[...]... inventions of the telescope and microscope enabled further investigation of hitherto unknown 2 SCIENTIFIC REVOLUTION AND THE FOUNDATIONS OF MODERN SCIENCE worlds Traditional forms of mathematics were expanded, and new branches of mathematics were developed Experimentation and the discovery of mathematical laws of nature increasingly became the desired goals of scientific investigation These profound changes... hydrostatics, the weight and pressure of the atmosphere, and the vacuum are published posthumously as Treatises on the Equilibrium of Liquids and the Weight of the Mass of Air 1665 Publication in Paris and London of the first periodicals to feature scientific news 1666 King Louis XIV of France establishes the Royal Academy of Sciences to promote the experimental sciences and mathematics 1671 Approximate date of the. .. many ideas and approaches held today Although the science of the seventeenth century is not the science of today, it laid the foundations for the study of the cosmos, matter, motion, life processes, and the means of acquiring knowledge of them that are fundamental to modern science Concerning a few of the terms used in the text: Some words in common use today did not exist in the sixteenth and seventeenth... call the Early Modern Period (1500 to 1789, the onset of the French Revolution) and part of the modern period (1789 to 1900) In 1500, an acceleration of key trends marked the beginnings of an interdependent world and the posing of seminal questions that changed the nature and terms of intellectual debate The series closes with 1900, the inauguration of the twentieth century This period witnessed profound... about the natural world They emphasized the roles of number and measurement, as well as unity, harmony, and the operations of hidden forces in the universe With the invention of the printing press using movable type in 3 4 SCIENTIFIC REVOLUTION AND THE FOUNDATIONS OF MODERN SCIENCE the fifteenth century, books began to be published in the various native languages of Europe, as well as in Latin and Greek... REVOLUTION AND THE FOUNDATIONS OF MODERN SCIENCE provement of harbors, efforts in the United Provinces at reclamation of parts of the North Sea, improvements of inland waterways, and the construction of canals Interest grew in gaining better knowledge of missile trajectories and how to make them more effective, and in the construction of more efficient cannon and fortifications Problems of logistics and provision... ability to learn more about the ways in which He had created the world, and that we are thereby brought closer to God by examples of His omniscience, omnipotence, and beneficence The Watershed In the course of the sixteenth century there evolved changing attitudes about nature, the development of technology and the crafts, and the importance of observation and mathematics The most decisive changes in... beliefs and in shaping the subsequent development of mechanics 9 10 SCIENTIFIC REVOLUTION AND THE FOUNDATIONS OF MODERN SCIENCE René Descartes (1596–1650) held that there was a fixed amount of motion in a universe completely filled with matter He therefore gave attention to the result of the impact of bodies on one another and concluded that in such instances the total motion is conserved, although the direction... religious, and military changes An industrial and technological revolution transformed the modes of production, marked the transition from a rural to an urban economy, and ultimately raised the standard of living Social classes and distinctions shifted The emergence of the territorial and later the national state altered man’s relations with and view of political authority The shattering of the religious... beyond the Moon, further challenging Aristotelian conceptions 1588 Publication of A Briefe and True Report of the New Found Land of Virginia, by Thomas Harriot, the first account of the resources and inhabitants of North America 1596 Founding of Gresham College in London to provide lectures to the public on science and mathematics 1600 Publication of William Gilbert’s On the Magnet, based on observation and . the science of the seventeenth century is not the science of today, it laid the foundations for the study of the cosmos, matter, motion, life processes, and the means of acquiring knowledge of them. Awakening and the Transcendentalists Barry Hankins The Age of Napoleon Susan P. Conner The American Civil War Cole C. Kingseed The Scientific Revolution and the Foundations of Modern Science Wilbur. between ideas and practices in different branches of science, and the search for themes uniting them, have also been important sources of new and productive developments. The study of the natural