AGE OF REASON

My goal is simple. It is a complete understanding of the universe, why it is

as it is and why it exists at all. Dr. Stephen Hawking
For our contemporary love affair with all things micro-chipped, we can bow down and
give thanks to those 16
th
and 17
th
Century giants who stepped out of the Medieval bo -
then destroyed it! "eaving centuries of superstition in their wake, left-brain icons like
Copernicus, #alileo, and $ewton would uncover the keys to scientific %topia! &ut has
the resulting reversal of science over faith really improved our world' (e)re
un*uestioned masters of land, sea, and sky - but the clouds now reek of gasoline and
the +olar bears are living on borrowed on time! ,ure, the power of the sun has been
harnessed by splitting atoms, but not without the accompanying nuclear shadow we now
find ourselves living under! -eah, but what about recent scientific discoveries, you ask'
.he last )big) breakthrough in the past decade isn)t the cure to cancer, /01 or even the
&ubonic +lague! 0t)s 1iagra! ,o while science dedicates the #$+ of .hird (orld
countries to cloning humans, the *uestion has to be asked 2 3(ith 6 &illion people and
counting already, haven)t we already figured that one out4'3
$ow pass me my 0pod!!!
Morning Notes
0! (hich of the si types of thinkers outlined above is closest to your own analytical
thought process' (hich is the least like your own' 5ate them in terms of
most to least!
00! 0s it possible to possess only one of these characteristics, or do they invariably
overlap'
000! Consider some great thinkers whom you admire and try to pinpoint their
analytical philosophies!
Focus Questions
0! Can you prove that the 6arth rotates with an eperiment' (hy don)t birds lose
ground in the sky' (hy don)t 0 land in a different spot when 0 7ump'
00! /ow does a telescope work' (hat were #alileo)s improvements to it and what
advantages would they have allowed him'
000! /ow can one prove gravity eists'
Preparation for ecture
I. 5eading2 Pick Your Door
II. 5eading2 Idols of the Mind
III. 5eading2 Foucalt)s Pendulum
01! 1ideo2 Interview with Galileo
1! 1ideo2 Proving Galileo Right
ecture Gui!e
"opernicus
i! $icolaus Copernicus 8 91:7; 8 1<:;= was born in .orun,
+russia! .his area would eventually become part of +oland! /e is
celebrated by +oland as one of the country>s greatest thinkers
and appears on their currency? despite this his ethnicity remains
the sub7ect of debate!
ii! .he Copernican 5evolution - a huge movement in (estern intellectual tradition that
began with astronomy but would affect politics, religion, and even psychology! 9@2 (hy'
Aiscuss the impact of the earth, and hence man not being at the centre of #od>s
%niverse=
iii! Copernicus published a book that stated the universe is )heliocentric)
9sun-centered=!
iv! .his contradicted the long-lasting +tolemaic Model 9developed by
Claudius +tolemy in 1BB CA in ancient 5ome4=, which placed the 6arth at
the center of the universe!
Check out the +tolemaic Model here2
www!polaris!iastate!eduD6vening,tarD%nitEDunitEFsub1!htm
v! .he +tolemaic model relied heavily on epicycles to eplain retrograde motion and
varying brightness of the planets! Copernicus) proposal provided simpler eplanations for
these phenomena!
vi! Copernicus) model also assumed that orbits were perfect circles 9incorrect=! (hen
Copernicus looked at the stars he didn)t see anything new? instead he thought of a new
way to think about what he saw! /e was aware that ancient #reek and Muslim scholars
had already proposed heliocentric models!
vii! Copernicus) belief in #od and his belief in the heliocentric universe
were not a conflict for him! Copernicus) interest in astronomy was
secondary to his clerical career! Copernicus knew that what he was
proposing was controversial, but in his own words2 3it is Gthe
philosopher)sH endeavor to seek the truth in all things, to the etent
permitted to human reason by #od!3 /e waited until old age to publish his work! 0t is said
he was able to see the first printed copy of On the Revolutions of the Celestial Sheres
on his deathbed! 9@2 (hat was the potential conflict here' (hy did he wait to old age to
publish his works'=
Copernicus> model2
Ga#i#eo
i! #alileo #alilei 8 91<6: 8 16:E= was born in +isa, in .uscany!
/e stated, 3Mathematics is the language of nature3! /e turned
his observations 9of such things as pendulums and falling
ob7ects= into mathematical formulas!
ii! #alileo eperimented with falling ob7ects until he could epress
acceleration mathematically! Clthough #alileo did not drop an
orange off of the tower of +isa, he did eperiment to develop his
formula of falling bodies! Falling ob7ects are too fast to measure
so he put them on an angled plane! /e discovered a
mathematical way to talk about their acceleration 9distance is
proportional to time s*uared=! .his contradicted Cristotelian
physics which suggested that heavier ob7ects fall faster! /e discovered a mathematical
way to talk about their acceleration 9distance is proportional to time s*uared=!
iii! /e improved the telescope, which he used to make observations that supported
Copernicus) model! &y observing Iupiter)s moons it could plainly be seen that everything
did not orbit around the 6arth!
Ga#i#eo an! the "atho#ic "hurch
i! #alileo)s insistence on the validity of Copernicus) model was seen as a challenge to
the church! .he church, under +ope +aul 000, had organiJed an 0n*uisition to dispel false
teachings! Kver centuries, the +tolemaic model had became closely tied with the
church)s teachings! &iblical scholars maintained that the 6arth was in the center of the
universe and that it did not move! Chronicles 162;B2 3/e has fied the earth firm,
immovable!3
ii! #alileo went to 5ome to defend himself and was given permission to write about the
heliocentric universe as a false but interesting thought eperiment! #alileo made a brash
move in his certainty of the Copernican universe! #alileo had agreed to publish his ideas
as a mere intellectual eercise although he believed them to be true! /e wrote Dialogue
Concerning the !wo Chief "orld Systems# .he character in his books, ,implicio,
disagrees with the heliocentric model and is portrayed as a fool!
iii! #alileo was brought before cardinals of the 5oman Catholic Church, shown the
instruments of torture and accused of heresy 8 the punishment for this crime was
burning at the stake! #alileo recanted his claims of a heliocentric universe and agreed to
never write on the sub7ect again! /e was placed under house arrest in his house in
Florence for the rest of his life! 0n 1LLE +ope Iohn +aul 00 apologiJed for the treatment of
#alileo! 9@2 (hat could #alileo have accomplished had he not been silenced'=
$ep#er
i! Iohannes Mepler 8 91<71 8 16;B= was born in the ,tuttgart 5egion of #ermany! Mepler
worked in an Kbservatory where he carried on the tradition of the famous astronomer
.ycho &rahe! /e was learned in both the +tolemaic and Copernican models and sided
with the heliocentric view! Ct the Kbservatory, Mepler was working with superior
instruments and much carefully plotted data about the stars and planets 9particularly
Mars=!
ii! /e discovered the shape of a planet)s orbit is an ellipse! /e spent his life trying to find
#od)s perfect plan! .his problem was maddening for him because he knew that orbits
should be perfect circles, not ellipses! $ot only were the orbits not circles but the sun
wasn)t even near the center!
iii! /e worked long and hard to crunch the numbers and came up with the )/armony of
the +lanets) 9by comparing the proportions of the planets) orbits=! /e believed that this
mathematical harmony was #od)s signature! Mepler)s belief in #od encouraged him to
search for patterns!
iv! Mepler)s third law of planetary motion 9the harmonic law= is a good eample of his
ability to find patterns! #et the number for the length of time it takes for a planet to orbit
the sun! "et)s call it .! #et the number for the semi-ma7or ais of the ellipse! 0t is *uite
simply half of the longest straight line you could draw across an ellipse! "et)s call it 5!
-ou will find that . s*uared e*uals 5 cubed! (e have a mathematical relationship that
allows us to predict how long planets will take to travel around the sun and how large
their elliptical orbits are! Mepler)s laws took about ten years of careful astronomy and
playing with numbers!
$ep#er%s "os&ic Har&onics ' (he aws of P#anetar) Motion
Newton
i! 0saac $ewton - 916:; 8 17E7= was born in the county of
"incolnshire, 6ngland! Cs a professor at Cambridge he was able
to focus a lot of time on his studies! /e also had to give lectures
that were poorly attended!
ii! $ewton is a heroic figure in science and for 6nlightenment
thinkers because2
1! /e created definitive work on motion, mathematics, optics, and
gravitation!
E! /e was the ultimate testament to an individual uncovering .ruth through
eperimentation, mathematics, and his own ingenuity!
;! 30 do not know what 0 may appear to the world, but to myself 0 seem to have been only
like a boy playing on the sea-shore, and diverting myself in now and then finding a
smoother pebble or a prettier shell than ordinary, whilst the great ocean of truth lay all
undiscovered before me!3
iii! .he "aw of #ravity - $ewton was considered a $atural +hilosopher trying to uncover
the "aws that governed $ature! /e theoriJed a force of attraction between all matter!
$ewton observed why the moon was in orbit around the 6arth in the cannonball thought
eperiment! /e was also interested in the relationship between the tides and the moon!
/e theoriJed that there was a force between any two ob7ects that was proportional to the
s*uare of the mass of the two ob7ects and to the cube of the distance between them!
Mepler had already proved this with his harmonic law although he did not realiJe it!
iv! /is foundation for classical mechanics lasted for two hundred years! 0t is still taught in
schools since the new perspective provided by thinkers such as 6instein are only
observable at the planetary level!
I stand on the shoulders of giants. *saac
Newton
/ow does the telescope work' .he basic premise is that it gathers more light from a
distant ob7ect to magnify the image!