Scientific Revolution
Videos
The Scientific Revolution of the 16th and 17th centuries in Europe was an irreversible break with the natural philosophy that had preceded it, fundamentally changing how the natural world was investig
Portrait of Isaac Newton by Godfrey Kneller, 1689
Portrait of Galileo Galilei by Ottavio Leoni
A medieval university class, 1350s
Detail of a portrait of Cardinal Hugh of Saint-Cher (wearing spectacles), painted by Tommaso da Modena in 1352
European science in the Middle Ages comprised the study of nature, mathematics and natural philosophy in medieval Europe. Following the fall of the Western Roman Empire and the decline in knowledge of
For most medieval scholars, who believed that God created the universe according to geometric and harmonic principles, science – particularly geometry and astronomy – was linked directly to the divine. To seek these principles, therefore, would be to seek God.
Ninth century diagram of the observed and computed positions of the seven planets on 18 March 816
The translation of Greek and Arabic works allowed the full development of Christian philosophy and the method of scholasticism.
Optical diagram showing light being refracted by a spherical glass container full of water (from Roger Bacon, De multiplicatione specierum)