Galileo Scientific Revolution

Anyone who understands and agrees with modern science will say that our progress in intellect and science during the Middle Ages was heading for a complete disaster! Natural philosophy was wrongfully revolving around Aristotle and his absurd ideas and interpretation on science. That being the case, science was eventually saved and reestablished by the pioneers and philosophers during the Elizabethan age. We call this the Scientific Revolution, and this period in time was a great struggle to inaugurate what science is and is not. In addition, it was also a period of numerous discoveries in medicine, astronomy, physics, chemistry, and much more. There were a plethora of scientists who’ve contributed to the Scientific Revolution. However, the

most notable ones ultimately restored the foundations of science from the work of Aristotle and other contrary scientists. These scientists in particular stand to be the most remarkable pioneers of natural philosophy. However, an arguable question remains in the air; who, of these amazing scientists, showed the epitome of the Scientific Revolution and predominately influenced how people would view the universe? Provided this question, we must go in depth with these philosophers’ struggles and efforts to modernize natural philosophy. Only then, can we make the final, strenuous decision for who stands to be the most diligent, imaginative, and influential scientist of the Scientific Revolution. Keep in mind that natural philosophy and science are interchangeable terms; they are very much alike. The term philosophy and philosopher, on the other hand, are not related to science. It’s not a negative term used for people in this time period, but there were many philosophers who’ve made the bad habit in mixing science and philosophy together.
One of the biggest issues made in the Middle Ages was the inefficient process of doing science. Students at school were taught that nature had to be mostly studied in a qualitative sense; there was not much importance for data collection and experimentation (Cauz 1). However, in the early 1600s, English philosopher Francis Bacon began to make the new process for science. He emphasized to the scientific community that collecting data from experiments were in fact very important for performing good science. More importantly, he stated that conclusions were to be made from the data collected and not just any person’s intuition. He called his new process for studying nature the inductive method (Cohen 148). We know his work today as the scientific method, (Causey 1) and it is the number one most important invention ever made in science. Bacon published his work through his series of books called Novum Organum (Grimm 2). It didn’t take a lot of time afterwards for his new method to be adopted by many other scientists over Aristotle’s.
The message he was making to philosophers in his publications was this: “It doesn’t matter how beautiful your theory is, it doesn’t matter how smart you are. If it doesn’t agree with experiment, it’s wrong” (Feynman 1).
As a result of his work, almost every scientist used Bacon’s method for performing experiments. Even famous scientists such as Robert Boyle, Robert Hooke, and Isaac Newton used the scientific method. At last, the work of a phenomenal scientists has begun to split the boundaries between the Aristotelian period and the Scientific Revolution. Science was beginning to separate from philosophy.
Bacon was not the only scientific mind to contribute to the method of science. In 1637, French mathematician and physicist Rene Descartes proposed his philosophy for the method of science. Constructed in his work of geometry, Descartes’s method worked by taking the complex structures in a shape from a function and breaking them into simple elements (Cohen 153). He published his work in his book called Discourse on Method (Cohen 151). Although this method has been incorporated as part of Bacon’s method today, Descartes has claimed that his discovery was a completely “new science” (Cohen 152). Believe it or not, the scientific community of Europe had firmly accepted his declaration, for he has proved that it is capable in solving problems in mathematics. That being the case, Descartes’s discovery remains questionable for the fact that he “dreamed on the occasion of the discovery” (Cohen 152). Nevertheless, his method had been adopted by the scientific community in the Elizabethan Age, and he grew as an eminent leader in mathematics and physics.
Descartes had also emphasized to the community that only proper science will make the advancement in medicine and “eliminate the illness of the body as well as the mind” (Cohen 151). Furthermore, at the end of his book, Discourse on Method, Descartes added in his thoughts about the necessities in financially aiding an individual researcher, suggesting that public or private support for a scientist’s research is a useful way in improving an economy. In addition to this book, Descartes published three more volumes on three different sciences: Geometry, Dioptrics, and Meteorology (Cohen 153).
With regards to his profession in science, Descartes also worked as a philosopher. Unlike most philosophers, however, he separated his work of philosophy from science. Thus, making Descartes and even more remarkable figure in the Scientific Revolution.
Although science began to modernize from the contributions of Bacon and Descartes, the universities of Europe had still remained to be somewhat ignorant of science changing. In fact, the majority of education institutions still countinued to be influenced by the Aristotelian period. The new philosophy of science floated “in the air” (Cauz 1) of society. Meanwhile, the same traditional curriculum of Aristotle’s philosophy remained to be taught in more classes than science. Aside from most of the students who choose to agree with his ideology, some have chosen to make their own natural philosophy.
English physicists and mathematician Sir Isaac Newton stood out as one of those students. That is to say, he did study the work of Aristotle during his higher education. At some time though, as an undergraduate, Newton stumbled upon the works of Descartes’s natural philosophy, along with the works of other scientists. After comparing the views of Descartes and Aristotle, Newton was determined to find the truth in science and decided to make a set of notes called “Certain Philosophical Questions” (Cauz 1). After understanding and mastering Descartes’s famous method and his mathematics with these notes, Newton invented the calculus a new way of analyzing qualitative data more accurately with mathematics. He published his work through his book called On the Methods of Series and Fluxions in 1671 (Cauz 1). As a result, scientists were able to use the calculus for both pure and applied mathematics, along with almost any other science.
Newton also contributed to physics by creating several laws for how the universe physically worked and establishing the concepts of mass and gravity. Also worth noting is his contribution in chemistry as well; he worked with the concept of heat and the theory of matter (Cohen 161). In no time, Newton became recognized amongst the scientific community as the leading mathematician in Europe.
The three scientists mentioned were phenomenal influences to the Scientific Revolution, and they triumphed against the Aristotelian period. However, no scientist, at this time, could change history like the Italian physicist and astronomer, Galileo Galilei.
Galileo was born in the late 1500s, and the philosophy of Aristotle was freshly accepted as the science in this time. As a matter of fact, Aristotle wasn’t the only notorious pioneer of philosophy. The European society believed in the geocentric view of the universe, proposed by Claudius Ptolemy (Yagan 1). The geocentric view was part of the Aristotelian system, and claims that the earth was the center of the universe and all planet orbits around it. Not only was this view of the universe accepted by European society, but it was also accepted by the Catholic Church, who went so far as to take this philosophical claim and incorporate it in part of their religion (Famous Scientists 6). It can be reasonably inferred that the Catholic Church did not take much liking to new ideas that contradicted their beliefs. Nonetheless, Galileo stood against the Church and fought for not only what he believed in, but for what was scientifically proven.
Galileo’s talent in mathematics and science became recognized in 1589, and he became a professor in the University of Pisa where he taught mathematics (Famous Scientists 3). Three years later, he taught at the University of Padua, where he began making a plethora of scientific discoveries. One of Galileo’s most notable achievements was that he was the first person to use a telescope as a scientific tool for the sky. Using the telescope, he made astronomical calculations to discover the first fours moons to orbit a planet besides Earth; they orbited the planet Jupiter. These moons were known as the Galilean Satellites, in honor of his discovery (Famous Scientists 4). Furthermore, he discovered the rings of Saturn, the mountains on our moon, and that the Milky Way is composed of stars (“Famous Scientists” 3). Galileo had also contributed to physics by establishing that objects accelerate due to gravity. Like any proper scientist, he tested his experiments on gravity by rolling balls down wooden ramps (“Famous Scientist” 4). Even without Francis Bacon new outline of science, Galileo knew that nature had to be studied through a proper system.
In 1613, Galileo’s conflict with the Catholic Church began. To reiterate, the Church at the time was well known in disregarding new scientific ideas in relation to their religion. What is most concerning is that was meant to be challenged and argued against. After all, “the only thing absolute about science is that it always changes” (Causey 1). To take away a scientists freedom to publish his evidence based theory in order to maintain a tenacious religion is an atrocity!
Regardless, Galileo challenged the church.

He published a book called Letters on the Sunspots, which explained the problems of the heavens; his argument was that the heavens contained impurities because the sun had dark patches on its surface called sun spots (Famous Scientists 6). Furthermore, he stated that it was better scientifically proven that the earth and all other planets orbited the sun. This was known as the heliocentric view, proposed by Nicholas Copernicus, and was later on accepted as the actual view of the universe. Furthermore, Galileo went so far as to write that the bible had to be remade based on modern science (“Famous Scientists” 7). The Church responded by banning all books published by Copernicus, along with neglecting Galileo. However, Galileo continued on with his publications and was eventually sentenced to life in house arrest. As a result, Galileo had spent eight years of his life in his house. After which, he died, but not before he published his final book of two new sciences. It was called, Discourses and Mathematical Demonstrations Concerning the Two New Sciences (Famous Scientists 7) and he called the two new sciences the science of material and the science of motion. This book explains Galileo’s scientific findings from his years of experimenting and theorizing. The Catholic Church was not able to stop Galileo’s books from being available in the countries of England, Holland, Germany, Scotland, Switzerland, and Scandinavia. It has been argued that this was the book that caused Isaac Newton to create his laws of motion (Famous Scientists 7). After Galileo’s death, the Catholic Church began to accept Galileo’s work and allowed his books to be published. It wasn’t until 1835 that everything written by Galileo was approved by the

Church.
Galileo’s stand against the Church was indeed worth saving the integrity of science. He was able to restore other scientists’ beliefs in true science. In addition, he gave the scientific community the notion that people had the right to challenge a scientist’s proposals. Last and most importantly, Galileo created the consensus that science was not to be incorporated with philosophy or religion. In conclusion, Galileo stands to be the most influential man of the Scientific Revolution, for he provided rational scientists with the stepping stones to make a new science.
As you can see, the Scientific Revolution was a huge successful attempt in integrating our society and education with modern science. As it has been noted, it was Galileo who began this revolution and sparked all scientists to rationalize the old science. Altogether, these outstanding individuals are the saviors in our progression in science and technology. They will be forever remembered in history as the founding father of true science. There was no greater impact in science than the Scientific Revolution, the period of true scientists who sacrificed their reputation to stand for what they believe in.