module 5 - modern ages

• Early modern period


  Began with Gutenberg's invention of the movable type printing press in the late 15th century and ended in the late 18th century
• Early modern period

  • Rising literacy rates, which led to educational reform
  • Spread of knowledge, which spurred the Renaissance and the Protestant Reformation
  • Improved transportation
  • Secularized politics
  • Spread of capitalism
  • Growth of nation-states
  • More widely accessible information
• Late modern period


  Began with the Industrial Revolution in England around 1759, combined with the American Revolution in 1776 and the French Revolution in 1789
• The Industrial Revolution had far-reaching consequences, changing the economic, social, and cultural framework of its time
• During the 19th century, several crucial inventions - the internal combustion engine, steam-powered ships, and railways - led to innovations in various industries
• Early Modern Ages


  The period of European history between the end of the Middle Ages and the beginning of the Industrial Revolution, roughly the late 15th century to the late 18th century
• During the early modern period, the social and intellectual barriers that divided the mechanical arts from what was sometimes being labeled science continued to be overcome
• The early modern period saw a dramatic expansion of world trade and commercial activity that some have labeled a commercial revolution
• Scientific Revolution


  A series of events that marked 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
• By the end of the Scientific Revolution, science had replaced Christianity as the focal point of European civilization
• Reasons for the change to the medieval idea of science

  • Seventeenth century scientists and philosophers were able to collaborate with members of the mathematical and astronomical communities to effect advances in all fields
  • Scientists realized the inadequacy of medieval experimental methods and devised new methods
  • Academics had access to a legacy of European, Greek, and Middle Eastern scientific philosophy that they could use as a starting point
• Paradigm shift

  Major innovations in science, as described by the 20th-century historian of science Thomas Kuhn
• Publication of Copernicus's heliocentric theory, a good beginning point for the Scientific Revolution

  1543
• Nicolaus Copernicus


  Born in 1473 in Torun, Poland, he was a church administrator and doctor who dedicated himself to astronomical work in his free time
• Copernican Theory


  Copernicus postulated that the Earth and the planets revolve around the sun, and that the Earth spins on its axis daily

  
• Copernicus retained the ancient belief that circles governed the heavens, and his evidence showed that even in a sun-centered universe the planets and stars did not revolve around the sun in circular orbits

  
• Copernicus failed to grasp the reality of elliptical orbits, and incorporated numerous epicycles into his system, as did Ptolemy

  
• Copernicus remained loyal to the Ptolemaic tools and used the spheres in order to explain the movements of the stars
• In 1514, Copernicus distributed a handwritten book to his friends that set out his view of the universe, proposing that the center of the universe was not Earth, but that the sun lay near it

  
• The Catholic Church disregarded Copernicus' book until 1616, when it was included in the "Index": A list of prohibited books
• Most astronomers and natural philosophers of that period claimed that Copernicus' theory was scientifically implausible and raised many counter claims
• Tycho Brahe


  Born in 1546 into a highly aristocratic, very wealthy family
• In 1539, the Protestant leader Martin Luther denounced the new theory
• The Catholic church even used Copernicus' book to correct the calendar (which we still use today)
• The Church did not object to the theory so long as the book was treated as no more than a mathematical explanation. Which does not really claim that the earth rotates around the sun

  
• This explanation also allowed Protestant astronomers to use the theory
• There were other objections to the theory that were not religious in nature
• Tycho Brahe


  Born into a highly aristocratic, very wealthy family on December 14, 1546 in the Danish region of Scarnia, which is now in Sweden
• Tycho's father was Otte Brahe, a member of the Royal Court. His mother was Beate Bille, also an important aristocrat
• Tycho was the second of the couple's 12 children
• Tycho Brahe died aged 54 on October 24, 1601 in Prague
• Tycho's premature death was probably caused by either a burst bladder or kidney failure
• Something remarkable happened to Tycho in his second year of life


  1. Tycho was kidnapped by his uncle and aunt, Jorgen Brahe and Inger Oxe, when his parents were away from home

  2. Tycho's uncle and aunt were childless, and they believed that Jorgen was entitled to a lawful son and heir to his estates

  3. Tycho's natural parents eventually agreed to this, so Tycho was raised by his uncle and aunt as if he were their own son
• When his uncle died, Brahe inherited his wealth. Similarly, he inherited his biological father's wealth when he died
• Research estimates that combined, this wealth would be 1% of all of Denmark's entire wealth- not shabby at all for one person!
• In April 1566, aged 19, Tycho arrived back in Germany
• On a December evening he got into argument with another Danish student who, like him, was studying at the University of Rostock
• The cause of the argument is not known
• Tycho enjoyed dining and drinking heartily
• After further disagreements, the two students fought a duel with swords, which resulted in Tycho losing the front of his nose and picking up a permanent scar on his forehead