Lecture 9 – NATS 1710 – Newton and the Scientific Revolution
Science and Technology in Newton’s Europe
- State support of science, comparative cases, Europe:
monasteries, universities and court science
- The Royal Society in England (1662), Paris Academy of
Sciences (1666), Royal astronomical observatories and
botanical gardens
- Organization, professionalization and limited support of
science
- Societies, academic journal, & scientific paper
- Two strands to interest in science:
o Interest in nature for its own sake (Greek)
o Science in service to the state for the public
- Unification of science, variety of work for scientists
- Mechanical philosophy, God as a “divine clockmaker”
Newton (1642-1727)
- Mathematics, astronomy, optics, mechanics, chemistry,
alchemy
- Professor, Royal Mint, Royal Society president and
knighthood
- Criticism of Aristotle and Descartes, work on alchemy
- Increased importance of mathematics in physics
Optics
- Prisms and experiments, spectrum, 1672
- Chromatic aberration and reflecting telescope
Inertia
- Question: how do bodies act?
o Aristotle: they seek their natural place
o Newton: bodies are indifferent to motion, inertia
- Descartes: all motion is rectilinear until diverted
- Inertia and Aristotle, straight line motion, efficient cause
- Law 1: every body continues in a state of rest, or uniform
motion in a right line, unless it is compelled to change that
state by forces impressed upon it
- Linear inertia, ellipses, circles and orbits
Gravity
- Principia Mathematica Philosophia Naturalis (1687)
- Royal society, Hooke, inverse square law & universal gravity
- Instrumental vs realistic models, Kepler and anima motrixi
- Inverse-square law F = (1/r2)
- Newton: all rotating objects would tend to fly off in right
lines tangential to their orbits unless there was a force
drawing them to the centre of their orbits
- Universal gravity, planets, moon, all objects with mass, tides
- Aristotle, terrestrial and celestial unification
- Newton: “I feign no hypotheses”, description of effects, not cause
- Force, mechanical philosophy, quantification, occult
Calculus
- Analysis of areas under curves & tangents (calculus)
- Calculus (fluxions) revolutionary, priority with Leibniz
- Mathematics: priority, abstractions for simplification
Implications of Newton’s Work
- Newton’s unification of celestial and terrestrial mechanics,
descriptive (not causal) analysis, use of mathematics,
methodological influence
- Universe infinite, absolute, human reference point
- Natural philosophers, method, standards, Enlightenment
The Air Pump - Something From Nothing
- Optics (telescope), clocks (navigation) and pneumatics
(barometers, air pumps)
- State sponsored science, public experiments (von Guericke)
- Robert Hooke & Robert Boyle, vacuum experiments: life &
combustion, sound, light and magnetism
- Instruments, phenomena, and investigation of nature
Bernal’s Analysis of the Scientific Revolution
- Context of the Scientific Revolution:
o Agriculture and population growth, rise of the nation
state and monarchs, legal separation of corporations,
adoption of Islamic knowledge, the Protestant
Reformation, universities and court science,
international trade
- Bernal: agricultural productivity increased population, trade
- Navigation aided by astronomy, telescope, clocks, global
trade
- Feudal economy (land rents, peasant labor), capitalist
economy (businessmen, means of production, laborers)
- Surplus capital, investment in science and technology
- Capitalism necessary for experimental science
- Bernal: fundamental changes to society (religious, economic,
political) made fundamental changes to science possible
Bernal Versus Huff
- Economics, technology and science, Huff institutions
- Bernal:
o Trade, communication (press), challenges to ancient
authority
o Diffusion of authority, challenges to established
institutions, revolutionary ideas
o Capitalists controlled the research agendas of science,
science was oriented to production of wealth