The Scientific Revolution

The period from 1543 (the publication of Copernicus’ Revolutions*) to 1687 (the publication of Newton’s Principia**) is usually referred to as the Scientific Revolution. During this period the belief in a static Earth at the center of the universe was replaced by a heliocentric solar system in which earth is simply one of six planets orbiting the sun. Newton’s theory which explained in precise mathematical language how this all worked encouraged scholars of the day to believe that every aspect of the natural world could be explained by following the scientific method based on theory and experiment rather than by deductive logic based on authority.

What was known in 1700

• The Sun is the center of the solar system.
• All planets orbit the Sun
• Earth is one of the planets
• The year is defined as one complete revolution of the Earth around the Sun
• The day is defined as one complete rotation of the Earth on its axis
• The month is defined as one complete revolution of the Moon around the Earth (same as in the geocentric system)
• Precession is defined as a slow “wobble” as the Earth rotates
• The diameters of planetary orbits (e.g., Earth is 93,000,000 miles from the Sun)
• The diameters of the Sun, moon and planets (e.g., Jupiter is 11 times and the Sun is 109 times the diameter of the Earth)
• The stars are very far away (otherwise they would exhibit parallax)
• The set of physical laws formulated by Newton (universal gravity and the three laws of motion) explained quantitatively why the solar system works the way it does.

* On the Revolutions of the Heavenly Orbs

** The Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosophy