SCIENTIFIC REVOLUTION                          

I. Thomas Kuhn, The Structure of a Scientific Revolution

1) paradigm: universally recognized model from which a
      coherent tradition of scientific research originates;
      set of rules or assumptions guiding ordinary science
          e.g.: any basic text book account of a science
2) data: organized and given meaning by the paradigm;
   without paradigm, data gathering is random procedure
3) anomalies: data which does not fit current paradigm;
   growth of anomalies leads to search for new paradigm

II. Old World View

Aristotelian Physics: explanations of motion
      natural motion of matter (fire, air, earth, water)
      acceleration of falling bodies (jubilancy, homecoming)
      projectile motion: impossibility of vacuum, rush of air
      distinction between earthly & heavenly motion

Ptolemaic universe: (Ptolemy, 2cd century AD Greece)
      geocentric, crystalline spheres which require mover,
                  angels turn spheres; music of the spheres
      finite universe: boundary is primum mobile
      boundary between sphere of earth (corruptible matter)
                  and heavens (incorruptible)
      celestial motion is uniform & circular

   Problem of motion of planets in Ptolemaic astronomy
      retrograde motion = anomaly, not uniform or circular
      solution: epicycles, deferents, eccentric orbits
      result: loss of "conceptual economy" Kuhn

III. Copernican Revolution: Nicolas Copernicus, Polish monk

Major work:  De revolutionibus orbium caelestium 1543
            (On the revolutions of the heavenly sphere)

Revolutionary proposals:
      heliocentrism: rejects motion of sun
      motion of earth, no longer central to universe
      retrograde motion of planets is optical illusion

Conservatism of Copernicus
      insistence on circular motion as more perfect
      religious motivation: to display divine order
      desire for single all encompassing explanation

Opposition to heliocentrism: common sense
      Scripture: condemned by Protestants & Catholics
      threatens entire Christian cosmology (world view)

Galileo Galilei (1584-1642)
      Astronomy: popularizer of Copernican system
         1609 telescope: qualitatively new data:
           views new stars, sun spots (corruptibility),
                 moons of Jupiter, phases of Venus
          1625 Dialogue on Two Chief World Systems:
               attack on Ptolemy & Aristotle;
               first major public defense of Copernican system

      1630-33 trial by Roman Inquisition, required to abjure
      heresy of Copernicanism, house arrest in Florence;
      reported to have said under his breath after recanting
                  "Eppure si muove." -- "And yet it does move."

      Physics: mathematical descriptions of types of motion
            falling bodies: writes equation describing effects of gravity,
                  but cause not understood; no theory of gravity until Newton
            inertial motion: to explain planetary motion, posits
                  circular inertia (wrong but introduces idea of inertia)

Issac Newton
1687 Principia Mathematica: gravity as common principle
       underlying earthly and heavenly motion; all motion can be
       mathematically described through the calculus