13.5. The Scientific Revolution

Until the mid-1500s,Europeans' view of the universe was shaped by the theories of the ancient writers Ptolemy and Aristotle. In1543, Polish scholar Nicolaus Copernics published the Revolutions of the Heavenly Spheres. In it, he proposed a heliocentric, or sun-centered, model of the universe. In the late 1500s, the Danish astronomer Tycho Brahe provided evidence that supported Copernicus's theory. After Brahe's death, his assistant, the brilliant German astronmer and mathematician Johannes Kepler, used Brahe's data to calculate the orbits of the planets revolving around the Sun.

Scientests from many different lands built on the foudations laid by Copernicus and Kepler. In Italy, Galileo Galilei assembled an astronomical telescope. Galileo's discoveries caused an uproar. Despite the opposition of the Church, by the early 1600s a new approach to science had emerged, based upon observation and experimentation. Two gaints of this revolution were the Englishman Francis Bacon and the Frenchman Rene Descartes

Bacon and Descartes differed in their methods, however. Over time, a step-by-step process of discovery evolved that became known as the scientific method.to explain the data, scientists used reasoning to propose a logical hypothesis, or possible explanation. The 1500s and 1600s saw drmatic changes in many branches of science, especially medicine and chemistry. Medieval physicians relied on the works of the ancient physician Galen.

In the early 1540s, French physician Amroise Pare developed a new and more effective ointment for preventing infection. The branch of sciene now called chemistry was in medieval times called alchemy. In the 1600s, English chemist Robert Boyle refined the alchemists' view of chemicals as basic building blocks. As a student in England, Issac Newton devoured the works of the leading scientists of his day. He called the force that pushes things down gravity.

In 1687, Newton published a book explaining the law of gravity and other workings of the universe. Calculus is a branch of mathematics partially developed by Newton and used to explain his laws, it is still applied today.