Scientific Revolution

(noun)

The emergence of modern science during the early modern period, when developments in mathematics, physics, astronomy, biology (including human anatomy) and chemistry transformed the views of society about nature. It began in Europe towards the end of the Renaissance period and continued through the late 18th century, influencing the intellectual social movement known as the Enlightenment. While its dates are disputed, the publication in 1543 of Nicolaus Copernicus's De revolutionibus orbium coelestium (On the Revolutions of the Heavenly Spheres) is often cited as marking its beginning.

Related Terms

Examples of Scientific Revolution in the following topics:

  • Roots of the Scientific Revolution

    • While its dates are disputed, the publication in 1543 of Nicolaus Copernicus's De revolutionibus orbium coelestium (On the Revolutions of the Heavenly Spheres) is often cited as marking the beginning of the scientific revolution.
    • Many new ideas contributed to what is called the scientific revolution.
    • Some of them were revolutions in their own fields.
    • The scientific revolution laid the foundations for the Age of Enlightenment that centered on reason as the primary source of authority and legitimacy and emphasized the importance of the scientific method.
    • Outline the changes that occurred during the Scientific Revolution which resulted in developments towards a new means for experimentation.

  • Physics and Mathematics

    • While the dates of the scientific revolution are disputed, the publication in 1543 of Nicolaus Copernicus's De revolutionibus orbium coelestium (On the Revolutions of the Heavenly Spheres) is often cited as marking the beginning of the scientific revolution.
    • Isaac Newton's Philosophiæ Naturalis Principia Mathematica concluded the Copernican Revolution.
    • The scientific revolution also witnessed the development of modern optics.
    • The book was the first scientific publication to be based on data from a telescope.
    • Distinguish between the different key figures of the Scientific Revolution and their achievements in mathematics and physics.

  • The Popularization of Science

    • Science during the Enlightenment was dominated by scientific societies and academies, which had largely replaced universities as centers of scientific research and development.
    • Scientific academies and societies grew out of the Scientific Revolution as the creators of scientific knowledge in contrast to the scholasticism of the university.
    • National scientific societies were founded throughout the Enlightenment era in the urban hotbeds of scientific development across Europe.
    • More formal works included explanations of scientific theories for individuals lacking the educational background to comprehend the original scientific text.
    • Others became illustrators or translators of scientific texts.

  • Introduction to the Enlightenment

    • The ideas of the Enlightenment undermined the authority of the monarchy and the Church and paved the way for the political revolutions of the 18th and 19th centuries.
    • French historians traditionally place the Enlightenment between 1715, the year that Louis XIV died, and 1789, the beginning of the French Revolution.
    • Some recent historians begin the period in the 1620s, with the start of the scientific revolution.
    • Science during the Enlightenment was dominated by scientific societies and academies, which had largely replaced universities as centers of scientific research and development.
    • Societies and academies were also the backbone of the maturation of the scientific profession.

  • The Spread of Revolution

  • Japan's Industrial Revolution

  • The October Revolution

  • Egypt's First Revolution

  • The Iranian Revolution

  • The Cultural Revolution