Science in the Renaissance
Renaissance |
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Aspects |
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History and study |
During the Renaissance, great advances occurred in geography, astronomy, chemistry, physics, mathematics, manufacturing, anatomy and engineering. The collection of ancient scientific texts began in earnest at the start of the 15th century and continued up to the Fall of Constantinople in 1453, and the invention of printing allowed a faster propagation of new ideas. Nevertheless, some have seen the Renaissance, at least in its initial period, as one of scientific backwardness. Historians like George Sarton and Lynn Thorndike criticized how the Renaissance affected science, arguing that progress was slowed for some amount of time. Humanists favored human-centered subjects like politics and history over study of natural philosophy or applied mathematics. More recently, however, scholars have acknowledged the positive influence of the Renaissance on mathematics and science, pointing to factors like the rediscovery of lost or obscure texts and the increased emphasis on the study of language and the correct reading of texts.[1][2][3]
Context
During and after the
The Renaissance
The 14th century saw the beginning of the cultural movement of the Renaissance. By the early 15th century, an international search for ancient manuscripts was underway and would continue unabated until the Fall of Constantinople in 1453, when many Byzantine scholars had to seek refuge in the West, particularly Italy.[4] Likewise, the invention of the printing press was to have great effect on European society: the facilitated dissemination of the printed word democratized learning and allowed a faster propagation of new ideas.
Initially, there were no new developments in physics or astronomy, and the reverence for classical sources further enshrined the
.Important developments
Alchemy and chemistry
While differing in some respects, alchemy and chemistry often had similar goals during the Renaissance period, and together they are sometimes referred to as chymistry.[5] Alchemy is the study of the transmutation of materials through obscure processes. Although it is often viewed as a pseudoscientific endeavor, many of its practitioners utilized widely accepted scientific theories of their times to formulate hypotheses about the constituents of matter and the ways matter could be changed.[6] One of the main aims of alchemists was to find a method of creating gold and other precious metals from the transmutation of base materials.[6] A common belief of alchemists was that there is an essential substance from which all other substances formed, and that if you could reduce a substance to this original material, you could then construct it into another substance, like lead to gold.[5] Medieval alchemists worked with two main elements or "principles", sulphur and mercury.[5]
Paracelsus was a chymist and physician of the Renaissance period who believed that, in addition to sulphur and mercury, salt served as one of the primary alchemical principles from which everything else was made.[7] Paracelsus was also instrumental in helping to put chemical practices to practical medicinal use through a recognition that the body operates through processes which may be seen as chemical in nature.[7] These lines of thinking directly conflicted with many long-held traditional beliefs, such as those popularized by Aristotle; however, Paracelsus was insistent that questioning principles of nature was essential to continue the general growth of knowledge.[7]
Despite its frequent basis in what may be considered scientific practices by modern standards, numerous factors caused chymistry as a discipline to remain separate from general academia until near the end of the Renaissance, when it finally began appearing as a portion of some university education.[5][8]: 104–115 The commercial nature of chymistry at the time, along with the lack of classical basis for the practice, were some of the contributing factors which led to the general view of the discipline as a craft rather than a respectable academic discipline.[5]
Astronomy
The astronomy of the late Middle Ages was based on the
Sometime around 1450, mathematician
The last major event in Renaissance astronomy is the work of Nicolaus Copernicus (1473–1543). He was among the first generation of astronomers to be trained with the Theoricae novae and the Epitome. Shortly before 1514 he began to revive Aristarchus's idea that the Earth revolves around the Sun. He spent the rest of his life attempting a mathematical proof of heliocentrism. When De revolutionibus orbium coelestium was finally published in 1543, Copernicus was on his deathbed. A comparison of his work with the Almagest shows that Copernicus was in many ways a Renaissance scientist rather than a revolutionary, because he followed Ptolemy's methods and even his order of presentation. Not until the works of Johannes Kepler (1571–1630) and Galileo Galilei (1564–1642) was Ptolemy's manner of doing astronomy superseded. The use of more advanced tables and mathematics would provide the impetus for the establishment of the Gregorian calendar in 1582 (primarily to reform the calculation of the date of Easter), replacing the Julian calendar, which had several errors.[8]: 69–72
Mathematics
The accomplishments of Greek mathematicians survived throughout
The greatest of all translation efforts, however, took place in the 15th and 16th centuries in Italy, as attested by the numerous manuscripts dating from this period currently found in European libraries. Virtually all leading mathematicians of the era were obsessed with the need for restoring the mathematical works of the ancients. Not only did humanists assist mathematicians with the retrieval of Greek manuscripts, they also took an active role in translating these work into Latin, often commissioned by religious leaders such as Nicholas V and Cardinal Bessarion.[10][11]
Some of the leading figures in this effort include Regiomontanus, who made a copy of the Latin Archimedes and had a program for printing mathematical works; Commandino (1509–1575), who likewise produced an edition of Archimedes, as well as editions of works by Euclid, Hero, and Pappus; and Maurolyco (1494–1575), who not only translated the work of ancient mathematicians but added much of his own work to these. Their translations ensured that the next generation of mathematicians would be in possession of techniques far in advance of what it was generally available during the Middle Ages.[1][3]
It must be borne in mind that the mathematical output of the 15th and 16th centuries was not exclusively limited to the works of the ancient Greeks. Some mathematicians, such as
Physics
The progress being made in math was complemented by advancements in physics, with people like Galileo attempting to bridge the gap between the two fields and question Aristotelian ideas.[15] The revived invertigation of physics opened up many opportunities in subfields like mechanics, optics, navigation, and cartography.[8]: 79–89
Mechanical theories had originated with the Greeks, especially Aristotle and Archimedes.[8]: 79–82 Mechanics and philosophy had been related disciplines in ancient Greece, and only in the Renaissance did the two subjects begin to split.[8]: 79–82 A lot of the work of developing new mechanical ideas and theories was carried out by Italians such as Rafael Bombelli, though the Fleming Simon Stevin also provided many ideas.[8]: 79–82 Galileo also contributed to the advancement of this field with a treatise on mechanics in 1593,[15] helping to develop ideas on relativity, freely falling bodies, and accelerated linear motion,[16] though he lacked the means to properly communicate his findings at the time.[15] In June 1609, Galileo's interests shifted to his telescopic investigations after having been close to revolutionizing the science of mechanics.[15]
Navigation was an important topic of the time, and many innovations were made that, with the introduction of better ships and applications of the compass, would later lead to geographical discoveries.[8]: 89–91 The calculations involved in navigation proved to be difficult, with the technology of the time unable to accuately predict weather or determine one's geographic position. Determining one's longitude proved especially challenging, since one's local time need to be calculated on the basis of an astonomical observation.[8]: 89–91 One theory that was tested was to record the time of an eclipse and use Regiomontanus' Ephemerides to compare it with Nuremberg time or Zacuto's Almanach perpetuum to compare it with Salamanca time, though the margin of error in such calculations was unacceptably great (around 25.5 degrees).[8]: 89–91 Until longitude could be accurately determined, navigators had to rely on dead reckoning, with its many uncertainties.[8]: 89–91
Medicine
With the Renaissance came an increase in experimental investigation, principally in the field of dissection and body examination, thus advancing our knowledge of human anatomy.[17] The development of modern neurology began in the 16th century with Andreas Vesalius, who described the anatomy of the brain and other organs; he had little knowledge of the brain's function, thinking that it resided mainly in the ventricles. Understanding of medical sciences and diagnosis improved, but with little direct benefit to health care. Few effective drugs existed, beyond opium and quinine. William Harvey provided a refined and complete description of the circulatory system. The most useful tomes in medicine, used both by students and expert physicians, were materiae medicae and pharmacopoeiae.
Geography and the New World
In the
The information provided by Ptolemy, as well as
See also
Notes
- ^ JSTOR 2857013.
- ISBN 978-1-4612-0803-7, retrieved 2021-04-09
- ^ ISSN 0021-1753.
- ISBN 978-0-486-28115-5.
- ^ ISBN 978-0-19-956741-6.
- ^ ISBN 978-0-226-48205-7.
- ^ ISBN 978-1-78914-144-3.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j Sarton, George (1967). Six Wings: Men of Science in the Renaissance. Bloomington: Indiana University Press.
- S2CID 212949014, retrieved 2021-04-23
- ^ "Mathematics - Rome Reborn: The Vatican Library & Renaissance Culture | Exhibitions - Library of Congress". www.loc.gov. 1993-01-08. Retrieved 2021-04-09.
- S2CID 191382178.
- ISSN 0315-0860.
- CiteSeerX 10.1.1.529.862.
- ISBN 0-8014-3529-3.
- ^ ISBN 978-0-8018-0602-5.
- ^ Asim, Gangopadhyaya (2017). "Galileo's Contribution to Mechanics". Loyola ECommons: 90–94.
- S2CID 6954963.
- ^ JSTOR 40573370.
- JSTOR 43464886.
- JSTOR 1780791.
References
- Dear, Peter. Revolutionizing the Sciences: European Knowledge and Its Ambitions, 1500–1700. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2001.
- Debus, Allen G.Man and Nature in the Renaissance. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1978.
- Grafton, Anthony, et al. New Worlds, Ancient Texts: The Power of Tradition and the Shock of Discovery. Cambridge: Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 1992.
- Hall, Marie Boas. The Scientific Renaissance, 1450–1630. New York: Dover Publications, 1962, 1994.
External links
- Renaissance science and technology at Britannica.com