Internet Modern History Sourcebook: Scientific Revolution

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]
- R�ne Descartes (1596-1650): Discourse on Method, 1637, extracts [At WSU]
- R�ne Descartes (1596-1650): Discourse on Method, 1637 [At Project Gutenberg][Full text]
- R�ne Descartes (1596-1650): M�ditations, 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]

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NOTES:

Dates of accession of material added since July 1998 can be seen in the New Additions page.. The date of inception was 9/22/1997.

Links to files at other site are indicated by [At some indication of the site name or location]. Locally available texts are marked by [At this Site].

WEB indicates a link to one of small number of high quality web sites which provide either more texts or an especially valuable overview.

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created 1997: last revised 9/4/2007