The Scientific Revolution refers to the spectacular and unprecedented growth of

intellectualism in the 16th and 17th centuries. The foundations of the modern world view were laid
during these years, and tremendous advances in various branch of science were made. However,
this period is important not so much for its scientific discoveries as for a shift in the outlook of
man’s perception of the universe and his place in it. In fact, there was an attempt at divorcing
the material world from the spiritual one. Empirical observation and scientific method now
attained importance, and not religious belief or speculation. The most striking changes occurred
in Cosmology.

The Ptolemaic idea of an earth-centric cosmos (geocentric), with other celestial bodies
revolving around it uniformly in circular orbits, was proved as wrong by Nicholas Copernicus. In
fact, the Scientific Revolution can be said to have begun with his revolutionary discovery of the
rotation of the earth on its axis and its motion around a fixed sun, which was the center of the
universe (heliocentric). He based these assertions on mathematical calculations, not
astronomical observations. His theory opened up the idea of an open universe, with the earth
being a small part of it. However, it was highly complex and technically far from satisfactory.
More solid arguments were thus needed, before the Copernican theory could be established and
profitably used.

Tycho Brahe was a Danish scientist who, with the help of the king of Denmark, built the
first really scientific institute of the modern world (Uraniborg) from which he observed the
positions of the stars and planets. He was influenced by Copernicus’ work but he preferred a
system of his own, in which the sun turned around the earth but the planets turned around sun.
His greatest contribution however, lay in his method of systematic observation of natural
phenomena over an extended period of time and a willingness to draw the logical conclusions
from the observed data and calculations. He spotted a ‘new star’ or nova and later a comet.
Tycho proved through his calculations that the comet came from the realm beyond moon and
followed an elliptical path.

It was his disciple Johannes Kepler, who provided solutions to the problems in the field
of astronomy. He was convinced by Copernicus’s conclusion confirming the heliocentric theory
(sun-centered). Kepler’s three laws of planetary motion not only gave substance to Copernicus’s
speculation of the earth’s movements around the sun but it also opened a new chapter in the
study of astronomy. The first law stated that the planets moved round the sun in an elliptical
orbit. According to the second law, a line always sweeps across the same area in any given time
from a planet to the sun. When a planet moves farther from the sun, its speed also decreases.

The third law stated that the square of the time taken by a planet to complete its orbit
bears a constant ratio to the cube of its mean distance from the sun. Thus, he removed the main
astronomical objections to the Copernican explanation. They also shattered the Pythagorean-
Platonic view of the circular motion of heavenly bodies. Kepler believed that some steady force
emanated from the sun, which maintained the motion of the planets. He combined the
observations of planetary positions observed by Brahe with his theories of planetary motion
which made it possible to predict the movements of celestial bodies more accurately than before
and was of great help to navigators.
 One of the prominent scientists of that period was Galileo Galilei. Galileo’s major success
lies in his total rejection of the Aristotelian concept. Aristotle believed that the commonly noted
characteristics of an object-its com-position, quality, colour, smell and value – had major
relevance to the problem of its motion in space. Galileo rejected this concept and instead argued
that only those qualities, which were measurable, e.g. mass, weight, speed and acceleration,
could form the elements of the science of mechanics. He devised pendulums rolling down
inclined surfaces to verify his theories and finally arrived at a new principle of inertia. He also
mathematically demonstrated the laws, which governed the motion of bodies. He concluded that
speed depended directly on the time the body was falling, and that bodies followed a parabolic
path in the absence of air.

Galileo used the telescope to study the heavens, which yielded startling discoveries that
proved and popularized the Copernican hypothesis. He found that the moon, instead of being a
perfect sphere, was covered with seas and mountains; the planet Venus showed phases like the
moon; around Jupiter circled three stars or moons; that there was a ring around Saturn; and the
dark patch on the sun called the ‘sun spots’ often caused electrical disturbances on heavenly
bodies. These discoveries gave further jolt to the traditional beliefs that held that the earth is
changing and imperfect while the heavens are unchangeable. He not only demanded for the
separation of theology from science but an evaluation of the work of theologians.

The achievements of Galileo and Kepler were made possible due to the new mathematics
that had blossomed with the Renaissance. Vieta had taken the decisive step of making all
algebraic argument symbolic by using letters for both known and unknown quantities not only
in algebra but also in trigonometry. This speeded up calculations. Another step forward was in
1585, when Simon Stevin introduced decimals, and in 1614, when Napier introduced logarithms.

The final stage in this transformation from the Aristotelian world picture, however, came
with Isaac Newton. It was Newton to weave Kepler’s laws of planetary motion, Galileo’s law of
falling bodies and the concept of inertia, Descartes’ views of science and his own concept of
gravitation into a single mathematical-physical system. His greatest achievement was his
formulation of the laws of universal gravitation. He held that the force of gravity kept moon in
orbit. Newton explained his mathematical laws of mechanics in three laws: first, in the absence
of force, motion continues in a straight line with uniform velocity; second that the force acting
on motion determines the rate of change of momentum, including friction; and the third, that
every action has an equal and opposite reaction. These laws together with the law of gravitation
became the universal tools applicable to the planets as well as the earth.

He found the mathematical method for converting physical principles into qualitative
but calculable results, confirmable by observation using infinitesimal calculus. It helped the
understanding of variables and motion, and hence laid the foundations for mechanical
engineering. It also showed how to calculate the masses of the sun, earth, planets and other
satellites. He also found the solution of the problem of colour. Using a prism, he successfully
revealed that light could be separated into different colours. He also reconstructed white light by
combining these colours. He was the first to distinguish between the mass and the weight of an
object. He explained that the tidal waves related to gravitational pull of the moon. Newton
propounded the concept of absolute infinite space in theological terms. He stated that space
existed eternally and was not created, while the existence of matter in space was contingent on
God’s will and was the arena of divine activity.