Scientific Revolution: a Major Turning Point In European History

The Scientific Revolution was a major turning point in European history and set the tone for how things in the society we live in today are still done. The scientific revolution began with Nicolaus Copernicus’ theory along with the rediscovery of ancient Greek atomism in the early fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. The seventeenth century is when the scientific revolution really took notice because of the works of Isaac Newton along with the understandings of the educated people in Europe that an actual scientific revolution had occurred.

The major ideas of the scientific revolution were the earth revolves around the sun, everything that happens can be explained mechanically or mechanistically, matter is made up of small particles, general principles and natural laws must be supported by data, and science is an exciting activity that will benefit mankind. When saying science is an exciting activity that will benefit mankind this is so important because this is where the basis of how everything that has now been found out about the world has come about and what has also allowed people to become so advanced with the technology that is used today.

What made the scientific revolution so important and such a big deal was how it had such a large emphasis on objectivity and the need to know the natural causes of observable events. As I mentioned in the paragraph above the inventions of new technology were beginning to form and this is where the telescopes we have today began, microscopes, air pumps, and thermometers all helped jump start the revolution. Many experiments were done throughout the course of the revolution in order to make sure that all the new inventions worked but these experiments required witnesses to make sure that the new findings were credible. The witnesses were usually men of high social status because scientist believed that if men with such a high social standing had faith in their new discoveries why wouldn’t the everyday people have faith as well.

The Scientific Revolution influenced the Enlightenment by showing how strong the power of the human mind truthfully is, and by having created such great things purely from the imagination of the human mind. People really started to learn how to think on their own after the scientific revolution and trust the thoughts going through their own minds since all these amazing new discoveries had come about from just a thought in someone’s head and had to go through just a few trials and tribulations before they became the actual inventions that set the tone for how things are created today, and how most importantly the human mind works and thinks.

Without the Scientific Revolution who knows how we would live today. Personally I could not imagine living in a world where there is no technology like we are used to today, or living in a world where no one is encouraged to think on their own and express their thoughts and ideas. Scientists like Isaac Newton, Nicolaus Copernicus, and John Locke really set the standard for the performance levels of the scientists we have today and truthfully allowed our world to become the great nation that it has.