Darren Daniel S.

Infante Science, Technology, and Society

02-20-22 Prof. Rachelle Chavez

The Scientific Revolution

1. Nicolas Copernicus
a. Belief or accepted theory before
- 166 years before Copernicus, Nicole Oresme was the one that argued about the
Heliocentrism. He argued in his book Livre du ciel et du monde (The Book of Heaven
and the World) that the earth rotates on its axis and that it made more sense for it to be
such a way rather than the heavens move.
b. Changes they presented or pushed for
- Copernicus repudiated Ptolemy’s “equant point” which is the imaginary point that
early astronomers use to see planets move at uniform speeds. Instead, He proposed a
heliocentric universe of the cosmos where Earth rotates on its axis every twenty-four
hours and that the Earth revolves around the sun every year.
c. The reaction of the society
- The devout Aristotelians, Ptolemy-ians, and the Christians ridiculed his work. A lot of
people thought that heliocentrism is wrong and some even found it blasphemous.
2. Introduction of Scientific Method
a. Belief or accepted theory before
- Galileo studied the heliocentrism of Copernicus using the telescopes he built, that
convinced him that Copernicus was right. He also investigated Kepler’s ideas
however he was not convinced by them.
b. Changes they presented or pushed for
- Galileo supported Copernicanism, he explained that the Bible and the nature did
not disagree. Rather, one was God’s word to the masses and other was God’s work.
He also argued that science was simply uncovering God’s work.
c. The reaction of the society
- His support for Copernicanism was creating some friction in the court of Florence.
Also, his explanation was not liked by the officials. The result of this is that
Copernicus’ De rev was added to the list of the banned books.
3. The Enlightenment Movement
 a. Belief or accepted theory before
- The enlightenment was a shift in ideas. It was a shift about knowledge as it went
away from traditional sources of authority and toward a kind of scientific rationality.
b. Changes they presented or pushed for
- The twenty-two volume Encyclopédie edited by Jean d'Alembert and Denis Diderot
was published from 1751 to 1777. This attempted to organize all the knowledge
available to humanity. This demonstrated three things: knowledge is cumulative;
knowledge is recordable, and knowledge is political.
c. The reaction of the society
- Enlightenment thinkers dreamed of quantification where they would describe things
in numbers. Meaning, that there would be an agreement on how to measure things
thus a standard.
4. The Industrial Revolution
a. Belief or accepted theory before
- Before industrial revolution, most people works as farmers/farm owners or artisans
making hand-crafted goods. This is their way of living before the changes took off.
b. Changes they presented or pushed for
- This is period where the coal and steam engine was introduced. The steam engine
became the workhorse of the Industrial Revolution. In decades. steam-powered
machines reshaped much of England. And coal was the one used as a fuel to steam
engine to work.
c. The reaction of the society
- The capital generated by the small scale finished goods producers (which were then
called the cottage system) became the foundation for factories. These factories
allowed for the mechanized and centralized system thus making more products for
less money.
5. Charles Darwin’s Theory of Evolution
a. Belief or accepted theory before
- Before Charles Darwin’s theory of natural selection, most people believed that
species were not linked in a single “family tree”. They were unconnected,
unrelated, and unchanged since the moment of their creation.
b. Changes they presented or pushed for
 - Charles Darwin developed his theory of evolution and natural selection.
Individuals in a species show variation in physical characteristics. This variation is
because of differences in their genes.
c. The reaction of the society
- This realization pitted the church and science against each other in a battle over
creation vs. evolution. The church taught the idea that God created the Earth and all
inhabitants of it. As Charles Darwin’s theory of evolution contradicted the teachings
of the church, it is no surprise that he became an enemy of the church.

References

LumenLearning (n.d.). The scientific revolution. Boundless History. https://courses.I

umenlearn i ng.com/bound less-world history/chapter/the-scientific-revolution/

McNamera, D. J., Valverde, V. M., & Beleno Ill, R. (2018). Science, technology, and
society. C&E Publishing.

Shuttleworth, M. & Wilson, L. T. (2008). What is a paradigm? Explorable.

https://explorable.com/what-is-a-paradigm