Blinding Me With Science--Science!

While science is annoying and, occasionally, emotionally distressing, it is very important (yes, I admitted it, Maria). The Scientific Revolution officially marked Europe's transition from a religious, doctrinal way of thinking to a scientific, logical one. During the Middle Ages, there was little scientific advancement. People faithfully accepted the Church's explanation of the world and how it worked. During the Renaissance, this began to change as people began to study Greek philosophers, such as Aristotle and Plato. Finally, during the Scientific Revolution, thinkers like Copernicus, Galileo, and Newton began to really question the accepted explanations of the world. This led to many important discoveries, but, more importantly, to a change in thought that would influence the modern development of Europe. 

Nicolas Copernicus

Copernicus disproved the geocentric theory that placed earth at the center of the solar system and replaced it with the heliocentric theory in which the Earth was simply one of a number of plants orbiting the sun. 

Because of lack of physical evidence and public support, Copernicus had difficulty having his theory accepted. He was denounced by religious leaders, especially Protestant ones. Martin Luther said: "the fool wants to turn the whole art of astronomy upside down (598).

Here is a fun video to clarify the Heliocentric Theory:

Galileo 

Galileo revised the subject of Physics through his use of the experimental method, an ancestor of our scientific method. He used this to formulate the law of inertia, which states that an object continues in motion forever unless stopped by an external force. In the same way, a stationary object can not move unless affected by another force.

Galileo also found evidence to support Copernicus's heliocentric theory by examining space through a telescope. Many theologians denounced Galileo as a heretic. However, Pope Urban VIII permitted him to write about his theories as long as he did not discredit the one that "actually existed". He wrote The Dialogue on the Two Chief Systems of World which openly defended the views of Copernicus. As a result, he was tried for heresy by the Church and recanted. 

Isaac Newton 

Newton developed many theories to explain how the world worked. However, none are so revolutionary as his law of universal gravitation. This states "that every body in the universe attracts every other body in the universe in a precise mathematical relationship, whereby the force of attraction is proportional to the quantity of matter of the objects and inversely proportional to the square of the distance between them" (601). [I directly quoted that from the book because I have no idea what it means and therefore could not explain it in my own words]. Many scientists believe that this is the basis of modern scientific discovery. 

Here is another fun video to describe the concept of gravity: 

The contributions of these scientists truly began modern scientific discovery. Without them, our society would be unrecognizable. 

To conclude this blog post, I have posted a video of arguably the best scientists of the 21st century, maybe even the best ever:

The boys of the Big Bang Theory: