Topic 4.
1 The Italian Renaissance
What were the ideals of the Renaissance, and how did Italian
artists and writers reflect these ideals?
• A new age dawned in Western
Europe, given expression by
remarkable artists and thinkers.
• This age is called the
Renaissance, meaning “rebirth.”
It began in the 1300s and reached
its peak around 1500.
• The Renaissance marked the transition
from medieval times to the early modern
world.
Topic 4.1 The Italian Renaissance Terms and People
• Humanism – the Renaissance intellectual movement that studied
classical cultures to increase understanding of their own times
• Humanities – subjects such as grammar, poetry, rhetoric, and
history
• Petrarch – Florentine humanist, poet, and scholar who
assembled a library of Greek and Roman manuscripts to
encourage learning
• Florence – an Italian city-state that produced many gifted
artists, scholars, scientists, and architects
• Patron – person who provides financial support for the arts
• Perspective – the artistic technique that allows an artist to
portray depth and three-dimensional qualities by making distant
objects smaller
Topic 4.1 The Italian Renaissance Terms and People (continued)
• Leonardo Da Vinci – artist, scientist, and inventor best known for
the Mona Lisa and The Last Supper and sketches of inventions
such as flying machines
• Michelangelo – artist; created sculpture of David and painted the
ceiling of the Sistine Chapel
• Raphael – painter; blended Christian and classical styles; famous
works include The School of Athens and his portrayals of the
Madonna
• Baldassare Castiglione – wrote the Book of the Courtier
describing the manners and qualities aristocratic men and women
should display
• Niccolò Machiavelli – wrote The Prince, describing how to rule in
an age of ruthless power politics
The Renaissance began in Italy in the
1300s.
Renaissance thinkers:
1) Sought to bring Europe out of
disorder and disunity.
2) Placed greater emphasis on
individual achievement.
3) Tried to understand the world with
more accuracy.
4) Revived interest in classical Greek
and Roman learning.
• The Renaissance ideal was a person with interests
and talents in many fields.
• During the Renaissance there was
a new spirit of adventure and
curiosity.
• Trade assumed greater importance
than ever before.
• Navigators sailed across the
oceans.
• Scientists viewed the universe in
new ways.
• Writers and Artists experimented
with new techniques.
• Italy’s central location helped make
it a center for the trade of goods
and ideas.
Topic 4.1 The Italian Renaissance
• The Italian city-states dominated
trade and provided a link between
Asia and Europe.
• Trade routes carried new ideas
from Asia and from Muslim
scholars who had preserved Greek and
Latin learning.
• Banking, manufacturing, and a
merchant network provided the
wealth that fueled the Renaissance.
• The heart of the Italian Renaissance was humanism.
Although most Renaissance humanists were devoutly
religious, they focused on worldly issues rather than religion.
• They believed education should stimulate creativity.
• They emphasized study of the humanities, such as
grammar, rhetoric, poetry, and history.
• Humanists studied the works of Greece and Rome to learn about their own
culture.
• Italy’s city-states played an
important role in the Renaissance.
• Each city was dominated by a
wealthy and powerful merchant
family.
• These families brought trade and
wealth, and provided leadership.
• They were interested in Art and
emphasized personal achievement.
• They were patrons, a person who
provides financial support to artists,
writers, and scholars.
Topic 4.1 The Italian Renaissance
• The Medici family of merchants and bankers controlled the
city of Florence after 1434. Lorenzo de' Medici invited
poets, philosophers, and artists to the city.
• Florence became a leader, with numerous gifted artists, poets,
architects, and scientists. Ordinary people began to appreciate
art outside of the Church.
• Artists continued to portray religious themes, but they did so
against classic Greek and Roman backgrounds.
• Donatello created a life-size soldier on horseback, the first
sculpture of this size since ancient times.
• In The School of Athens, Raphael painted a gathering
of Greek and Roman scholars that included the faces of
Michelangelo, Leonardo, and himself.
Renaissance They returned
artists used from the
They used new
new stylized forms
techniques to
of the medieval
techniques, period to the
represent both
leading to humans and
realism of
greater landscapes.
classic Greece
realism. and Rome.
Topic 4.1 The Italian Renaissance
• Artists also used new oil paints that reflected light, and
used shading techniques to make objects look more real.
Objects were portrayed in a three-dimensional fashion.
• Painters studied human anatomy and drew from observing models, resulting
in more accuracy.
Perspective
allowed for more
realistic art.
Distant objects
appeared smaller.
One new technique was
perspective, credited to
Filippo Brunelleschi.
• The mysterious smile of the woman in
his painting Mona Lisa has intrigued
viewers for centuries.
• Leonardo da Vinci was an
artist, painter, Mona Lisa
(pictured right) and inventor.
He studied botany, optics,
anatomy, architecture, and
engineering.
• His sketchbooks are full of ideas for
inventions, such as flying machines
and submarines.
• Michelangelo was a sculptor,
engineer, painter, architect,
and poet.
• Michelangelo is best known
for sculptures such as David
and for painting the ceiling of
the Sistine Chapel and
designed the dome for St.
Peter’s Cathedral in Rome.
• Writers were also humanists. Some
described how to succeed in the
Renaissance world.
• Baldassare Castiglione’s Book of
the Courtier described the manners
and behavior of the ideal aristocratic
man and woman.
• Men played music and knew literature and
history but were not arrogant. Women
were kind, graceful, and lively, and
possessed outward beauty.
• Niccolò Machiavelli’s The Prince
was a guide for rulers to gain and
maintain power.
• Rather than discuss high ideals, he
stressed that the ends justify the
means.
• The term Machiavellian has come
to refer to the use of deceit in
politics.
• Critics saw Machiavelli as cynical, but
others said he was simply providing a
realistic look at politics.
Topic 4.2 The Renaissance in Northern Europe
How did the Renaissance develop in northern Europe?
As the Renaissance began to
flower in Italy, Northern
Europe was still recovering
from the ravages of the Black
Death.
But by the 1400s, the cities of
the Northern Europe began
to enjoy economic growth and
the wealth needed to develop
their own Renaissance.
Topic 4.2 The Renaissance in Northern Europe
Terms and People
• Johann Gutenberg – printer who invented a
printing press with movable type
• Flanders – a prosperous region of cities in
the present-day Netherlands, France, and
Belgium, where the northern Renaissance
began
• Albrecht Dürer – German artist who spread
Renaissance ideas in northern Europe
• Engraving – a technique in which an artist
etches a design on a metal plate using acid;
the plate is then used to make prints
Topic 4.2 The Renaissance in Northern Europe
Terms and People
• Vernacular – the everyday spoken language
of the common people
• Erasmus – Dutch religious scholar who called
for the translation of the Bible into the
vernacular
• Thomas More – English humanist who
described an ideal society in Utopia
• Utopian – idealistic or visionary; usually used
to describe a perfect society
• Shakespeare – the leading English language
poet and playwright of the Renaissance
• The printing revolution transformed Europe.
• In 1455 Johann Gutenberg printed a complete edition of the
Bible using a printing press with movable type. Printed books
were far easier to produce than hand-copied books.
• More people had access to a broad range of learning.
• By 1500, the number of books in Europe had risen from a few
thousand to between 15 and 20 million.
• The Northern Renaissance began in the prosperous cities of
Flanders. From Flanders, ideas spread to Spain, France, and
England.
• Many painters & writers focused on the common people,
creating scenes of everyday life.
• Northern Renaissance painters
focused on realism in their art.
• New oil paints were made using
oils from linseed, walnuts, or
poppies.
• More realistic colors reflected
light, adding depth and glow.
• In the 1400s, the paintings of
Van Eyck were filled with rich
and realistic detail.
• Pieter Bruegel used vibrant
colors to portray scenes of
peasant life.
• Albrecht Dürer applied
Renaissance painting techniques to
engraving. Dürer is called “the
Leonardo of the North” because
of his varied interests and his role in
spreading Renaissance ideas in the
late 1400s.
• Peter Paul Rubens blended the
realistic tradition of Flemish painters
with classical themes. A humanist
of the 1600s, Rubens used themes
from classical history and
mythology.
Topic 4.2 The Renaissance in Northern Europe
• Northern humanist scholars stressed
education and classical learning.
• Northern humanist scholars
hoped to bring about religious
and moral reform.
• Some began writing in the
vernacular, the everyday
language of ordinary people.
• This appealed to the new middle
class that was arising in northern
towns and cities.
• The Dutch priest Desiderius
Erasmus was one of the major
religious scholars of the age.
• Born in 1466, Erasmus helped
spread humanist ideas to a wider
public.
• Erasmus called for translation of
the Bible into the vernacular.
• He believed a person’s chief duties
were to be open-minded and
show good will to others.
• He also sought reform in the
Church.
• Sir Thomas More was an English
humanist who pushed for social
reforms.
• In his book Utopia, he described an
ideal society where all are educated
and people live in harmony.
• The book gave us the word utopian.
• Francois Rabelais was a French
humanist who used comedy.
• In Gargantua and Pantagruel, two
giants on a comic adventure offer
opinions on religion and education.
• The towering figure of Northern
Renaissance literature was
the English playwright and
poet William Shakespeare.
• Between 1590 and 1613, he
wrote 37 plays which are still
performed today, including:
➢ Romeo and Juliet
➢ Hamlet
➢ A Midsummer Night’s Dream
• Shakespeare explored Renaissance
ideals such as the complexity of the
individual.
• Well-known quotes from Shakespeare
include “Neither a borrower nor a lender be”
and “A rose by any other name would smell
as sweet.”
• He used common language
understood by all and added 1,700
words to the English language.
Topic 4.3 The Protestant Reformation
How did revolts against the Roman Catholic Church affect
northern European society?
• In the 1500s, the Renaissance
in northern Europe sparked a
religious upheaval.
• Northern European calls for
church reform eventually
unleashed forces that would
shatter Christian unity.
• This movement is known as the
Protestant Reformation.
Topic 4.3 The Protestant Reformation
Terms and People
• Indulgences – in the Roman Catholic
Church, pardons for sins committed
during a person’s life
• Martin Luther –the German monk who
triggered the revolt against the Roman
Catholic church in 1517
• Wittenberg – city in northern Germany
where Luther drew up his 95 Theses
• Charles V – (Pictured right) the Holy
Roman emperor who ordered Luther to
recant his 95 Theses
Topic 4.3 The Protestant Reformation
Terms and People (continued)
• Diet – assembly or legislature
• John Calvin – (Pictured right) a
reformer who preached predestination
and living a saintly life
• Predestination – the idea that God had
predetermined who would gain salvation
• Geneva – the Swiss city where Calvin
was asked to establish a Christian
community
• Theocracy – a government run by
religious leaders
The early 1500s were
uncertain times
in northern Europe.
More people began to question Disparities in wealth, a new
the central force in their lives— market economy, and religious
the Church. discontent all bred uncertainty.
The printing press spread
Humanist ideas for social reform
knowledge and new ideas
grew in popularity.
quickly.
Topic 4.3 The Protestant Reformation
• Increasingly,
the church had become
involved in worldly politics.
• Popes competed with Italian
princes for political power. They
fought wars to protect the Papal
States.
• TheChurch plotted against powerful
monarchs who sought to control
papal lands.
• The church officials lived in luxury,
supported the arts, and hired artists to
beautify churches.
• To finance their lifestyles, church
officials charged fees for services
such as baptisms and marriages.
• Some clergy also sold indulgences.
Only the rich could afford to buy
them.
• An indulgence lessened the time
one spent in purgatory before going
to heaven.
• In the Middle Ages, they were often
granted for doing good deeds. Many
Christians, including Erasmus,
objected to their sale.
• Christian humanists called
for a less worldly church, one
based more on Bible study.
• As early as the 1300s, John
Wycliff had begun protests
against the Church in
England.
• Jan Hus led a similar protest
against the Church in what is
today the Czech Republic.
• He was executed for heresy in
1415.
• The German monk Martin Luther
sparked a revolt in 1517.
• Angered by the sale of
indulgences, Luther drew up
his 95 Theses and nailed them to
a church door in Wittenberg,
Germany.
• He argued that indulgences had
no place in the Bible,
and Christians could only
be saved by faith.
• Rather than recant, Luther
rejected the authority of Rome.
Topic 4.3 continued The Protestant Reformation
• Overnight, copies of Luther’s 95
Theses spread and sparked
debate across Europe.
• In 1521, Pope Leo X
excommunicated Martin Luther.
• The Holy Roman emperor,
Charles V, declared Luther an
outlaw and ordered his books to
be burned.
• But many agreed with Luther and
became his followers.
• Luther ’ s
teachings differed from
those of the Roman Catholic
Church:
1) He believed that all Christians
had equal access to God and did
not need a priest to intervene.
2) He wanted ordinary people to
study the Bible.
3) He banned the granting of
indulgences, prayers to saints,
pilgrimages, and confession.
• The printing press quickly spread
Luther’s writings throughout
Germany and Scandinavia.
• His followers took on the name
“Protestants” because they were
in protest against papal
authority.
• Luther simplified the mass,
emphasizing the sermon.
• Ministers used their sermons to
attack corruption in the Roman
Catholic Church.
• He permitted the clergy to marry.
Topic 4.3 continued The Protestant Reformation
• Some German princes saw
Lutheranism as a chance to
throw off the rule of both the
Church and the Holy
Roman emperor.
• Some saw an opportunity to
seize Church property in
their territories.
• Others embraced the new
church out of nationalistic
loyalty.
• Many were tired of paying to
support clergy in Italy.
In 1524, a Luther denounced With his support,
The people the violence, the nobles
peasants’ revolt
demanded an favoring respect suppressed the
erupted across end to serfdom. for political uprising. Thousands
Germany. authority. died as a result.
• Charles V tried to force the
German princes to return to
the Catholic Church.
• In 1555, after several brief
wars, Charles V and the
princes signed the Peace of
Augsburg.
• Under this treaty, each prince
chose a religion for his realm—
either Catholic or Lutheran.
• Most in the north chose
Lutheranism; most in the south
chose Catholicism.
Topic 4.3 continued The Protestant Reformation
• Reformers in Switzerland also
challenged the authority of the
Catholic Church.
• Ulrich Zwingli, an admirer of
Erasmus, also stressed the
importance of the Bible and rejected
elaborate Church rituals.
• Thecity council in Zurich adopted his
ideas.
• John Calvin, a French-born priest
and lawyer, was strongly influenced
by these Reformation ideas.
• Calvin accepted most Lutheran
beliefs but added his own belief in
predestination.
• He preached that God had long ago
determined who would or would not
gain eternal salvation.
• There were two kinds of people,
Saints and Sinners. Only the saved
could live a truly Christian life.
• Calvinists attempted to live saintly
lives to demonstrate that they were
among those God had selected.
• In 1541, the people of Geneva, Switzerland, invited Calvin
to lead their community. He established a theocracy, a
government run by religious leaders
• Religious leaders felt entrusted by God to build a Christian
society based on hard work, discipline, thrift, and
honesty.
• Offenses such as swearing, laughing in church, and fighting resulted in
fines or worse. Many Protestants saw Geneva as a perfect Christian
community.
• By the late 1500s, Calvinism had spread
throughout northern Europe.
• Challenges to the Catholic Church set off
a series of religious wars.
• In Germany, Lutherans and Catholics
fought Calvinists.
• In France, Calvinists battled Catholics.
• In Scotland, Calvinists preacher John
Knox helped overthrow a Catholic queen.
• To escape persecution in England,
groups of Calvinists sailed for America
in the early 1600s.
Topic 4.4 Reformation Ideas Spread
How did the Reformation bring about two different
religious paths in Europe?
• Throughout Europe, Catholic
monarchs and the Catholic Church
fought back against the Protestant
challenge.
• They took steps to reform the Church
and to restore its spiritual leadership
of the Christian world.
• Still, Protestant ideas continued to
spread.
Topic 4.4 Reformation Ideas Spread
Terms and People
• Sect – a subgroup of a major religious group
• Henry VIII – king of England; caused England
to break away from the Catholic Church
• Mary Tudor – daughter of Henry and Catherine
of Aragon; as queen, she tried to restore
Catholicism in England
• Thomas Cranmer – first archbishop of the
Church of England, wrote The Book of
Common Prayer
• Elizabeth I – daughter of Henry VIII; queen for
45 years; brought compromise between
Catholics and Protestants
• Canonize – to recognize someone as a saint
Topic 4.4 Reformation Ideas Spread
Terms and People
• Compromise – an acceptable middle
ground
• Council of Trent – appointed by the pope
in 1545; over 20 years, advised about
reforms to answer the Protestant challenge
• Ignatius of Loyola – the Spanish knight
who founded the Society of Jesus, or Jesuits
• Teresa of Avila – began an order of nuns,
reformed Spanish convents and
monasteries
• Ghetto – a separate section of a city where
members of a minority group are forced to
live
• As the Reformation continued, hundreds of new Protestant
Sects appeared.
• Some broke away from the mainline churches.
• Many followed the teachings of Luther, Calvin, or Zwingli,
but some were more radical.
One new sect was the Anabaptists.
Some other beliefs were:
1) Anabaptists rejected the baptism
of infants.
2) Some radical Anabaptists favored
the abolition of private property
and sought to speed up God ’ s
judgment day.
3) Most Anabaptists were peaceful,
calling for religious tolerance and
separation of church and state.
Today ’ s Baptists, Mennonites, and
Amish all have Anabaptist origins.
• The English Reformation was
not due to reformers, but
rather to a king—Henry VIII.
• In 1527, Henry sought to
annul his marriage to wife
Catherine, who had only borne
a daughter, Mary Tudor.
• He wished to marry a young
noblewoman, Anne Boleyn.
He hoped she would bear him a
male heir.
• When the pope refused to a nul
the marriage, the king took
over the English Church.
• Parliament placed the Church of
England under Henry VIII’s control.
• Thomas Cranmer was appointed
archbishop.
• Archbishop Cranmer annulled the
marriage.
• Henry married Anne Boleyn.
They had a daughter, Elizabeth.
• Catholics who opposed Henry were
executed.
• One of those beheaded was Sir
Thomas More, whom the Catholic
Church later canonized.
Henry had In 1547, Edward
Catholic Henry was favored the
property succeeded Protestant
confiscated by his religion.
and distributed nine-year-
to nobles old son,
to gain their Edward.
support.
• Parliament passed several laws to make
the English or “Anglican” Church more
Protestant.
• Thomas Cranmer drew up The Book
of Common Prayer, which became
required reading at all Anglican services.
• While still in his teens, young Edward
died and was succeeded by Mary
Tudor.
• Mary Tudor tried to restore
Catholicism and had many
Protestants burned at the stake for
heresy.
• In 1558, the daughter of Henry VIII
and Anne Boleyn took the throne
as Queen Elizabeth I.
• She compromised between
Catholics and Protestants.
• She did not allow herself to be put at
the head of the Anglican Church.
• The Anglican Church retained
many Catholic [Link] church
service was translated from Latin to
English.
The “Elizabethan Age” lasted until 1603. Elizabeth’s
rule united England and avoided future religious
wars. Under Elizabeth, England enjoyed a Golden
Age of literature and arts. Major European Religions
About 1600
• From 1530 to 1540, Pope Paul III led a movement to reform the
Catholic Church. This effort was also called the Counter-
Reformation.
• In 1545 Pope Paul called the Council of Trent to end corruption
and worldliness in the Church and settle issues of doctrine.
• The Council declared that salvation comes through both faith and
good works.
Topic 4.4 Continued
• Pope Paul III also strengthened the
Inquisition to fight against
Protestantism.
• The Inquisition was a special court set
up during the Middle Ages.
• The Inquisition used secret testimony,
torture, and executions to root out
Protestant heresy.
• It prepared a list of immoral or
irreligious books Catholics could not
use, including the writings of Calvin and
Luther.
• In 1540, the Pope recognized a new
religious order, the Society of
Jesus, or Jesuits.
• Ignatius of Loyola, a Spanish
knight, founded the order as
“soldiers of God.”
• Jesuits followed strict moral and
spiritual rules.
• Their rigorous training included
complete obedience to the Church.
• They ran schools and traveled to
distant lands as missionaries.
• Teresa of Avila established an order
of nuns.
• Her order lived in isolation, eating and
sleeping little.
• They dedicated themselves to prayer
and meditation.
• After her death, Teresa was
canonized.
• During the Counter-Reformation,
many Catholics felt renewed feelings
of intense faith.
• By 1600, a majority of
Europeans remained Catholic,
but Protestantism had a
major foothold on the
continent.
• The Catholic Reformation
succeeded in bringing back
many Protestants and in
reforming the Church.
• Religious conflict influenced
political debate, which erupted
into war throughout much of
Europe.
• Heightened passions about religion also resulted in intolerance and
persecution.
• Between 1450 and 1750, tens of thousands were killed as witches,
especially in the German states, Switzerland, and France. Most were
women.
• Belief in witchcraft represented twin beliefs in Christianity and magic.
Witches were seen as agents of the devil and thus anti-Christian.
• Jews faced increasing persecution and
restrictions during the Reformation.
• They were expelled from Spain in 1492.
• In 1516, Venice ordered Jews to live in a
separate part of the city called a
ghetto.
• Luther called for their expulsion from
the north.
• In the 1550s, the Pope added new
restrictions.
• In the late 1500s, many Jews migrated
to the Ottoman empire or to the
Netherlands.
Topic 4.5 The Scientific Revolution
How did discoveries in science lead to a new way of thinking for Europeans?
• In the mid-1500s, a profound shift in scientific thinking
brought the final break with Europe’s medieval past.
• At the heart of this Scientific Revolution was
the assumption that mathematical laws
governed nature and the universe.
• Therefore, people could know, manage, and shape the
physical world.
• Until the mid-1500s, Europeans accepted the
idea that the Earth was the center of the
universe.
• This geocentric view was developed in
ancient times by Aristotle and Ptolemy.
• By the Renaissance, it had become official Church doctrine.
Topic 4.5 The Scientific Revolution Terms and People
• Nicolaus Copernicus – Polish astronomer who
proposed a heliocentric model of the universe
• Heliocentric –idea that the sun, not the Earth,
was at the center of the universe
• Tycho Brahe – Danish astronomer who
collected data to prove that Copernicus was
correct
• Johannes Kepler – mathematician who plotted
the orbits of planets and discovered they are
elliptical
• Galileo – scientist who proved that the Earth
moves around the sun; in 1633, the Inquisition
forced him to recant his heliocentric views
Topic 4.5 The Scientific Revolution Terms and People (continued)
• Francis Bacon – English thinker who,
with Descartes, rejected the
assumptions of Aristotle; stressed
experimentation and observation
• René Descartes – French philosopher
and mathematician who proposed the
need to search for provable knowledge
• Scientific Method – a step-by-step
process of discovery requiring the
collection of accurately measured data
• Hypothesis – a logical or possible
explanation to a problem to be tested
using the scientific method
Topic 4.5 The Scientific Revolution Terms and People (continued)
• Robert Boyle – scientist who explained all
matter as being composed of tiny particles
that behave in knowable ways; proposed
laws governing gases
• Isaac Newton – scientist who argued that
there were uniform laws of nature and that
all motions could be measured
mathematically
• Gravity – force that keeps planets in orbit;
proposed by Newton
• Calculus – a branch of mathematics
partially developed by Newton
• Polish
astronomer Nicolaus
Copernicus challenged this
view.
• In 1543, he proposed a
heliocentric, or sun-
centered, model of the solar
system.
• The Earth and other planets
revolved around the sun.
• This 1660 diagram shows a
heliocentric solar system
• Copernicus’s revolutionary theory was rejected.
• If the classic scholars were questioned, then all knowledge might
be called into question.
• But careful observations by Tycho Brahe supported Copernicus.
• Johannes Kepler used Brahe’s data to calculate the orbits of
the planets. Kepler found that the planets don’t move in perfect
circles as earlier believed.
• In Italy, Galileo Galilei built a
telescope and observed several
moons in orbit around Jupiter.
• He said these movements were the
same as those of the planets
around the sun.
• This contradicted Church doctrine
that the Earth was the center of
the universe.
• Galileo was tried for heresy and
forced to recant his theories before
the Inquisition.
Topic 4.5 Continued The Scientific Revolution
• Despite opposition from the
Church, a new approach to science
emerged during the early 1600s.
• Scientists rediscovered Greek
philosopher Plato, who saw
mathematics as the key to
learning about the universe.
• Francis Bacon and René
Descartes challenged medieval
scholarship that sought only to
make the world fit into the
teachings of the Church.
Bacon and Descartes argued
that truth is not known at the
beginning of the inquiry, but
rather at the end.
Bacon stressed observation
and experimentation.
He wanted science to improve
people’s lives by developing
practical technologies.
Topic 4.5 Continued The Scientific Revolution
In his book Discourse on Method (1637), he
discarded all traditional authorities to search for
knowledge that was provable.
Descartes emphasized human reasoning as
the best road to understanding. The only thing
he could not question was doubt.
Since he could doubt, he had to exist as a
rational being.
“I think, therefore I am.”
—Descartes
Over time, scientists developed a step-by-step scientific
method. It required the collection of accurate data and the
proposal of a logical hypothesis to be tested.
Topic 4.5 Continued The Scientific Revolution
• There were dramatic advances in medical knowledge in the
1500s and 1600s.
• In 1543, Andreas Vesalius published On the Structure of the
Human Body, the first accurate and detailed study of human
anatomy.
• In the early 1540s, Ambroise Paré developed new surgical
techniques and tools, artificial limbs, and ointments to prevent
infection.
• William Harvey described the circulation of blood, showing that
the heart was a pump.
• Anton van Leeuwenhoek perfected the microscope and became
the first person to see cells and microorganisms.
Medieval chemists, called alchemists,
had believed that any substance could
be turned into any other and tried to
transform ordinary metals into gold.
In the 1600s, English chemist Robert
Boyle:
1) Explained that all matter is composed
of tiny particles that behave in knowable
ways
2) Defined the difference between
individual elements and compounds
3) Explained the effect of temperature
and pressure on gases
• Isaac Newton linked science
and mathematics.
• Newton theorized that gravity
was the force that controls the
movements of the planets.
• He believed that all motion in
the universe can be measured
and described mathematically.
• He contributed to the
development of calculus, a
branch of mathematics, to help
explain his laws.