Galileo: The Role Of Scientific Thinking In The Seventeenth Century

The development of the scientific method in the seventeenth century changed knowledge from intitially being based on superstition into knowledge being acquired by hypothesis, theory, experiment, observation, and proof. Scientific thinking was widely supported by the authorities in England and France due to their country’s liberal nature, but scientific discovery was not recognized in the strict area of central Europe and was suppressed by the Church because the logical scientific ideas contradicted the Church’s beliefs. Prior to the discovery of the scientific method, science was highly discouraged and not considered to be an actual version of education. Scientific research had to be done in secret or else there was a risk of torture or death.

He was one of the individuals to begin the establishment of scientific methodology, because he made reasonable sense of what he observed. He used a pre-existing instrument, the telescope, to examine the solar system which had not been used before. By observing the night sky, he mapped star formations and the phases of the moon. Sir Francis Bacon advocated “Inductive method” which concluded that knowledge must be based on observation and therefore he performed experiments over and over. Rene Decartes believed in “Deductive Method” which is to come up with a theory that is questioned until proven to be true. These two inverse methods both play significant roles in the scientific method because both experiment and theory are necessary to prove something to be logical. Sir Isaac Newton proved the theory of gravitation rational by working out a mathematical explanation. Logical proof was one of the most important factors of the scientific method and had the ability to make theories inarguable, useful, and most of all

Johannes Kepler believed in the Heliocentric Theory formulated by Copernicus, and created his own “Law of Planetary Motion” that stated the orbits of planets are eliptical. The Heliocentric Theory opposed the Christian belief that the sun and planets revolved around the earth, the “Law of Planetary Motion” proved that the planet’s orbits are oval shaped not circular. This caused problems in the Church because it proved that the sun has more importance than the earth that God created for humanity, and it proved that the solar system does not orbit in a perfect circle which symbolizes perfection. Galileo, a friend of the pope and also world famous for his work, was warned by the Church to discontinue his work because the Church declared the Heliocentric Theory heretical. When he ignored this warning and published his masterpiece, he was put on trial by the Inquisition. If he had not been in close relations with the pope, he would have been tortured because his work completely opposed Christian beliefs. As much as the Church tried to suppress this scientific movement, Galileo was already so famous that many people knew of his research and discoveries, which were detriments to the Church’s power. But on the contrary, Galileo’s discovery of the parabolic trajectory was a major military