How Did Copernicus Contribute To The Scientific Revolution

The Scientific Revolution was a series of of discoveries that led to a better understanding of the world around us. There were many philosophers that contributed to the advancements that occurred during this time. These advancements affected the modern day understanding of our universe and changed the way many looked at science as a whole. This time period involved many brilliant philosophers who devoted their lives to understanding the universe and developing a more accurate idea of how things work on Earth. Without the development of these ideas, society would not have a clear, intelligent idea of what goes on with our environment and our surroundings.
Important advancements were made in physical and life science during this period
of time. Philosophers consider this time to be the beginning of modern science. Although some historians are reluctant to use the term “Scientific Revolution” when referring to this period in science , it is clear that the changes caused by it went hand in hand with the revelations emerging. The advancements during this time changed how the world and even the universe was viewed. Without these ideas modern scientists would not know what they do about Earth. Some believe the Scientific Revolution was a direct result of a Aristotelian Model of Scientific explanation. Many ideas and theories were emerging from the Philosophers that were alive at this time.
There were too many philosophers that greatly contributed to the Scientific Revolution to mention. However there are three who stand out from the rest. One of these philosophers was Galileo Galilei who not only contributed to science when he was alive but his discoveries helped philosophers that came along after his death. Another philosopher of this time was Nicolaus Copernicus who helped develop the basic ideas of math and science. Lastly, Johannes Kepler built upon Copernicus’s ideas and bettered them in several ways.
Galileo Galilei is a philosopher that proposed an alternative way of thinking when it pertained to comprehending motion. Galileo was born February 15, 1564 in Central Italy. He taught mathematics until approximately 1609 and was responsible for many discoveries in physics during his time as a professor. His discoveries changed the understanding of the world entirely. Galileo studied the motion of both the planets and the stars. (Sax C. 21) He simplified the idea of celestial and terrestrial motion and this greatly impacted philosophers and their ideas. This was an important discovery because at the time it was thought that the universe revolved around the Earth when in fact it revolved around the Sun. Later in his life Galileo published his discoveries as well as an explanation as to what they meant about the universe. Although his discoveries were seemingly the start of many advancements, his ideas were thought of as “unorthodox.” Galileo ended up being burned to death in 1642 because of these outlook changing ideas. He was just one of many philosophers who contributed to the Scientific Revolution.
Nicolaus Copernicus was another philosopher and mathematician that contributed greatly to the advancements in the Scientific Revolution.
He was born in 1473 in Toruń in northern Poland to a family of five. From the time Nicolaus Copernicus was young it was clear that he was interested in science and mathematics. This passion drove Copernicus to make many discoveries through the duration of his life. He went against the commonly thought idea that the Earth was stationary. He instead suggested instead that we lived in a heliocentric planetary system. This means the sun is at the center of the universe rather than the common idea that the planets revolved around Earth . The laws that were once seemed to only be applicable to “space” were now seen as applicable to Earth and the things on it. One error that Copernicus made was thinking that the planets orbited in a circular motion when instead they orbited in an elliptical motion around the sun. Although there was a lack of compelling reasons at the time, Copernicus continued to believe that he had the correct ideas. (Ren & Ref) He helped the basic mathematical structure be understood by many people of that time period. Copernicus’s work served as a foundation for other philosophers to add
to. One such example of this is Johannes Kepler who added to Copernicus’ original hypotheses and developed a more modern idea of how the universe worked. (SR PBS) Although he for the most part agreed with all of Copernicus’ discoveries and the analysis that he proposed after them, he disagreed with one idea. Kepler also had many of his own discoveries and theories throughout his lifetime. For example he discovered that the planets orbited in an ellipsis shape rather than a circular shape. This development changed how Philosophers at the time thought of the planets and how they moved in our solar system. He later tested this theory and confirmed that he was correct in thinking this about the orbiting of planets. Kepler also discovered that the motion of planets could be calculated using mathematics. He later made the discovery that planets orbited at various speeds and later provided an explanation as to why this occurred. He contributed greatly to the Scientific Revolution and added to the ideas that brilliant philosophers before him had proposed. He kept Copernicus’ theories alive and helped add to the knowledge that he contributed to during that time period.
With great discoveries and ideas can come great opposition. Many people refused to believe the ideas being proposed by the figures during the Scientific Revolution. Some at this time said that Galileo’s ideas opposed the church and that he contradicted the Bible. Galileo eventually became acquainted with the pope, who wanted to learn more about the way the world worked, and he believed that Galileo was only proposing an alternative way of thinking although in the beginning it was thought that he was opposing their godly figure. These thoughts about his discoveries continued throughout his life. He was thought of by Catholic Church officials as “unorthodox.” This was not uncommon for philosophers at this time because many of their discoveries were so significant for their time. The discoveries made had many affects on not only the people but the environment.
The Scientific Revolution had many effects on how the population understood nature.
Methodology pertaining to nature arose during this period. This methodology was characterized by three different things. The first was the emphasis on the mathematical properties that were beneath what was going on physically in nature. Philosophers began to dig deeper into why the things we could see were happening and what they were caused by. The second was a tendency to explain why events occurred in terms of properties and their relationships. This means that they would attempt to give the reasons that different properties reacted to one another in the ways that they did. Lastly, the last category was a method of hypothesis that helped make the experiment more simple. The method of hypothesis was to discover the laws restricting the properties of extended matter. They used these methods to differentiate between primary properties from the secondary properties. The primary properties being the aspects of an object that you could see and the secondary properties being the things you couldn’t see on the object but the way the objects affected
people.
The Scientific Revolution contributed greatly to our modern day understanding of the universe. The philosophers involved during this period gave an intelligent perspective on the workings of the things we traditionally cannot see. The ideas proposed were not conventional for their time because they were very advanced. They proposed an alternative framework for science and mathematics. This greatly advanced humans and their knowledge of the world. Without the Scientific Revolution humans would know much less about their surroundings and the workings of the world around them.