scientific revolution

(noun)

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. It began in Europe towards the end of the Renaissance period and continued through the late 18th century, influencing the intellectual social movement known as the Enlightenment.

Related Terms

Examples of scientific revolution in the following topics:

  • Roots of the Scientific Revolution

    • While its dates are disputed, the publication in 1543 of Nicolaus Copernicus's De revolutionibus orbium coelestium (On the Revolutions of the Heavenly Spheres) is often cited as marking the beginning of the scientific revolution.
    • Many new ideas contributed to what is called the scientific revolution.
    • Some of them were revolutions in their own fields.
    • The scientific revolution laid the foundations for the Age of Enlightenment that centered on reason as the primary source of authority and legitimacy and emphasized the importance of the scientific method.
    • Outline the changes that occurred during the Scientific Revolution which resulted in developments towards a new means for experimentation.

  • Theoretical Origins: Initial Theory of Conceptual Change

    • In the early 1980's, a group of science education researchers and science philosophers at Cornell University developed a theory of conceptual change (Posner, Strike, Hewson, & Gertzog, 1982).This theory is based on Piaget's notions of disequilibration and accommodation as well as Thomas Kuhn's description of scientific revolution (Kuhn, 1970).According to Kuhn, scientific revolutions have followed a consistent pattern.First, a dominant scientific paradigm--a basic way of perceiving, thinking, valuing, and doing (Harmon, 1970)--fell into a "state of crisis" by failing to provide solutions or explanations to deal with significant problems identified by the scientific community.Second, an alternative paradigm with the potential to solve these problems had to be available.The existence of these two conditions increased the probability of a "paradigm shift,"or universal adoption of a new framework for thinking.

  • History

    • The study of human populations has its roots, like sociology generally, in the societal changes that accompanied both the scientific and industrial revolutions.

  • The Political Revolution

    • The American Enlightenment is the intellectual period in America in the mid-to-late 18th century (1715-1789), especially as it relates to the American Revolution and the European Enlightenment.
    • Influenced by the scientific revolution of the 17th century and the humanist period during the Renaissance, the Enlightenment took scientific reasoning and applied it to human nature, society, and religion.
    • More broadly, the Enlightenment period is marked by increasing empiricism, scientific rigor, and reductionism, along with increasing questioning of religious orthodoxy.

  • The Popularization of Science

    • Science during the Enlightenment was dominated by scientific societies and academies, which had largely replaced universities as centers of scientific research and development.
    • Scientific academies and societies grew out of the Scientific Revolution as the creators of scientific knowledge in contrast to the scholasticism of the university.
    • National scientific societies were founded throughout the Enlightenment era in the urban hotbeds of scientific development across Europe.
    • More formal works included explanations of scientific theories for individuals lacking the educational background to comprehend the original scientific text.
    • Others became illustrators or translators of scientific texts.

  • Romanticism

    • Romanticism, fueled by the French Revolution, was a reaction to the scientific rationalism and classicism of the Age of Enlightenment.
    • Though influenced by other artistic and intellectual movements, the ideologies and events of the French Revolution created the primary context from which both Romanticism and the Counter-Enlightenment emerged.
    • Upholding the ideals of the Revolution, Romanticism was a revolt against the aristocratic social and political norms of the Age of Enlightenment and also a reaction against the scientific rationalization of nature.
    • The Industrial Revolution also had an influence on Romanticism, which was in part an escape from modern realities of population growth, urban sprawl, and industrialism.

  • Productivity Gains from Technology

    • Important mechanisms for the transfer of technical knowledge were scientific societies.
    • Most major innovations of the Second Industrial Revolution were based on the modern scientific understanding of chemistry, electromagnetism theory, and thermodynamics.
    • Since the beginning of the Industrial Revolution, some of the major contributors to productivity have been as follows:
    • Work practices and processes: the American system of manufacturing, Taylorism (scientific management), mass production, assembly line, and modern business enterprise;
    • Scientific agriculture: fertilizers and the green revolution, and livestock and poultry management;

  • The Second Industrial Revolution

    • During the Gilded Age, America developed its mass production, scientific management, and managerial skills.
    • The Second Industrial Revolution, also known as the Technological Revolution, was a phase of rapid industrialization in the final third of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th.
    • The First Industrial Revolution, which ended in the early-mid 1800s, was punctuated by a slowdown in macroinventions before the Second Industrial Revolution in 1870.
    • A synergy between iron and steel, railroads and coal developed at the beginning of the Second Industrial Revolution.
    • Horses and mules remained important in agriculture until the development of the internal combustion tractor near the end of the Second Industrial Revolution.

  • Sexual Behavior Since Kinsey

    • Kinsey's 1950s study of sexuality contributed to the sexual revolution of the 1960s in two ways.
    • Though the Kinsey Report was published in the popular press, it was a scientific study conducted by a biologist at an academic institution.
    • Popular readers of the Kinsey Report imbued the findings with a sense of scientific authority and professed faith in their accuracy.
    • Another scientific product had a profound impact on the development of the sexual revolution: the development of oral contraception.
    • Summarize the impact of the Kinsey Report and the sexual revolution of the 1960s on American sexuality

  • Sociology and the Social Sciences

    • As a social science, sociology explores the application of scientific methods to the study of the human aspects of the world.
    • As a social science, sociology involves the application of scientific methods to the study of the human aspects of the world.
    • The use of scientific methods differentiates the social sciences from the humanities.
    • During the 17th century, a revolution took place in what constituted science, particularly with the work of Isaac Newton in physics .
    • Newton, along with others, changed the basic framework by which individuals understood what was scientific .