The Scientific Revolution

In the lecture, "The Scientific Revolution, 1642-1730", the author, Steven Kreis, discusses how the scientific discoveries that happended during this time were not overnight success stories as some of the written history seems to indicate. It's true that sometimes we don't know the story behind the story. We see the results, think it is a great thing and assume that everyone thought so as well. We find that Isaac Newton, who "described the laws which explained gravity...also invented the calculus to explain the laws of gravity", he was not always listened to, respected or well liked at all. This didn't stop him from making the greatest discovery of the 17th century. Along with his contribution to science and history, he managed to give a great quote, that to his credit, gives respect to the thinkers of the past. "If I have seen further it is because I have stood on ye shoulders of giants."
---Isaac Newton to Robert Hooke (1676)

Galileo's Timeline & Sunspots

I've always found timelines to be helpful when trying to understand events and how they came about. Although you may not get all the little details, you get the highlights and your mind can sort of fill in the gaps, so they are great. As I read through the inquisitions indictment against Galileo, and his subsequent abjuration, I saw the link to my little friend, the time line. I did what a good web surfer does; point and click. As I thumbed through the timeline on the web page, "The Galileo Project", I kept seeing the term, "sunspots". I thought, "What does that have to do with anything?" So I found a link on the word and again...well you know. Little did I know that the issue of sunspots was a precursor to the more well known of Galileo's "heretical" beliefs, "that the Sun is the centre of the universe, and that it does not move from east to west, and that the Earth moves and is not the centre of the universe". That was the deal breaker for those who opposed him, and especially the Catholic church, but prior to that, the sunspot issue was a problem for some reason. As it turns out, "in the dominant Aristotelian cosmology, the heavens were thought to be perfect and unchanging. A spot that comes and goes on the Sun would mean that there is change in the heavens." The idea that the heavens change, that planets move in orbit, that stars die and fall and so on is not seen as a problem now, but this was a big issue for them. Then when Galileo starts talking about how the earth is not the center of the universe, well that was it. He is made to formally renounce his scientific beliefs, pay a penance and end up under house arrest for the rest of his life. One thing I did note, was the language he used in his abjuration. It is broad and general and does not mention his findings or theories specifically. He seems to tell them what they want to hear and what will get him out of there as soon as possible. They accept it, at least the seven of the ten that agreed with the sentence, and he does leave. In the end you are glad he does not end up dead, but saddened that he is very restricted for the rest of his life. Still, the prolific amount of quality work he did was amazing.