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Scientific Revolution

See Main Page for a guide to all contents of all sections.

Contents

The Scientific Revolution
The Scientific Attitude

The 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]
- Réne Descartes (1596-1650): Discourse on Method, 1637, extracts [At WSU]
- Réne Descartes (1596-1650): Discourse on Method, 1637 [At Project Gutenberg][Full text]
- Réne Descartes (1596-1650): Méditations, 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.

The Internet History Sourcebooks Project is located at the History Department of Fordham University, New York. The Internet Medieval Sourcebook, and other medieval components of the project, are located at the Fordham University Center for Medieval Studies.The IHSP recognizes the contribution of Fordham University, the Fordham University History Department, and the Fordham Center for Medieval Studies in providing web space and server support for the project. The IHSP is a project independent of Fordham University. Although the IHSP seeks to follow all applicable copyright law, Fordham University is not the institutional owner, and is not liable as the result of any legal action.

© Site Concept and Design: Paul Halsall created 26 Jan 1996: latest revision 20 January 2021 [CV]