Martha's HIST04b - Economics, Culture, Science

`ECONOMICS, CULTURE, SCIENCE`

THE SCIENTIFIC REVOLUTION

The Astrolabe: In the summer of 1125, how would you find the time of day or night? The time of sunrise or sunset? The answer is the Astrolabe. Introduced to Europe in the early 12th century, it was the "most popular astronomical instrument until about 1650" when more accurate methods were used. Rather interesting site.
Mathematicians of the 17th and 18th Centuries: Endless and descriptive accounts of the lives, works, and contributions of mathematicians of the 17th and 18th centuries. Learn about their amazing lives and world changing discoveries.
Revolution in Timekeeping: Even during the Middle Ages, time was an issue. How to tell time accurately and easily. Large mechanical clocks eventually replaced simple sundials. Those clocks, hard to regulate and huge, were then replaced by the invention of the spring powered clock sometime between 1500 and 1510. "These advances in design were precursors to truly accurate timekeeping." More information to be had at this site!
The Scientific Revolution: Paradigm Lost: Solid article by University of Florida professor. "Understood as an historical reality, it is not at all clear that there was a single or unitary 'scientific revolution,' any more than there was but one 'renaissance,' or that 'the sixties' has any historical coherence. What is clear is that a profound and enduring transformation occurred between Copernicus and Newton. In coming to grips with this change, specialized scholarship has slowly silenced the simplest clichés, just as the New Eclecticism has raised challenging questions and enlivened the tempo of debate. In the end, the Scientific Revolution may refuse to be reduced to an 'idea,' an 'event,' or an 'episode,' or, for that matter, to yield to conceptual or social analysis." Major and minor individuals.

Maria Gaetana Agnesi: Maria Gaetana Agnesi, celebrated eighteenth century mathematician, responsible for developing mathematical equation of the curve called "Witch Agnesi." "She was recognized as a child prodigy very early; spoke French by the age of five; and had mastered Latin, Greek, Hebrew, and several modern languages by the age of nine. In her teens, Maria mastered mathematics." Examines how Italians encouraged women to develop intellectually. Details Maria management of her father's household of twenty children following her mother's death. During this period Maria published complex natural science and philosophy essays (1738). Maria undertook her most important work, "Analytical Institutions" (1748) originally intended as a textbook for her brothers. Establishes Maria's greatest contribution -- "brought the works of various mathematicians together in a very systematic way." Examines Maria's great success when nominated to Bologna Academy of Science and offered a professorship, serving until her father's death. All sources well cited. Links to biographies of women mathematicians.
Margaret Cavendish, Duchess of Newcastle: Do you think all significant scientific work in the 17th Century was performed by men? Think again! Step into the world of Margaret Cavendish, a published author, philosopher, and astronomer. Cavendish fought against Scientific societies, that denied her membership and questioned the validity of her discoveries, to attack the "empiricist approach to scientific knowledge." Read an "Epistle" which is essentially her autobiography.
The Copernican Revolution: From the 16th-18th centuries, Astronomy grew by leaps and bounds despite the efforts of the Church to prevent the development of this field. Simple timeline to guide the surfer through the important developments of the Scientific Revolution. All our favorite "heretics" are here from Tycho Brahe, Kepler, and Galileo to Halley and Newton.
Nicolaus Copernicus: Until Copernicus, the teachings of Greek astronomer Ptolemy were considered gospel truth. Because the Ptolemaic system enjoyed the endorsement of not only scholars, but also of the church, Copernicus, in fear of trial for heresy, long hesitated to announce his heliocentric view.
Galileo Project: Galileo Galilei (1564-1642) was a brilliant scientist/astronomer whose cosmological discoveries deeply upset the eccelesiastical establishment of his time. Maps, writings, resources clearly explain this brilliant man's revolutionary discoveries, and illuminate the threat they caused.
Carolus Linnaeus (1707-1778): All-encompassing profile of eighteenth century Swedish naturalist Carolus Linnaeus (a.k.a. Carl Linne), whose scientific naming of plants and animals established the international language of nature. Linnaeus' life including his establishment and standardization of binomial nomenclature for plant and animal species still used today. Accurate portrayal of "the greatest botanist of all time." He differentiated and named over 8,000 species of plants, 4,400 species of animals, including Homo Sapiens. Comprehensive website for U.C. Berkeley's interactive Internet Natural Museum of History. Numerous sources providing accurate depiction of Linnaeus' contributions. Excellent Swedish links available for further research.
Rene Descartes and the Legacy of Mind/Body Dualism: French mathematician, philosopher, and physiologist to whom we owe the first systematic account of the mind/body relationship. "During his meditations, he was struck by the sharp contrast between the certainty of mathematics and the controversial nature of philosophy, and came to believe that the sciences could be made to yield results as certain as those of mathematics. By drawing a radical ontological distinction between body as extended and mind as pure thought, Descartes, in search of certitude, had paradoxically created intellectual chaos." Fascinating narrative on the life of Rene Descartes and brief account of his theories. "While the great philosophical distinction between mind and body in western thought can be traced to the Greeks, it is to the seminal work of René Descartes (1596-1650), French mathematician, philosopher, and physiologist, that we owe the first systematic account of the mind/body relationship."
Émilie, Marquise du Châtelet-Laumont (1706-1749): "Judge me for my own merits, or lack of them, but do not look upon me as a mere appendage to this great general or that great scholar, this star that shines at the court of France or that famed author. I am in my own right a whole person, responsible to myself alone for all that I am, all that I say, all that I do. it may be that there are metaphysicians and philosophers whose learning is greater than mine, although I have not met them. Yet, they are but frail humans, too, and have their faults; so, when I add the sum total of my graces, I confess I am inferior to no one." Splendid overview of high-spirited Émilie Marquise du Châtelet-Laumont, wealthy, educated French aristocrat, mathematician and philosopher. Timeline and her contributions to Voltaire's work. Emilie translated Newton's "Principie Mathematica" from Latin to French, authored "Institutions de Physique," "Published "Elements de la philosophie de Newton" (officially attributed to Voltaire). Remarkable woman!
Isaac Newton: "Isaac Newton is popularly remembered as the man who saw an apple fall from a tree, and was inspired to invent the theory of gravity. If you have grappled with elementary physics then you know that he invented calculus and the three laws of motion upon which all of mechanics is based. More fundamentally, Newton's mathematical approach has become so basic to all of physics that he is generally regarded as the father of the clockwork universe: the first, and perhaps the greatest, physicist." Read about this "first scientist," "alchemist," and a "natural philosopher."
Sir Isaac Newton: "Newton was of the most fearful, cautious and suspicious temper that I ever knew." Informative biography.
Isaac Newton: "Newton was one of the inventors of the branch of mathematics called calculus. He also solved the mysteries of light and optics, formulated the three laws of motion, and derived from them the law of universal gravitation. In addition to science, Newton also showed an interest in alchemy, mysticism, and theology. Many pages of his notes and writings particularly from the later years of his career are devoted to these topics."
Newtonia "Isaac Newton (1642 -1727): "It was occasion'd by the fall of an apple, as he sat in contemplative mood. Why should that apple always descend perpendicularly to the ground, thought he to himself. Why should it not go sideways or upwards, but constantly to the earth's center." It was this well known story of the apple falling off the tree which led to the revolution of physics and mathimatics to this day. And check HERE.
Blaise Pascal: Biography of Blaise Pascal. "At once a physicist, a mathematician, an eloquent publicist in the Provinciales... Pascal was embarrassed by the very abundance of his talents. It has been suggested that it was his too concrete turn of mind that prevented his discovering the infinitesimal calculus, and in some of the Provinciales the mysterious relations of human beings with God are treated as if they were a geometrical problem. But these considerations are far outweighed by the profit that he drew from the multiplicity of his gifts, his religious writings are rigorous because of his scientific training..."

The Scientific Revolution: "The Scientific Revolution is a time in which many people look away from the church and towards logic and objectivity for the answers to their most fundamental questions about life, death, and the universe." Compiled reports on several scientists including Isaac Newton, Galileo Galilei, Rene Descartes, Francis Bacon, Albert Einstein, and Grace Hopper. "Of all the changes that swept over Europe in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, the most widely influential was an epistemological transformation that we call the "scientific revolution." In the popular mind, we associate this revolution with natural science and technological change, but the scientific revolution was, in reality, a series of changes in the structure of European thought itself: systematic doubt, empirical and sensory verification, the abstraction of human knowledge into separate sciences, and the view that the world functions like a machine. These changes greatly changed the human experience of every other aspect of life, from individual life to the life of the group. This modification in world view can also be charted in painting, sculpture and architecture; you can see that people of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries are looking at the world very differently."

ART, LITERATURE, PHILOSOPHY

British Art and Origins of Modern Childhood - 1730 to 1830: "The roots of many contemporary attitudes surrounding children can be found in Georgian Britain. This period (1714 to 1837, named for the first four King Georges) stands out as one of tremendous change, as society reorganized itself in ways that we have come to define as modern: the advent of industrial economies; increasing emphasis on domestic life; the cult of individuality. Nowhere is this change more evident than in family relationships, as the family came to be based for the first time on bonds ofaffection rather than economics. The child, once at the periphery, moved to the center of family affections." Superior art exhibition from UC Berkeley museum. A must for anyone who enjoys art. Features and explains paintings focused on the family and children. Teaches how children finally became a significant part of the family during the Georgian society.
King James Version of the Bible: Read it yourself. Seriously. Its the whole KJV version, internet style. With seventeenth century thee's and thou's!
Lineage of the KJV: "The names of the earlier versions of which the King James Version drew its incorruption from." Exhaustive manuscript evolution of KJV. Abundance of dates.
English Literature: Early 17th Century: Part of the elegant Luminarium series, site explores the "other" (other than Shakespeare) English writers of the early 17th C.- considered the golden age of English Lit. Biographies, writings and quotes from giants like John Donne, Ben Jonson and John Milton. Unique, in that the format truly serves the subject.
Jean Jacques Rousseau: Jean Jacques Rousseau (1712-1778), philosopher and writer whose naturalist, primitivist approach was embraced by the idealists of the French Revolution. Not unlike the modern German philosopher Nietzsche, Rousseau was a misanthrope who projected his alienation onto human society. Site created by the Rousseau Association, a bilingual society devoted to the study of Mr. Rousseau and his works. Contains his writings, biographical detail and even a recording of some music he wrote.
17th Century Architecture: And then on to Versailles.
Web Museum: Rembrandt: Dutchman Rembrandt van Rijn (1606-1669), a giant in the history of art. "His consummate mastery of technique, subject and composition made his painting, drawing and etching the apex of his era." Unique and skillful use of light and shadow has come to symbolize the Enlightenment.