#inquisition">Reformation</A> </font></TD> </TR></TABLE> <TABLE border = "0" cellspace="0" cellpadding="0" align="center"> <TR> <TD width="200" valign="top" align="left"> <font size = "2"> Jesuits </font></TD> <TD width="480" valign="top" align="left"> <font size = "2"> see under <A HREF = "hdref.html#jesuits">Reformation</A> </font></TD> </TR></TABLE> <TABLE border = "0" cellspace="0" cellpadding="0" align="center"> <TR> <TD width="200" valign="top" align="left"> <font size = "2"> <A NAME = "microscope"><B>Microscope</B></A> </font></TD> <TD width="480" valign="top" align="left"> <font size = "2"> a combination of lenses which enlarges a visual image. Invented in 1595. </font></TD> </TR></TABLE> <TABLE border = "0" cellspace="0" cellpadding="0" align="center"> <TR> <TD width="200" valign="top" align="left"> <font size = "2"> <A NAME = "recantation"><B>Recantation</B></A> </font></TD> <TD width="480" valign="top" align="left"> <font size = "2"> The act of revoking one's published theses. This act was demanded of persons accused as heretics; compliance could, under the best of circumstances, result in the person in question being saved the procedure of torture and execution, under worse circumstances result in a short, less painful death and the belief that his soul might be saved from hell. In case of Galileo's recantation, the church had lost so much credibility that few in the scientific community took Galileo's recantation serious. </font></TD> </TR></TABLE> <TABLE border = "0" cellspace="0" cellpadding="0" align="center"> <TR> <TD width="200" valign="top" align="left"> <font size = "2"> <B>Scientific Revolution</B> </font></TD> <TD width="480" valign="top" align="left"> <font size = "2"> a term coined by modern historians to describe a period in scientific history, beginning in the 16th century and influencing the Enlightenment of the 18th, the Industrial Revolution of the 18th to 19th century. Much of the progress made, primarily in the sciences of astronomy, mathematics, physics, biology, was made by the usage of observation and experiments, in contrast to Hellenistic science which refused to accept the legitimacy of the latter. The Scientific Revolution saw the move of the center of scientific research from Italy to Central and Western Europe (Germany, Dutch Republic, England, since 1682 France) </font></TD> </TR></TABLE> <TABLE border = "0" cellspace="0" cellpadding="0" align="center"> <TR> <TD width="200" valign="top" align="left"> <font size = "2"> <A NAME = "telescope"><B>Telescope</B></A> </font></TD> <TD width="480" valign="top" align="left"> <font size = "2"> a combination of lenses which enlarges a visual image. Invented in 1608 by Galileo Galilei. </font></TD> </TR></TABLE> <TABLE border = "0" cellspace="0" cellpadding="0" align="center"> <TR> <TD width="200" valign="top" align="left"> <font size = "2"> <A NAME = "universalharmony"><B>Universal Harmony</B></A> </font></TD> <TD width="480" valign="top" align="left"> <font size = "2"> Most sciences searched for universal truth, tried to explain nature by a minimum of natural laws. A good number of scientists of the 16th to 18th century searched for a concept of universal harmony, tried to combine subjects such as music and math, find a formula fitting both. Ex.: Isaac Newton. </font></TD> </TR></TABLE> <BR><BR> <TABLE border = "0" cellspace="0" cellpadding="0" align="center"> <TR> <TD align = "left" valign = "center" width = "700"> <font face = "Times Roman" size = "2"> PRINTED REFERENCE : <BR> </font></TD></TR></TABLE> <BR><BR> </DIV> </DIV> <DIV align="center"> <A href="mailto:aganse@hotmail.com"> <IMG src="../../email.gif" border="0"></a><BR> <BR><BR><BR><BR><BR> <!-- Start of CH Counter --> <script type="text/javascript"> //<!-- // chCounter v2.0.0 // settings: cstatus = "active"; visible = "0"; path_to_counterfile = "http://www.zum.de/whkmla/counter/counter.php"; urlhp = "http://www.zum.de"; //////////////// url = unescape(location.href); file = url.substring(url.lastIndexOf(urlhp) + urlhp.length, url.length); file = (file.charAt(0) != "/") ? 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