As Newton has famously proclaimed, when asked about his endeavors and achievements during his tenure one of the most notable scientists of all time, “If I have seen further than others it is by standing on the shoulders of giants.” From the dawn of history, science appears to be a subject in which theories and revelations from the past are either shaped, built up on, or disproven. Modern day science is best explained by the works of notable scientists of the 20th and 21st century, who have given us logical theories to some of the most confounding mysteries of the world. Yet their contributions are largely a result of the scientists before them- had they not laid the foundation and groundwork of science, large amounts of scientific discovery …show more content…
Even the works of Newton draw parallel to the works of Galileo Galilei before him. 46 years prior to Newton’s description of the laws of motion in Principia, Galileo drew insights, much akin to the former’s further evaluations and notions of acceleration, inertia, as well as approaching realizing Newton’s third law that every action causes an equal and opposite reaction. He himself, and later asserted definitively by Newton, concluded that a force must be applied to keep an object in motion. He assuringly provided the basis of a theory that worked to disprove the work and thoughts of those before him. Prior to the latter two scientists theories, most scientists and people believed the common-sense thought process described by Aristotle-an object will only keep moving if a force is applied to it in order to make it do so. Just as Galileo was able to disprove Aristotle, the works of Newton disproved Galileo. Galileo was adamant on resisting the notion of gravity, describing it a “mystical force.” However, as precisely noted and proven time and time again, Newton’s principles laid out in Principia stay true and most of his theories resist …show more content…
Developments under him influenced the works of Christiaan Huygens. Huygens grew up in a very sophisticated manner surrounded by language, art, music, law, engineering and mathematics. Huygens has been known to return to isolate himself in Holland in order to spend most of his time contemplating the wonders and nature of the universe. Once he passed his college years, Huygens drew his focus towards the stars. By using the works of Galileo and Newton, who described Huygens as “the most elegant mathematician of the age.” Huygens was able to combine their knowledge of inertia, along with his theories involving celestial bodies into developing the pendulum clocks, the first timekeeping device that was truly accurate- down to the minute. Huygens soon licensed his discovery, making a lot of profits in its production and sale. However, his scientific endeavors did not end with his first discovery. Huygen later on posed a series of theoretical groundwork that were truly influential in Isaac Newton’s understanding of centrifugal force, as well as in the development of Newton’s laws of motion. He was able to show the path of an object, that will, by nature travel in a straight line, unless being curved by another external force. Huygen was also able to further develop the spiral balance spring. Noting the errs of the spring balance in his contemporary time, Huygens modified the watch so that
Furthermore, if we look at the distinguished Scientist Isaac Newton and his acclaimed laws of gravity we can understand some of the thinking tools he used. Mr. Newton’s imagination and inspiration was a key player during the scientific revolution era. “Legend has it that, at this time, Newton experienced his famous inspiration of gravity with the falling apple.” (Bio.org, 2017)
Bragg, Melvyn, On Giants' Shoulders: Great Scientists and Their Discoveries from Archimedes to DNA. New York: John Wiley & Sons, 1998.
In 1687, Newton published Philosophiae Naturalis Principia Mathematica (also known as Principia). The Principia was the “climax of Newton's professional life” (“Sir Isaac Newton”, 370). This book contains not only information on gravity, but Newton’s Three Laws of Motion. The First Law states that an object in constant motion will remain in motion unless an outside force is applied. The Second Law states that an object accelerates when a force is applied to a mass and greater force is needed to accelerate an object with a larger mass. The Third Law states that for every action there is an opposite and equal reaction. These laws were fundamental in explaining the elliptical orbits of planets, moons, and comets. They were also used to calculate
The following page focuses on the Revolution in Physics, specifically the scientific works of Max Planck, Albert Einstein, and Werner Heisenberg, all of which took place in the early twentieth century. In this page I will attempt to answer the following question, "How did the Revolution in Physics transform the way that humans viewed themselves and nature from 1715 to the present day?" To effectively answer this question I will cover three main points. I will start off by briefly describing the scientific beliefs that dominated European society in the years between 1715 and the Revolution in Physics. Next, I am going to explain the epoch making works of Max Planck, Albert Einstein, and Werner Heisenberg that were highly responsible for initiating this new era of scientific thinking. Lastly, I will focus in on how humans viewed themselves and nature differently after the Revolution in Physics.
Isaac Newton, (1642-1727) was an English scientist and statesman. Although his views were thought to contradict the bible he was the only man of these three which proved his views to be true. He discovered gravity and the laws of motion. He stated that, 'every particle in the universe is attracted to every other particle by a force that is directly related to the product of their masses and inversely related to the squares of the distance between them.
his home in Woolsthorpe over the next two years. During this time he worked on
" N.p., n.d. Web. 15 Jan. 2018. "The Galileo Project." The Galileo Project | Science | Pendulum Clock. N.p., n.d. Web.
Christian Huyghens was born April 14, 1629—died July 8, 1695. Dutch mathematician, astronomer, and physicist, who founded the wave theory of light, discovered the true shape of the rings of Saturn, and made original contributions to the science of dynamics—the study of the action of forces on bodies.
Kepler revealed one of the most famous discoveries in astronomy. Planets orbit the sun in predictable patterns. The sun does not orbit the planets. Kepler posed a question of the planetary motion. Later, Newton took to answer. Kepler also came transversely the paths of planets; their path was elliptical, not circular. Planets move in ellipses with the sun at one focus and Prior to this in 1602, Kepler found from trying to figure out the position of the Earth in its orbit that as it sweeps out an area defined by the Sun and the orbital path of the Earth that the radius vector labels equal areas in equal times. This idea turn around to be very popular in the Scientific Revolution, as it stimulated much inquiring.
Galileo came up with a very different approach in viewing the motion of falling objects. Unlike Aristotle, who viewed motion in terms of nature, Galileo focused strictly on the mathematical aspects (Finocchiaro, 1975). Galileo once said, “The universe cannot be read until we have learnt...
Another important individual who drove history was the Italian astronomer and scientist Galileo Galilei. Galileo discovered something so important that it changed the selfish perspective that humans were the center of the universe and led to the growth of human knowledge. Utilizing mathematics and a telescope he had developed, Galileo observed that the planets revolved around the sun and not the Earth. This was a significant discovery because not only did it contradict what the church had taught, it also showed that the universe was not what it seemed. With this truth uncovered, many people began to fascinate over the universe. This triggered people to begin studying space extensively and eventually lead to present day space exploration. Galileo also left a lasting impression upon many great minds, such as Sir Isaac Newton, who used Galileo's research and theories to further his own studies such as the physical laws, and their properties.
Galileo proposed his formulation of the concept of inertia, which is the property of matter that causes it to resist any change of its motion in either direction or speed. In other words, if an object in a state of motion possesses an “inertia”, it causes the object to remain in that state of motion unless an external force acts on it. Galileo figured this out by first meticulously observing Aristotle’s concept of motion. By virtue of a series of experiments, Galileo realized that the analysis of Aristotle was incorrect because it failed to account properly for a hidden force, the frictional force between the surface and the object. For example if one were to push a block of wood across a table, there would be two opposing forces that act, one of them being the force associated with the push and the other, the force that is associated with the friction, which acts in the opposite direction. Galileo realized as the frictional forces were decreased the object would move further and further before stopping.
For the time, this was another huge leap forward for astronomy and science. This gives us an explanation of why our weather seasons change, the rising and setting of the sun, and why the stars in the night sky move. Copernicus stating that the moon revolved around the earth also led to the explanation of the rise and fall of tides in the oceans on our planet. This helps explain and predict weather patterns today and even the exact time when the sun will rise and fall. We are able to do so many things today because of Copernicus’
Over the years, there have been many more important figures in astronomy. One extraordinary astronomer was Galileo Galilei, who invented the first refractor telescope in which light is bent to enlarge an image of the sky (“Galileo Project”). The next great astronomer to follow him was Isaac Newton. Newton had made a great amount of contributions to astronomy during his life. He further proved that the Earth was not the center of the universe and he also invented the Newtonian reflector telescope which is still used today in observatories.
Isaac Newton was born on January 4, 1643 in Woolsthorpe, England where he grew up. His father, also named Isaac Newton, was a prosperous farmer who died three months before Isaacs’s birth. Isaac was born premature; he was very tiny and weak and wasn’t expected to live (bio).