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Scientific Revolution

See Main Page for a guide to all contents of all sections.

• The Scientific Revolution
  • Traditional Aristotelianism
  • New Medieval Analyses of motion
  • The Challenge: Astonomy in the 16th Century
  • Galileo Galilei: The Turning Point
  • Philosophy of Science: Induction/Deduction
  • The Creation of Classical Physics
  • New Medical Theories
  • Scientific Institutions
• The Scientific Attitude

• SUMMARY: The Scientific Revolution
• 2ND Thomas S. Kuhn: Structure of Scientific Revolutions, 1962 [At Emory]
  Summary of theories of an important modern theorist of the idea of scientific revolution.
• WEB See The Galileo Project [At Rice] for a website focused on the early scientific revolution.
• Traditional Aristotelianism
  • Aristotle
  • The Great Chain of Being
• New Medieval Analyses of Motion
  • Buridan
  • Nicholas Oresme (1323-1382): Basic Information [At St. Andrews]
    An important late medieval scientist. Not all was dark before Copernicus. Oresme, Catholic Bishop of Lisieux, wrote on the nature of light, and invented coordinate geometry long before Descartes.
• The Challenge: Astonomy in the 16th Century
  • Nicholas Copernicus: Dedication of The Revolutions of the Heavenly Bodies, 1543 [At Bartleby]; Alternate Text [At History World]
  • Nicholas Copernicus: The Revolutions of the Heavenly Bodies, 1543, selection from main text, [At this Site]
  • Tycho Brahe: Life [AT kth.se]
    A web page with illustrations of Brahe's observations and system.
  • Johannes Kepler: Laws of Planetary Motion [At CVC]
    A web page illustrating the laws in diagrams
• Galileo Galilei: The Turning Point
  • Galileo Galilei (1564-1642): Letter to the Duchess Christina of Tuscany, 1615 [At this Site]
    RG Reading Guide
    Catholic Encyclopedia (1913): Article
  • Galileo's Pendulum Experiments - a modern recreation [At Rice]
  • The Crime of Galileo: Indictment 1633 [At this Site]
  • Cardinal Robert Bellarmine (1542-1621): Letter on Galileo's Theories, 1615 [At this Site]
  • Cardinal Robert Bellarmine (1542-1621): Information [At Rice]
  • Index of Forbidden Books, Some listed authors, 1559-1964.
  • Index of Forbidden Books, frontpage of 116 edition [published From 1559 to 1964]
    Part of Bonfire of Liberties [At Texas Humanities], an exhibition of banned books. But see also the Vatican Library Exhibition, which shows the role of the Vatican in preserving culture.
  • 2ND Donald Kobe: Luther and Science [At Leader U.]
    Consideration of the relationship between Protestantism and the Scientific Revolution.
• Philosophy of Science: Induction/Deduction
  • Bernardino Telesio (1509–1588): from On the Nature of Things According to Proper Principles, 1565[At this Site]
  • Francis Bacon (1561-1626): from First Book of Aphorisms [At this Site]
  • Francis Bacon (1561-1626): Novum Organum [Full Text] [At Hanover]
  • Francis Bacon (1561-1626): The New Atlantis, 1627 [At this Site]
  • Francis Bacon (1561-1626): The New Atlantis, 1626 [At ArtBin][Full Text]
  • Francis Bacon (1561-1626): Various Texts [index at Hanover]
  • Voltaire (1694-1778): On Francis Bacon, from Letters on the English or Lettres Philosophiques, c. 1778  [At this Site]
  • Ben Jonson (1573-1625): On Lord Francis Bacon, 1625 [At this Site]
  • Réne Descartes (1596-1650): Discourse on Method, 1637, extracts [At WSU]
  • Réne Descartes (1596-1650): Discourse on Method, 1637 [At Project Gutenberg][Full text]
  • Réne Descartes (1596-1650): Méditations, 1641 [At Wright][Full text][Trilingual edition: Latin, French, and English]
• The Creation of Classical Physics
  • Sir Isaac Newton (1642-1727): Optics, excerpts [At this Site]
    On atomic theory and induction.
  • Sir Isaac Newton (1642-1727): Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosophy, excerpts [At this Site]
    On the rules of reasoning in philosophy.
  • Sir Isaac Newton (1642-1727): Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosophy, excerpts [At Then Again]
  • Sir Isaac Newton (1642-1727): Three Laws of Motion, in Latin [At the Latin Library]
  • Sir Isaac Newton (1642-1727): Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosophy, [facsimile of 1846 edition: may load slowly][at CMU] or here [At Tripod]
    Complete text with illustrations.
  • Sir Isaac Newton (1642-1727): Principia: Book Two. Lemma II. [At Trinity College Dublin]
    Newton describes what is essentially the Product Rule for differentiation, applying it to calculate the `moments' of quantities that are expressed as products of powers of other quantities whose moments are known.
  • Voltaire (1694-1778):  Letters on Newton, from the Letters on the English or Lettres Philosophiques, c. 1778  [At this Site]
  • Cambridge in the Time of Newton [Modern Account][At History House]
  • Joseph Priestley: The Discovery of Oxygen, 1776 [At this Site]
• New Medical Theories
  • Andreas Vesalius (1514-64): De humani corporis fabrica, 1543, frontispiece of 1555 edition, [At Internet Archive, from UAB], and see Detailed Images [At Medicina Antiqua]
    See also Brief Bio [At Plymouth], or here [At Virginia]
  • Vesalius Image Archive [At Vesalium.com]
    Archive of medical and anatomical images. Not for the squeamish.
  • 16th Century Surgeon [At Internet Archive, from CCNY]
  • William Harvey (1578-1657): On The Motion of The Heart And Blood In Animals, 1628 [At this Site]
  • William Harvey (1578-1657): On the Motion of the Heart, excerpts [At this Site]
• Scientific Institutions
  • Letters Patent Establishing the French Academy, 1635, excerpts [At Hanover]
  • Dr. John Wallis: The Origin of The Royal Society, 1645-1662 [At this Site] 
  • Voltaire (1694-1778): On The Royal Society And Other Academies from Letters on the English or Lettres Philosophiques, c. 1778 [At this Site]

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The Scientific Attitude

• Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790): Experiments with Balloons, 1783 [At this Site]