Question

How did new theories and inventions of the Scientific Revolution impact religion and the popularity of democracy?

Answer 1

The Scientific Revolution was a time of developments and change for our ways of thinking and how our world was run. People before then had their religion control their lives and had a hard time transitioning to have faith in the facts the scientists discovered and proven. The discoveries made weren't usually trusted or believed until years or decades later. The time frame for the Scientific Revolution was between the lives of Nicholas Copernicus and Isaac Newton, though people were still making discoveries after that. The Scientific Revolution was followed by the Enlightenment, which lasted until 1800. There were developments in chemistry, medicine, machinery, astronomy, and mathematics made during time period. This time was also a push towards equality between men and women on intelligence. It still didn't fully convince men that women were as clever as them, or capable of conducting experiments. Scientists of this time weren't always educated as they could have been, but their discoveries were confirmed to be true many times, and have become theories and laws afterwards. This time marked a major shift in how people thought about the natural world.

Events- There were many important events during the Scientific Revolution. In 1543, Nicholas Copernicus offered his idea of the universe, the heliocentric model with the sun at the center. He claimed that the planets revolved around the sun, and moon revolved around the Earth. Another event was Newton's works getting published. Newton not only got his work the "Principia", about the laws of gravity, published in 1687, but he also got other works circulated. "Opticks: Or, a treatise of the Reflections, Refractions, Inflexions and Colours of Light." involving white light being made from all other colours combined. Other events was Galilei publishing his work "The Starry Messenger" in 1610, talking about his discoveries of stars being orbs of gasses and fire, and not heavenly bodies of light. The discoveries also included mountains on the moon, sunspots, and four moons revolving around the Jupiter. Church leaders were threatened as they feared “If a major teaching (like the earth being the center of the universe) could be disproved, then any teaching from the church could be challenged”

Items that left the impact and changed people’s perspectives - Many items from the Scientific Revolution have been proven to be useful in the development of the modern day, and many events in medicine and chemistry have been improved. The scientific method from Francis Bacon has been useful ever since it was created. The way of carefully organizing and conducting them to test hypotheses or theories was his way of making science benefit the people. Boyle conducted experiments and gave us "Boyle's Law", which explains how gases condense. Andreas Vesalius, a professor of surgery, enhanced on the human anatomy work of Galen, a great Greek physician who dissected animals to create his human anatomy chart. Women contributed their works as well. Margaret Cavendish written many books, like "Observations upon Experimental Philosophy", about how humans were masters of nature through the use of science. These works and discoveries have proven to be useful in the progress of our science and religion today. Telescopes, microscopes, barometers and thermometers were all inventions of the scientific revolution. They allowed scientist to see and observe everything from bacteria to plants and to measure everything from pressure to temperature. These tools provided scientific explanations for previous observations and religious superstitions.