Scientific Revolution: Crash Course European History #12

Summary

This Crash Course episode explores the transformative impact of the Scientific Revolution on human understanding of the universe. From the heliocentric theory of Copernicus to Galileo's telescopic discoveries and Kepler's laws, it highlights the shift from divine to natural laws. The episode also covers the persecution of scientists, the development of the scientific method by figures like Francis Bacon and René Descartes, and Isaac Newton's universal laws of motion, illustrating the profound progress in knowledge and the challenges faced by early scientists.

Takeaways

• 📚 The script discusses the transition from a bleak history of wars and plagues to the hopeful period of the Scientific Revolution, which reshaped our understanding of the universe and ourselves.
• 🌌 The Scientific Revolution marked a significant break with religious teachings, particularly the Catholic Church's geocentric view of the universe, with the sun, moon, and planets revolving around the Earth in perfect circles.
• 🔭 Copernicus's heliocentric theory, published in 'On the Revolution of the Celestial Spheres', suggested that the sun was at the center of the universe, which was a radical departure from the Church's teachings.
• 🌠 The observations of Tycho Brahe and Johannes Kepler's laws of planetary motion provided empirical evidence that the universe was not immutable and perfectly created, challenging the Church's view.
• 🔬 Galileo Galilei's use of the telescope and his support for the heliocentric model brought him into conflict with the Church, leading to his trial for heresy and forced recantation.
• 🧐 The scientific method, exemplified by Galileo and others, involved experimentation and mathematical calculation to confirm or refute hypotheses, which was a revolutionary approach to understanding the natural world.
• 💡 Francis Bacon advocated for a new scientific method based on inductive reasoning, emphasizing the importance of empirical evidence and experimentation over reliance on ancient texts and authority.
• 🤔 René Descartes contributed to the scientific method through deductive reasoning, starting with doubt and using reason to arrive at specific truths, encapsulated in his famous phrase 'I think, therefore I am.'
• 📚 Isaac Newton synthesized the scientific method and his findings into universal laws of motion and gravitation, encapsulated in his 'Principia Mathematica', viewing the universe as a complex but decipherable machine.
• 🌿 The script also touches on the importance of global exploration and the exchange of knowledge, such as the introduction of quinine from South America, which had significant medical implications.
• 🌐 The development of scientific networks, such as the Royal Society of London, was crucial for the verification and dissemination of new scientific discoveries, highlighting the collaborative nature of the Scientific Revolution.

Q & A

What significant historical events preceded the scientific revolution mentioned in the script?

The script mentions the Black Death, the 116 Years' War, a series of religious wars culminating in a 30 Years War that killed 20% of Central Europe, the little ice age, witch trials, and the Atlantic slave trade as significant events that preceded the scientific revolution.

What was the general expectation of life for most of human history as described in the script?

For most of human history, people did not expect to live healthier or more prosperous lives than previous generations. The idea that human life should get better over time is very new, with only the last few generations being able to expect a steady decrease in disease burden, child mortality, and poverty.

How did the Catholic Church view the universe prior to the scientific revolution?

The Catholic Church taught that the Earth was the center of the universe and that the sun, moon, and planets traveled around the Earth in perfectly circular orbits. This was seen as the work of God, and any other understanding of the universe was considered a challenge to God's eternal perfection.

Who was Nicholas Copernicus and what was his significant contribution to astronomy?

Nicholas Copernicus was a Polish-born doctor of canon law, mathematician, and astronomer who published 'On the Revolution of the Celestial Spheres'. He noted problems with classical astronomical theory and proposed a heliocentric model, where the sun, rather than the Earth, was at the center of the universe.

What was the reaction of the Catholic Church to the heliocentric model proposed by Copernicus?

The Catholic Church reacted negatively to the heliocentric model. For instance, Giordano Bruno was burned at the stake in 1600 for teaching Copernicus's findings.

What were the contributions of Tycho Brahe to the understanding of the universe?

Tycho Brahe, a Danish astronomer, spotted a new star in 1572 and a new comet in 1577, which provided further confirmation that the universe was not immutably and perfectly created, challenging the traditional views of the universe.

Who was Johannes Kepler and what did he contribute to the understanding of planetary motion?

Johannes Kepler was an astronomer who formulated the laws of planetary motion in the early seventeenth century, stating that the orbits of the planets were elliptical, not perfectly circular, which was a significant departure from the previous understanding of the solar system.

What role did Galileo Galilei play in advancing the scientific revolution?

Galileo Galilei was a scientist who was obsessed with the mathematical features of science. He invented tools like an early thermometer and his own telescope, which he used to observe the moons of Jupiter and understand that the Milky Way was a collection of stars. His work on the nature of the universe was controversial and led to conflict with the Catholic Church.

What was the significance of Galileo's trial and recantation in the context of the scientific revolution?

Galileo's trial and forced recantation were significant because they highlighted the conflict between the emerging scientific understanding of the universe and the religious teachings of the time. His recantation was a turning point that underscored the tension between science and religion, and his eventual vindication by the Catholic Church in 1992 acknowledged the error in their judgment against him.

Who was Francis Bacon and how did he contribute to the scientific method?

Francis Bacon was an English politician and philosopher who propagated the new scientific values and practices. He advocated for a scientific method based on inductive reasoning, where conclusions are drawn from specific, reliable facts or evidence, and emphasized the importance of conducting and replicating experiments.

What was René Descartes' contribution to the scientific method and philosophy?

René Descartes was a French philosopher who developed deductive reasoning, emphasizing the power of the mind to generate specific truths from its own theories or power of thinking. He is known for his famous statement 'I think, therefore I am,' which highlights the importance of doubt and reason in the process of discovering truth.

What were Isaac Newton's contributions to the scientific revolution?

Isaac Newton synthesized new methodology and his own findings into the universal laws of motion. He quantified concepts such as mass, inertia, force, velocity, and acceleration, and formulated the law of gravitation, encapsulating his findings in his work 'Principia Mathematica' published in 1687.

How did the exploration and discovery of new species contribute to the scientific revolution?

The exploration and discovery of new species from different parts of the world sparked scientific interest and investigation. For example, Portuguese doctor Garcia da Orta studied plants in India, and local knowledge in Peru led to the discovery of quinine, a medication for malaria, demonstrating how scientific knowledge from different cultures contributed to European advances.

What role did scientific networks and communication play in the scientific revolution?

Scientific networks and communication were pivotal to the verification and dissemination of new scientific discoveries. Scientists across Europe corresponded with each other, published books, and formed societies like the Royal Society of London, which contributed to the validation and acceptance of new scientific ideas.

How did governments support the scientific revolution?

Governments supported the scientific revolution by providing stipends to scientists, labeling them as 'Court Mathematicians,' and establishing prestigious scientific academies. For example, Louis XIV of France started the royal Academy of Sciences in 1666, which added prestige to both the scientist and the royal court.

Outlines

00:00

🌌 The Dawn of the Scientific Revolution

The script introduces the scientific revolution as a period of significant progress following a series of bleak events in history. It emphasizes the shift from a geocentric to a heliocentric model of the universe, spurred by the work of scientists like Copernicus, who challenged the long-held religious beliefs. The narrative also touches on the persecution of scientists, such as Giordano Bruno, for their revolutionary ideas.

05:01

🔭 Galileo's Struggle with the Church and the Advancement of Science

This paragraph delves into Galileo Galilei's contributions to the scientific revolution, including his invention of an early thermometer and his own telescope, which led to groundbreaking observations of the universe. It discusses Galileo's conflict with the Catholic Church over the heliocentric model, his forced recantation of his beliefs, and the Church's eventual acknowledgment of their error in 1992. The paragraph also highlights the importance of the scientific method, which involved experimentation and mathematical calculation to test hypotheses.

10:01

🧪 The Expansion of Scientific Inquiry and the Role of Doubt

The script explores the expansion of scientific inquiry beyond astronomy, with figures like William Harvey challenging ancient medical theories. It discusses the persistence of belief in unseen forces, such as astrology, alongside the rise of mechanical theories. The role of Francis Bacon as a propagandist for the scientific method is highlighted, along with his advocacy for inductive reasoning based on careful observation and experimentation. The influence of René Descartes is also examined, with his emphasis on deductive reasoning and the foundational nature of doubt in the scientific process.

🌏 The Integration of Global Knowledge and the Establishment of Scientific Networks

This paragraph discusses the impact of global exploration on scientific knowledge, with new species and discoveries from around the world contributing to scientific advancement. It mentions the work of Garcia da Orta in India and the Jesuits in Peru, who incorporated local knowledge into European medical practices. The development of scientific networks across Europe is highlighted, along with the role of institutions like the Royal Society of London in facilitating communication and validation of scientific findings. The paragraph also notes the involvement of governments in supporting scientific endeavors, as seen with the establishment of the royal Academy of Sciences in France.

Keywords

💡Scientific Revolution

The Scientific Revolution refers to a period of major transformation in scientific thought and methodology that began in the 16th century and continued through the 18th century. It marked a shift from religious and philosophical explanations of the natural world to observation, experimentation, and the development of scientific laws. In the video, the Scientific Revolution is central to the narrative as it reshaped humanity's understanding of the universe and laid the groundwork for modern science.

💡Heliocentric

Heliocentric refers to the model of the solar system where the Sun is at the center, and the planets, including Earth, revolve around it. This concept was revolutionary at the time as it contradicted the widely accepted geocentric model, which placed Earth at the center of the universe. The video discusses how the heliocentric model was proposed by Copernicus and later supported by Galileo, Kepler, and Newton, despite opposition from the Catholic Church.

💡Copernicus

Nicolaus Copernicus was a Renaissance-era mathematician and astronomer known for formulating the heliocentric model of the solar system. His work 'On the Revolution of the Celestial Spheres' was a pivotal publication that challenged the traditional geocentric view. In the video, Copernicus's theory is highlighted as a key development in the Scientific Revolution and a catalyst for the shift in understanding the cosmos.

💡Galileo Galilei

Galileo Galilei was an Italian astronomer, physicist, and engineer who played a significant role in the Scientific Revolution. He is known for his improvements to the telescope, his observations of celestial bodies, and his support for the heliocentric model. The video script recounts Galileo's conflict with the Catholic Church over his promotion of the heliocentric theory and his eventual recantation under threat of execution.

💡Kepler's Laws of Planetary Motion

Johannes Kepler's laws of planetary motion are three scientific laws that describe the motion of planets around the Sun. These laws state that planets move in elliptical orbits, with the Sun at one focus, and that a line segment joining a planet and the Sun sweeps out equal areas during equal intervals of time. The video mentions Kepler's laws as a key development that furthered the understanding of the solar system's structure and motion.

💡Francis Bacon

Francis Bacon was an English philosopher and statesman who is credited with laying the groundwork for the scientific method. He advocated for empirical research and inductive reasoning, emphasizing the importance of observation and experimentation over reliance on received wisdom. In the video, Bacon is presented as a key figure in promoting the new scientific values and practices, challenging the old paradigms with his inductive reasoning approach.

💡René Descartes

René Descartes was a French philosopher, mathematician, and scientist who is often referred to as the 'Father of Modern Philosophy.' He is known for his methodological skepticism and his emphasis on reason and deductive reasoning. Descartes' famous statement 'Cogito, ergo sum' ('I think, therefore I am') encapsulates his belief in the power of thought and doubt in the pursuit of truth. The video discusses Descartes' contributions to the Scientific Revolution through his philosophical approach to understanding the world.

💡Isaac Newton

Sir Isaac Newton was an English mathematician, physicist, and astronomer who is widely recognized as one of the most influential scientists of all time. His work in the Principia Mathematica, where he formulated the laws of motion and universal gravitation, laid the foundations for classical mechanics. The video highlights Newton's synthesis of the scientific method and his findings, which contributed to the understanding of the universe as a machine governed by natural laws.

💡Alchemy

Alchemy is an ancient philosophical and protoscientific tradition that aimed to transform base metals into noble metals, particularly gold, and to discover the elixir of life. In the video, it is mentioned that Newton practiced alchemy, which serves as a reminder that scientific inquiry often involves following various leads, some of which may not result in significant discoveries but are part of the process of learning and understanding.

💡Royal Society of London

The Royal Society of London is one of the oldest and most prestigious scientific academies in existence. It was founded in 1660 and has played a significant role in the development and promotion of scientific knowledge. The video mentions the Royal Society as an example of how scientific networks developed and how communication among scientists was pivotal to the verification and acceptance of new scientific discoveries.

💡Empiricism

Empiricism is a philosophical approach that emphasizes experience, particularly through observation and experimentation, as the primary source of knowledge. In the context of the video, empiricism is closely related to the scientific method and the shift away from reliance on religious scriptures and traditional beliefs. The script discusses how scientists like Bacon advocated for empirical research, which became a cornerstone of the Scientific Revolution.

Highlights

The scientific revolution reshaped our understanding of the universe and ourselves, leading to undeniable progress.

Despite persecution, scientists developed the central insight that reshaped human history with a heliocentric model.

The idea of continuous improvement in human life is a new concept, with only the last few generations expecting better conditions than their predecessors.

The Scientific Revolution marked a break with religious teachings, challenging the geocentric model with heliocentric theories.

Nicholas Copernicus published 'On the Revolution of the Celestial Spheres', proposing a heliocentric universe.

Giordano Bruno was executed for supporting Copernicus's findings, showing the Church's resistance to new scientific ideas.

Tycho Brahe's observations of new stars and comets confirmed the universe was changeable, contrary to the Church's teachings.

Johannes Kepler's laws of planetary motion revealed elliptical orbits, challenging the idea of perfect circular motion.

Galileo Galilei's observations with his telescope improved human understanding of the universe, including the discovery of Jupiter's moons.

Galileo's support for the heliocentric model led to his conflict with the Church and eventual recantation to avoid execution.

The Catholic Church acknowledged in 1992 that the judgment against Galileo was wrong after a 13-year investigation.

Albert Einstein recognized Galileo as the father of modern science for emphasizing the importance of experience in knowledge acquisition.

The scientific method, involving experimentation and mathematical calculation, was a revolutionary approach to understanding the world.

William Harvey's discovery that the heart functions as a pump was a significant advancement in medical science.

Francis Bacon advocated for a new scientific method based on observation, experimentation, and inductive reasoning.

René Descartes contributed to the scientific method with his emphasis on deductive reasoning and the power of thought.

Isaac Newton's laws of motion and universal gravitation encapsulated in 'Principia Mathematica' provided a comprehensive understanding of the universe's workings.

The exploration and discovery of new species from other parts of the world led to increased scientific investigation and understanding.

Scientific networks and communication among scientists were crucial for the verification and propagation of new scientific ideas.

Government support and recognition of scientists, such as through the establishment of scientific academies, played a significant role in the advancement of science.

The scientific method and rational thinking became integral to understanding the world, leading to significant achievements such as landing on the moon.

Transcripts

Hi I’m John Green and this is Crash Course European History.

Okay so look: It has been bleak so far.

We’ve had the Black Death, the 116 Years’ War, a series of religious wars that culminated

with a 30 Years War that killed 20% of Central Europe.

We’ve had the little ice age and witch murdering mania and the Atlantic slave trade but now,

now we get to turn our attention to the scientific revolution, which profoundly reshaped our

understanding of the universe and ourselves.

At last, we are going to make real, undeniable progress.

What’s that?

Oh, Stan tells me that many of these scientists were persecuted for sciencing.

Great.

But that doesn’t stop humans from developing the central insight that reshapes human history.

It’s about to get really heliocentric around here...

[Intro] Before we get into the scientific revolution,

I just want to make one broad comment that might be obvious if you’ve watched previous

videos in this series: For most of human history, people did not expect to live healthier or

more prosperous lives than previous generations.

Sometimes life got better, and sometimes it got worse.

It’s true that human populations were increasing and that life expectancy was increasing gradually,

but the idea that it is normal for human life to get better over time is very new.

Today, most European countries have high life expectancy, low maternal mortality, and low

rates of absolute poverty.

But there have been about 10,000 generations of humans, and we are perhaps the 10th generation

who could reliably expect disease burden and child mortality and poverty to steadily decrease

in our lifetimes.

Well, I’m part of the 10th.

You’re probably part of the 11th.

But regardless, we owe much of this change to the Scientific Revolution.

So, like the Reformation, the Scientific Revolution was another break with religious teachings.

The Catholic Church taught that the earth was the center of the universe and had been

so since the Creation.

The sun, moon, and planets traveled around the earth in perfectly circular orbits like

the rings of an onion.

And beyond the onion was the realm of the divine, whose light pierced through in the

form of stars.

All this perfect motion was the work of God Himself.

And any other understanding of the universe was thus a challenge to God’s eternal perfection

as described in the scriptures.

But, like good Renaissance people, the new astronomers, mathematicians, and their colleagues

in other fields declared that old theories needed to be reexamined.

The first problem was that the perfect orbits of the planets, and moon, and sun did not

fit with observation, causing astronomers to resort to ancient Ptolemaic explanations

(basically that planets followed their own circular paths, which also revolved around

the Earth).

Just before his death in 1543, Polish-born Nicholas Copernicus, a well-connected doctor

of canon law and researcher in mathematics, and astronomy, and classical literature, published

On the Revolution of the Celestial Spheres.

He noted problems with classical astronomical theory and determined that the universe was

“heliocentric”—that is, the sun, rather than the earth, was at the center.

The Catholic Church’s reaction to this was negative: the Italian monk Giordano Bruno,

for instance, was burned at the stake in 1600 for teaching Copernicus’s heliocentric findings.

But even earlier than that, in 1572, Danish astronomer Tycho Brahe spotted a new star

and in 1577 a new comet, further confirmation that the universe was not immutably and perfectly

created.

Then, Johannes Kepler’s laws of planetary motion announced early in the seventeenth

century that the orbits of the planets were elliptical—not perfectly circular.

The solar system was a solar system, and it wasn’t an onion.

Something other than divine will was keeping the planets apart and in motion.

Let’s go to the Thought Bubble.

By this time, the observations of Galileo Galilei were bringing matters to a head.

Galileo was obsessed with science, especially its mathematical features and the

calculations at the base of Copernicus’s heliocentric theory.

Galileo’s father had wanted him to become a doctor but mathematics drew him in.

It’s the oldest story in the world.

He invented many tools like an early thermometer and his own telescope, which he used to dramatically

improve human understanding of the universe -he was the first person to observe the moons

of Jupiter, and the first to understand that the Milky Way was a collection of stars.

The telescope also showed irregular spots on the sun, a further sign of heavenly imperfections

that went against the beliefs espoused by the Catholic Church.

Despite Galileo’s prestige as a mathematician, his work on the nature of the universe went

too far for the Church.

In 1615, Galileo went to Rome to teach the clergy about the heliocentric universe and

convince them of its accuracy.

In 1616, it was condemned as heretical and Galileo promised not to teach that the earth

moved.

But, in 1632, he published Dialogue Concerning the Two Chief World Systems in which he described

the Ptolemaic system on which the Church based its earth-centered astronomical teachings

and the Copernican system.

In 1636, the Roman Inquisition found him guilty of heresy and forced him to recant in order

to avoid execution.

And so Galileo recanted.

In 1992, after a 13 year investigation, the Catholic Church finally publicly acknowledged

that the judgment against him had been wrong."

Thanks Thought Bubble.

Centuries later, Albert Einstein would write, “All knowledge of reality starts from experience

and ends in it.

… Because Galileo saw this, and particularly because he drummed it into the scientific

world, he is the father of modern physics--indeed, of modern science altogether.”

We talk about this at length of course in our history of science series, but for our

purposes here it’s important to understand that Galileo and other scientists used experimentation

and mathematical calculation to confirm or refute hypotheses--and that scientific method

was genuinely revolutionary.

The scientific approach also spread to other fields of inquiry.

Ancient medical theories began to unravel, as English medical doctor William Harvey pronounced

the heart to be a pump based on dissections he’d performed.

He called the heart “a piece of Machinery” that worked according to natural laws.

But it’s important to note that even as mechanical theories took hold, prominent “new”

scientists continued to believed in unseen forces at work in the universe.

For example, astrology, positing that the planets and stars influenced people and events,

sought to map those influences.

Some scientists found it credible --and they pursued all kinds of mystical,

and occult, and alchemical investigations.

Any revolution needs good propagandists, and people were advertising that the “new”

scientific values and practices were amazing while also pointing out that the ancient and

traditional ones were full of errors.

English politician Francis Bacon was foremost among these science propagandists, chiding

everyone who was using the old paradigms and models of the universe—calling them worthless

ancients.

Bacon, like others at the time, created his own careful observations, and experiments,

and sought to use reason.

There was, he said, a scientific method to be followed.

One needn’t rely on past accounts that were copies of copies of copies--one should ask

their own questions, and do their own experiments to find the answer to those questions, experiments

that other people could then replicate to confirm--or refute--the findings.

And this became the basis for the new scientific method as Bacon laid it out in The Advancement

of Learning.

His process of reaching the truth and drawing conclusions from specific, reliable facts

or evidence is called inductive reasoning.

And a collection of reliable, verified evidence was essential, according to Bacon, not “old

wives’ fables” or, as another new scientist put it, not “maunderings of a babbling hag”—words

that were part of the discourse of witches who were being tried and murdered at the time.

And then there was French philosopher René Descartes who moved speculation about the

new science to a still different methodological register by looking at the mind.

Descartes noted that reason—thinking—was made for verification, so thinking on one’s

own was crucial.

Because, otherwise there were so many facts that one could essentially become skeptical

about whether truth actually existed.

Like imagine a world where there are facts, but there are also “alternate” facts,

and you have to choose between your set of facts before you reach a conclusion.

That would be unlivable!

So Descartes set out to prove the one thing he felt he could be sure of.

His own existence.

And in doing so, he prioritized his own power of thinking: “I think therefore I am.”

But he also prioritized doubt, which is central to the scientific method--Descartes also wrote,

“We cannot doubt of our existence while we doubt.”

In short, our ability to conceive of doubt about whether we exist, is proof that we exist.

By privileging the role that thought, and with it questioning, play in discovering truth,

Descartes had developed deductive reasoning: that is, faith in the rational power of the

mind to generate specific truths from its own theories or power of thinking.

(By the way in addition to a Crash Course in the history of science, we also have a

crash course in philosophy, where you can learn more about Descartes.)

Okay, let’s turn our attention to Isaac Newton, who synthesized new methodology and

his own findings in his universal laws of motion.

Newton was a scientist with a reputation for following every lead, Newton practiced alchemy—that

is the quest for secret formulae and practices, especially an entity called the philosopher’s

stone that could turn lead or other base metals into gold.

Which by the way would be an inflationary disaster, but fortunately it’s impossible.

But I think that’s important to note because it reminds us that not every lead being followed

by scientists--then or now--results in big discoveries, but part of the glory of science

is learning what doesn’t work.

Also, it reminds us that in the 17th century, many of the smartest people in the world believed

in alchemy, a nice opportunity to reflect on what false promises contemporary humans

might believe.

At any rate, while studying alchemy, he also pulled together the findings of his predecessors

into mathematical laws for the functioning of the universe.

He quantified the major constructs of mass, inertia, force, velocity and acceleration

and produced the law of gravitation.

And he encapsulated all his findings in his Principia Mathematica in 1687.

For Newton, the universe was indeed a fantastic, regular, and all encompassing machine, yet

it was a machine still tinged with the mysteries that he continued to decipher, and to be fair

that we are still deciphering today.

By the early decades of the seventeenth century, contact with the wider world led to other

kinds of scientific investigations.

Adventurers brought back to Europe new species of plants, and textiles, minerals, animal

life that sparked wonder and scientific probing.

One of the first to venture out was Portuguese doctor Garcia da Orta.

He traveled first to Goa, India, studying plants like aloe, cannabis, coconut, and ginger.

In 1563, he published Conversations on the Simples, Drugs and Medicinal Substances of

India, which advanced the use of plants as medicine.

Local people were key to major plant discoveries: Dr. da Orta, for instance, learned from healers

in South Asia, while in the 1620s local people in Lima cured a Jesuit priest with malaria

by giving him the medicine they used--quina-quina.

Eventually this healing bark was turned into quinine, a malaria medication that allowed

Europeans to expand their empires more deeply into Africa and South America.

In the cases of both Doctor da Orta and the Jesuits in Peru, European advances, like others

that would follow, depended on gathering up scientific and medical knowledge from other

people.

Within Europe, scientific networks developed around heliocentrism and also around other

new ideas just as they had in the Renaissance.

Like Erasmus and his correspondents, Galileo and scientists across Europe wrote one another

and published books about their findings.

The Royal Society of London had its “republic of letters.”

And communication like that became pivotal both to verification and to convince as much

of the public as possible that these new scientific discoveries were valid.

Amid warfare, the little ice age, and famine, these scientists were corresponding about

comets, windmills, pumps, and blood vessels.

Theories about vision and atomism passed around in letters, reached as far as the Ottoman

Empire and Japan.

Governments also got in on the Scientific Revolution, giving scientists like Galileo

stipends to support their work, and labeling them “Court Mathematicians,” which added

prestige both to the scientist and the royal court itself.

Louis XIV of France started one of the most prestigious scientific academies—the royal

Academy of Sciences—in 1666.

And Theaters of anatomy, where dissections and other physiological demonstrations occurred,

also received official sponsorship.

Oh, did the globe open at last?

Is Yorick in there?

Alas, poor Yorick...I didn’t know eyebrows were a skeletal feature.

For the first, like, 98 percent of history, we knew so little about how all of this works.

Look, I’m never going to be a ventriloquist, OK?

Stan, this isn’t a real skull, is it?

Ugh!

We will examine the mounting power of the state next week beyond its sponsorship of

science.

For the moment, let’s reflect on the ways in which so-called new scientists during the

sixteenth and seventeenth centuries bravely took religious scriptures out of the workings

of astronomy and the heavens.

Instead of a divine hand at work, by the time of Newton, universal laws for the operation

of the solar system and physical bodies had been established.

Although most people believed in God, many of them earnestly so, they also followed a

developing scientific method and additionally established faith in their own rational powers.

This way of looking at the world would prove so important that less than 350 years after

Galileo became the first person to observe the moon’s cratered surface, human beings

would step foot on that surface.

Thanks for watching.

I’ll see you next time.