History of Science by University of Groningen

Curiosity

trade590124 — 2017-10-23 14:51:38 UTC

Untamed Minds Discover Wonders.

An Experiment on a Bird in the Air Pump by Joseph Wright of Derby 1768

suecrawford — 2017-10-26 11:38:08 UTC

This picture always fascinated my eldest son when visiting the National Gallery in London and it was the first image I thought of when asked to share a picture that represented the history of science. I always found it rather disturbing but intriguing - it looks as if he is demonstrating a conjuring trick.

The Ambassadors by Hans Holbein the Younger 1533

suecrawford — 2017-10-26 11:48:29 UTC

The extension of trade and exploration, the search for knowledge and the Reformation opened the world to knew ideas and methods of inquiry... my favourite picture in the National Gallery, London.

2017-10-29 11:53:13 UTC

2017-10-29 11:54:28 UTC

Inclined plane

2017-10-30 01:12:13 UTC

A lovely scientific apparatus for investigating the physics of the falling body. See it in the Museo Galileo in Florence, Italy.

The Astrolabe (ca. 927 CE)

2017-10-30 02:55:07 UTC

a type of analog calculator, and an astronomical instrument used for observing planetary movements, was indispensable for navigation.
,

Fingerprints of Marie Jaëll’s students, 1897.

2017-10-30 04:43:53 UTC

These fingerprints were taken by fixing paper to piano keys and having the piano students cover their fingers with ink before playing short passages. The purpose was to investigate piano technique in a scientific (quasi-scientific?) manner.

Bibliothèque Nationale et Universitaire de Strasbourg. Fonds Marie Jaëll, Mrs 560-1.

ASME B&PV Code

GaryE — 2017-10-30 05:10:16 UTC

Explosions and deaths led to the creation of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers Boiler and Pressure Vessel Code. A sort of Engineering for Dummies guidebook to building things that probably won't kill others.

When i hear the term history of science the first image that comes in my mind is the first page of Principia by Isaac Newton

saaquarious02021972 — 2017-10-30 06:16:33 UTC

Leonardo

2017-10-30 06:25:01 UTC

Leonardo da vinci in his quest for knowledge of human anatomy paid "collectors" to supply corpses for dissection.

lynn31 — 2017-10-30 08:26:29 UTC

Leonardo da Vinci’s Vitruvian man

2017-10-30 09:12:42 UTC

Study of sun and moon by babylonian philosophers

2017-10-30 09:29:39 UTC

Albrecht Durer's Melancholia I

Albrecht Durer's Melencolia I (1514)

2017-10-30 09:35:58 UTC

The angel of genius surrounded by symbols and tools that could be viewed as either scientific or magical, or both. This Renaissance masterpiece sums up the contradictory impulses that ultimately gave rise to the so-called Scientific Revolution.

Albrecht Durer's Melencolia (1514)

2017-10-30 09:47:24 UTC

The angel of genius sits surrounded by tools and symbols both scientific and mystical. This Renaissance masterpiece sums up the contradictory historical impulses that ultimately gave rise to the Scientific Revolution.

Mach's Reverse Rotor

2017-10-30 10:22:43 UTC

I heard about this on a radio programme. A physicist, Ernst Mach, suggests that since if we squeeze air out of the pump bulb it makes the rotor turn clockwise, then if the bulb is already squeezed empty and we put the device underwater, as it sucks in liquid the rotor should turn anticlockwise. So much seems obvious. But that isn't seen to happen if we try it out, and even in the 1980s and 1990s it was surprisingly hard to explain why not.

Joseph Wright of Derby The Orrery

2017-10-30 12:08:39 UTC

Definately the artist of Enlightenment science.

2017-10-30 15:09:42 UTC

Robert Hooke and the discoverment of cell (1665)

alvarezromeronancy — 2017-10-30 15:16:28 UTC

Robert Hooke is considered one of the most important experimental scientifics of the History of Science. He was member of the first scientific society of History, The Royal Society of London.
He looked at cork from trees and saw tiny boxes, he called them "cells". But he thought than only plants had cells.

Geology, 1791

john_mckenzie8 — 2017-10-30 15:23:15 UTC

Here is a late 18C view of the structure of the Earth from Erasmus Darwin (Charles' granddad) Economy of Vegetation, 1791. Lesson: it's necessary to get the science half-right before you can get it right!

Mary Anning, fossil finder

2017-10-30 16:37:55 UTC

Mary is an example of a woman who made a great contribution to science. Her fossil finds helped to develop palaeontology. She lived in Lyme Regis in Dorset, England, and owned a shop where she sold her fossils.

http://www.lymeregismuseum.co.uk/collection/mary-anning/

The Periodic Table

2017-10-30 17:07:40 UTC

This summarises the discovery of the make-up of everything around us, from the earlist identified atoms through to more recent discoveries.

Wanderer am Weltenrand

2017-10-30 17:54:39 UTC

Looking beyond the obvious, that, to me, is what science is all about!

2017-10-30 18:06:02 UTC

AFTER 350 YEARS, VATICAN "CONFESSES" THAT GALILEO WAS RIGHT--
http://www.nytimes.com/1992/10/31/world/after-350-years-vatican-says-galileo-was-right-it-moves.html

René Descartes | Drawing of solar systems from 'Principia philosophiae' | 1644

2017-10-30 18:08:11 UTC

Nicolas Copernicus--a Truly Revolutionary Scientist

2017-10-30 18:13:18 UTC

Want to know more about The Copernican Model?
Visit link for video graphic and short biographical notes
https://qph.ec.quoracdn.net/main-qimg-baae87e9e8e4daefa1b219ab29dbd79c

2017-10-30 18:41:06 UTC

Coalbrookdale by Night (1801), oil painting by Philip James de Loutherbourg. Looks like a destaster, but it shows a working production site.

2017-10-30 18:44:03 UTC

The difference engine - an early computer. Beautiful,

The picture of the orrarry with Joseph wri

2017-10-30 19:07:28 UTC

The picture of the orrarry , with joseph wright .

2017-10-30 19:08:56 UTC

It sums up what science is to me i have an orrarry and it is a wonderful thing, that was an innovation in science in its time.

Fenómeno de ingravidez (Weightlessness phenomenon). Remedios Varo (1963)

2017-10-30 19:18:02 UTC

The clear allegory to the figure of Sir Isaac Newton, for me it conveys the attempt of the humanity to connect the earthling with the cosmic. All the traditions do this in one way or another, from the ancient myths to the modern theories, in a quest to reach the understanding of the universe on its totality. Newton, being profoundly religious, atempted to connect the motion of the planets, with the motion of the earthly objects, uniting them all to the same manifestation of the matter. Planets and stars were no longer made of a quintessence, but of the same matter as we are.
- R.A.M. Cortés

Kuhn's Book

2017-10-30 21:02:15 UTC

When I think of the history of science, I think of how fascinated I was to read Kuhn's account of how science changes over time.

Tycho Brahe 1546-1601

annebj — 2017-10-31 13:52:39 UTC

The Danish astronomer using new instruments to measure the movement of the stars in his observatory.

Knowledge Tree

2017-10-31 18:22:55 UTC

Shaman

2017-11-02 18:55:53 UTC

Shaman in the Amazon curing a native who has been cursed by witch's spit causing a sore hip.
We witnessed this on a recent trip. Many natives prefer this cure to scientific medicine.

Paleontology

2017-11-02 19:04:37 UTC

My daughter the paleontologist in front of one of her many displays. She works at the Museum of Natural History at the University of Utah.

Michael Faraday

2017-11-03 09:52:20 UTC

Scientist and Educator

A man of insight and courageGiordano Bruno, philosopher and scientist, burnt at the stake 400 years agoBy Frank Gaglioti16 February 2000Four centuries ago today, on February 16, 1600, the Roman Catholic Church executed Giordano Bruno, Italian philosopher and scientist, for the crime of heresy. He was taken from his cell in the early hours of the morning to the Piazza dei Fiori in Rome and burnt alive at the stake. To the last, the Church authorities were fearful of the ideas of a man who was known throughout Europe as a bold and brilliant thinker. In a peculiar twist to the gruesome affair, the executioners were ordered to tie his tongue so that he would be unable to address those gathered.Throughout his life Bruno championed the Copernican system of astronomy which placed the sun, not the Earth, at the centre of the solar system. He opposed the stultifying authority of the Church and refused to recant his philosophical beliefs throughout his eight years of imprisonment by the Venetian and Roman Inquisitions. His life stands as a testimony to the drive for knowledge and truth that marked the astonishing period of history known as the Renaissance—from which so much in modern art, thought and science derives.In 1992, after 12 years of deliberations, the Roman Catholic Church grudgingly admitted that Galileo Galilei had been right in supporting the theories of Copernicus. The Holy Inquisition had forced an aged Galileo to recant his ideas under threat of torture in 1633. But no such admission has been made in the case of Bruno. His writings are still on the Vatican's list of forbidden texts.The Church is currently considering a new batch of apologies. A theological commission headed by Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, the head of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, the modern successor of the Inquisition, has completed an inquiry entitled "The Church and the Faults of the Past: Memory in the Service of Reconciliation", which proposes making an apology for "past errors". The results have been handed to Pope John Paul II, who is due to make a statement on March 12. The execution of Bruno is one of the church's crimes being considered but it is unlikely that major concessions will be made in his case. A number of hard-line Catholic figures have opposed the investigation from the outset, saying that excessive penitence and self-questioning could undermine faith in the Church and its institutions.The current attitude of the Roman Catholic Church to Bruno is defined by a two-page entry in the latest edition of the Catholic Encyclopaedia. It describes Bruno's "intolerance" and berates him, declaring "his attitude of mind towards religious truth was that of a rationalist”. [1] The article describes in detail Bruno's theological errors and his lengthy detention at the hands of the Inquisition, but fails to mention the best-known fact—that the church authorities burnt him alive at the stake.Bruno has long been revered as a martyr to scientific truth. In 1889 a monument to him was erected at the location of his execution. Such was the feeling for Bruno that scientists and poets paid tribute to him and a book was written detailing his life's work. In a dedication for a meeting held at the Contemporary Club in Philadelphia in 1890, American poet Walt Whitman wrote: "As America's mental courage (the thought comes to me today) is so indebted, above all current lands and peoples, to the noble army of old-world martyrs past, how incumbent on us that we clear those martyrs' lives and names, and hold them up for reverent admiration as well as beacons. And typical of this, and standing for it and all perhaps, Giordano Bruno may well be put, today and to come, in our New World's thankfulest heart and memory."[2]Karl Marx's co-thinker Fredrick Engels summed up the period that produced figures, such as Bruno, who challenged the church and laid the basis for modern science. In an introduction written in the 1870s to his unfinished work the Dialectics of Nature, Engels wrote: “It was the greatest progressive revolution that mankind had so far experienced, a time which called for giants and produced giants—giants in power of thought, passion and character, in universality and learning. The men who founded the modern rule of the bourgeoisie had anything but bourgeois limitations. On the contrary, the adventurous character of the time inspired them to a greater or lesser degree. There was hardly any man of importance then living who had not travelled extensively, who did not speak four or five languages, who did not shine in a number of fields....“At that time natural science also developed in the midst of the general revolution and was itself thoroughly revolutionary; it had indeed to win in struggle its right of existence. Side by side with the great Italians from whom modern philosophy dates, it provided its martyrs for the stake and the dungeons of the Inquisition. And it is characteristic that Protestants outdid Catholics in persecuting the free investigation of nature. Calvin had Servetus burnt at the stake when the latter was on the point of discovering the circulation of the blood, and indeed he kept him roasting alive during two hours; for the Inquisition at least it sufficed to have Giordano Bruno simply burnt alive."[3]What is most characteristic of Bruno is his vigorous appeal to reason and logic, rather than religious dogma, as the basis for determining truth. In a manner that anticipates the Enlightenment thinkers of the eighteenth century, he wrote in one of his final works, De triplici minimo (1591): “He who desires to philosophise must first of all doubt all things. He must not assume a position in a debate before he has listened to the various opinions, and considered and compared the reasons for and against. He must never judge or take up a position on the evidence of what he has heard, on the opinion of the majority, the age, merits, or prestige of the speaker concerned, but he must proceed according to the persuasion of an organic doctrine which adheres to real things, and to a truth that can be understood by the light of reason."[4]A complex intellectual figureAn examination of Bruno's philosophical legacy reveals a complex figure who was influenced by the various intellectual trends of the time, in a period when modern science was just beginning to emerge. His enthusiastic polemics earned the admiration of the most advanced thinkers of the period and the loathing of the Church, whose authority was being shaken to the core by learned assaults such as these.Bruno was born in the town of Nola, near Naples, in 1548, at the dawn of the revolution in astronomy which was heralded by the publication of Copernicus's De revolutionibus orbium coelestium libri VI in 1543. Copernicus asserted that the sun, not the Earth, was the centre of a finite universe, with the planets on circular orbits around it and the stars on a fixed sphere a considerable distance beyond.The Copernican system not only challenged the Church's cosmological views, but also the rigid social hierarchy of feudalism. The previous neatly ordered view of the universe, with the Earth at the centre, reinforced the rigid feudal order with serfs at the bottom and the Pope at the pinnacle. The dangerous implication of the Copernican theory was that if the Church's credo of infallibility could be challenged in the cosmological arena then its social position was also cast into doubt.The Church was already under siege from all sides. In 1517 Martin Luther nailed his Ninety-Five Theses to the church door in Germany, denouncing the practices of the Roman Catholic Church, the first blow in the Protestant Reformation that swept across Europe. The Vatican responded with a counterattack—the Counter Reformation—on anyone who appeared to challenge Catholic doctrine. In 1542 it established the Roman Inquisition to enforce its edicts with torture and execution.Thus Bruno entered a world in ferment. In 1563 Bruno entered the monastery of St. Dominic, where he came to the notice of Church authorities for his unorthodox religious views. He used his time as a novitiate to acquaint himself not only with the philosophical works of the ancient Greeks, but also his more contemporary European thinkers. It was at this time that he first encountered the work of Copernicus, which was to have such a profound impact on his life.Bruno took holy orders in 1572 but then left the order in 1576 after travelling to Rome. He had been caught reading philosophical texts annotated by the Dutch humanist philosopher Erasmus and escaped before being denounced to ecclesiastical authorities. He spent the rest of his life until his capture wandering Europe discussing and promoting his philosophical ideas.After three years in Italy he went to Geneva, which was then dominated by the Protestant sect led by Calvin. He soon came into conflict with academic authorities when he published a pamphlet stating that a local professor of philosophy had made 20 errors in one lecture. He was imprisoned by the Calvinist authorities and only released after withdrawing the offending publication. Twenty-six years earlier the Calvinists had burnt Servetus, a Spanish doctor, geographer and man of letters, at the stake for his scientific views.Bruno then travelled to Toulouse in France, where he lectured on Aristotle's De anima and wrote a book on mnemonics—systems of memory training. He arrived in Paris by 1581, where he came to the attention of King Henry III who was attracted by his reputation of having a prodigious memory. The King found a position for him at the College de France after he had been forbidden entry to the Sorbonne by the ecclesiastical authority.During his stay in Paris he wrote three books, two on mnemonics and a play entitled The Torch-Bearer by Bruno the Nolan, Graduate of No Academy, Called the Nuisance. In this play Bruno described his time in the Dominican convent in Naples and presented a withering indictment of the Church. Giovanni Gentile's commentary on the play describes Bruno's characterisation of the Church as follows: "You will see, in mixed confusion, snatches of cutpurses, wiles of cheats, enterprises of rogues; also delicious repulsiveness, bitter sweets, foolish decisions, mistaken faith and crippled hopes, niggard charities, judges noble and serious for other men's affairs with little truth in their own; virile women, effeminate men and voices of craft and not of mercy so that he who believes most is most fooled—and everywhere the love of gold."[5]Bruno was forced to leave France in 1583 and travelled to England where his three-year stay proved to be one of the most fruitful periods of his life. He was introduced into a society that craved all forms of Italian learning and already had a considerable Italian and foreign exile community. Many had fled to avoid persecution for unorthodox philosophical and religious ideas. Bruno held discussions with Queen Elizabeth I, who was attracted by the prospect of discussing philosophical matters directly in Italian. He quickly attracted a number of intellectuals who eagerly discussed the philosophical ideas of the time.In England, Bruno published six books, all in Italian, fully elaborating his philosophical ideas for the first time. He was one of the first philosophers to discuss scientific issues in the vernacular. The very act of publishing in Italian was an open challenge to the Church, which sought to maintain Latin as the language of intellectual discourse and so limit the wider dissemination of ideas. Copernicus's groundbreaking work had been published only in Latin. So afraid were Bruno's printers that not one of them identified himself in the printed texts.Bruno's view of the universeBruno's cosmology is outlined in The Ash Wednesday Supper, Cause, Principle and Unity and On the Infinite Universe and Worlds, which represent a brilliant anticipation of subsequent scientific and philosophical developments. In some respects the conclusions Bruno arrived at by bold intuition surpassed the work of his successors such as Galileo and Kepler. The works are in the form of dialogues, where Bruno's characters argue various philosophical positions from different points of view, one representing Bruno himself.In The Ash Wednesday Supper Bruno was one of the first to argue for the existence of an infinite universe, which contained an infinite number of worlds similar to the Earth. In doing so, he rejected the limits of the Copernican system, which posited a finite universe limited by a fixed sphere of stars just beyond the solar system. He argued that the sun was not the centre of the universe, saying that if the sun were observed from any of the other stars it would appear no different from them. Bruno even speculated that the other worlds would be inhabited.German philosopher Ernst Cassirer explained the significance of Bruno's conception of an infinite universe as follows: "This doctrine ... was the first and decisive step toward man's self-liberation. Man no longer lives in the world of a prisoner enclosed within the narrow walls of a finite physical universe. He can traverse the air and break through all the imaginary boundaries of the celestial spheres which have been erected by a false metaphysics and cosmology. The infinite universe sets no limits to human reason; on the contrary, it is the great incentive of human reason. The human intellect becomes aware of its own infinity through measuring its powers by the infinite universe."[6]Bruno's other three works published in England— The Expulsion of the Triumphant Beast, Cabal of the Cheval Pegasus and On Heroic Frenzies —contain a biting critique of the Counter Reformation. Italian historian Hilary Gatti in her book Giordano Bruno and Renaissance Science observed: "The sense of these final Italian works, in my opinion, is ... to be found in a transition from an intellectual sphere dominated by a vision of the world in essentially theological terms to an intellectual sphere dominated by a vision of the world in essentially philosophical terms. In this passage from theology to philosophy all forms of revealed religion receive harsh treatment, but above all the Christian religion that dominated the life and culture of the Europe of the sixteenth century, often through violence and oppression."[7]It was in England that Bruno had his most profound impact. His views were discussed in intellectual circles and the arguments presented in his various books give a flavour of the contemporary discussion. Two leading scientists, William Gilbert and Thomas Harriot, became leading proponents of Bruno's cosmological views. Gilbert, whose De Magnete (1600) stood as a basic text on magnetism until the nineteenth century, was prominent in a grouping that discussed scientific issues. He was particularly interested in developing his magnetic theories in relation to Bruno's cosmological views.Harriot was a noted mathematician and astronomer, who was thought to have discovered sunspots before Galileo. Harriot exchanged letters with Kepler in 1608 discussing Bruno's conception of an infinite universe, which Kepler was to reject. Harriot was one of the scientists cultivated by the Ninth Earl of Northumberland—a devoted follower of Bruno. Northumberland had an extensive library of Bruno's works, which he made available to the scientists in his circle.Bruno was forced to return to France because of the decline in the fortunes of his patron, the Marquis de Mauvissiere, with whom he had travelled to England. He produced three works on his return to Paris but was forced to leave after his challenge to debate all comers on the topic One Hundred and Twenty Articles on Nature and the World resulted in him being set upon by supporters of the Church. He then travelled to Germany, where he resided in Wittenberg and Marburg until 1588. He was forced to leave Marburg after coming into conflict with the Lutheran authorities, then wandered Europe—Prague, Helmstedt, Frankfurt and Zurich.In 1591 Bruno returned to Italy after being invited by the Venetian nobleman Zuane Mocenigo to educate the aristocrat in mnemonics. Mocenigo subsequently denounced him to the Inquisition. Bruno was arrested on May 23, 1592, cross-examined on his philosophical works and on January 27, 1593 handed over to the Inquisition in Rome on the direct request of the Papal Nuncio, Taverna, acting on behalf of Pope Clement VIII.During his detention in Rome he was interrogated on all aspects of his life and his philosophical and theological views over a period of seven years. On February 15, 1599 the Inquisition charged Bruno with eight specific acts of heresy, which the church has not revealed to this day. According to the limited documents available, Bruno was indicted for his "atheistic" views and for the publication of The Expulsion of the Triumphant Beast. He refused to recant.The Inquisition delivered its verdict on January 20, 1600, stating: "We hereby, in these documents ... pronounce sentence and declare the aforesaid Brother Giordano Bruno to be an impenitent and pertinacious heretic, and therefore to have incurred all the ecclesiastical censures and pains of the Holy Canon.... We ordain and command that thou must be delivered to the Secular Court ... that thou mayest be punished with the punishment deserved, though we earnestly pray that he (the Roman Governor) will mitigate the rigour of the laws concerning the pains of thy person, that thou mayest not be in danger of death or of mutilation of thy members.“Furthermore, we condemn, we reprobate and we prohibit all thine aforesaid and thy other books and writings as heretical and erroneous, containing many heresies and errors, and we ordain that all of them which have come or may come in future into the hands of the Holy Office shall be publicly destroyed and burned in the square of St. Peter before the steps and that they shall be placed upon the Index of Forbidden Books."[8]Despite the false note of concern about Bruno's physical well-being, the Inquisition's verdict was a death sentence. Bruno was defiant to the end. Gaspar Schopp of Brelau, a recent convert to Catholicism and a witness to the sentencing, reported that Bruno exclaimed on hearing the sentence: "Perchance you who pronounce my sentence are in greater fear than I who receive it."[9]The Holy Inquisition and its tormentors are remembered only as symbols of arch-reaction. But Bruno has stood the test of time. An examination of his life reveals a true Renaissance man with a passionate interest in all aspects of human learning, who participated with great energy and determination in the intellectual turbulence of his times. His insights made an important contribution to the ideas that laid the basis for modern science. His stubborn refusal to bow to the authority, power and repressive apparatus of the Roman Catholic Church, the most powerful institution of his day, will no doubt be an inspiration for centuries to come.The German philosopher Georg Hegel summed up the generation of thinkers to which Bruno belonged in his Lectures on the History of Philosophy: "These men felt themselves dominated, as they really were, by the impulse to create existence and to derive truth from their very selves. They were men of vehement nature, of wild and restless character, of enthusiastic temperament, who could not attain to the calm of knowledge. Though it cannot be denied that there was in them a wonderful insight into what was true and great, there is no doubt on the other hand that they revelled in all manner of corruption in thought and heart as well as in their outer life. There is thus to be found in them great originality and subjective energy of spirit; at the same time the content is heterogeneous and unequal, and their confusion of mind is great. Their fate, their lives, their writings—which often fill many volumes—manifest only this restlessness of their being, this tearing asunder, the revolt of their inner being against present existence and the longing to get out of it and reach certainty. These remarkable individuals really resemble the upheavals, tremblings and eruptions of a volcano which has become worked up in its depths and has brought forward new developments, which as yet are wild and uncontrolled."[10]Notes:1. The Catholic Encyclopaedia (http://www.knight.org/advent/cathen/03016a.htm)2. Quoted in The Infinite Worlds of Giordano Bruno by Antoinette Mann Paterson, 1970, page ix3. Dialectics of Nature by Frederick Engels, page 21-224. De triplici minimo by Giordano Bruno as quoted in Giordano Bruno and Renaissance Science by Hilary Gatti, 1998, page 45. Quoted in Giordano Bruno, His Life and Thought by Dorothea Waley Singer, 1950, page 226. Quoted in The Infinite Worlds of Giordano Bruno by Antoinette Mann Paterson, 1970, pages 33-347. Giordano Bruno and Renaissance Science by Hilary Gatti, 1998, page 2298. Quoted in Giordano Bruno, His Life and Thought by Dorothea Waley Singer, 1950, page 176-1779. Quoted in Giordano Bruno, His Life and Thought by Dorothea Waley Singer, 1950, page 17910. Lectures on the History of Philosophy by G.W.F.Hegel, Volume 3, pages 115-116

ulliana1 — 2017-11-03 20:31:21 UTC

2017-11-04 12:01:12 UTC

1001 inventions

2017-11-05 23:47:03 UTC

The scientific method

2017-11-05 23:48:57 UTC

Should he be included as a precursor of the "scientific method"?

Newton

2017-11-06 12:57:43 UTC

What goes up must come down.

Aristotle vs Plato

2017-11-06 14:54:20 UTC

Charles Darwin

2017-11-09 21:02:39 UTC

He answered the question of our origin & told us that all living things are related.

Below the surface

2017-11-10 13:05:05 UTC

»The Anatomy Lesson of Dr. Nicolaes Tulp« (1632) by Rembrandt. For me, it is a symbol of the scientific curiosity to look literally below the surface in early modern times.

2017-11-13 21:32:45 UTC

Istanbul Museum of the History of Science and Technology in Islam

Baruch Spinoza

2017-11-17 21:15:26 UTC

The Philosopher's Philosopher. His work on consciousness is still useful today. 'The object of the idea of mind is body.' De Ethica.

Sir James Hutton

2017-11-24 12:03:55 UTC

The founder of uniformitarianism - the principle that the laws of the universe never change, which led him to take crucial steps forward in the documentation of the history of the Earth, thus earning him the title, Father of Modern Geology.

Madame Curie: Such a courage woman who dedicated to science and people.

veronicagrefa — 2017-12-01 21:40:14 UTC

2018-02-09 17:36:57 UTC

Bookmark of History

2018-05-28 08:54:41 UTC

Hooke's 'Micrographia' (1665)

2018-05-29 17:10:48 UTC

I find Hooke's drawing of a flea under magnification quite beautiful and can only imagine what people in the seventeenth century thought when they saw it. He took an everyday pest and studied it under the microscope and recorded it in large and vivid detail for all to see. Just stunning!

The Royal Society

2018-06-04 05:55:53 UTC

What are those stars and why do they move as they do?

2018-06-04 06:28:49 UTC

The start of the understanding of celestial mechanics is a major turning point in changing from just a mythological explanation.

2018-06-04 12:12:13 UTC

Frits Zernike

e_kampinga — 2018-06-04 13:28:47 UTC

For me science was a field dominated by men. However that was the situation in history at the time. One of the discoveries that still affect me today is the invention of the phase contrast microscope by Frits Zernike. In Groningen he is honored by having the whole study-complex be named after him.

Newton

2018-06-04 13:36:27 UTC

Jason and the Argonauts

2018-06-04 18:50:27 UTC

According to Greek mythology, the first ship ever made was built by Argo when Jason accepted to retreive the Golden Fleece. It was the first peace of technology that allowed humanity to explore a Universe full of mystery and dangers. For me science began in that period: when spaceships where just ships and the unknown Universe was just outside of the city walls.

Women are also Mathematicians

2018-06-05 14:13:47 UTC

The Pioneer Plaque

2018-06-06 14:53:21 UTC

Being able to contact life on other planets will be made possible by the history of science.

Harrison's Clocks

2018-06-09 00:18:45 UTC

For me, John Harrison's quest to solve the age old problem of how to measure Longitude will always stand as a beacon. One man's fight against the 18th century's scientific establishment to prove that his mechanical solution to the problem was more practical than all other proposed solutions. His life long dedication to perfecting the most elegant solution in the form of a clock changed the world and saved countless lives. And yet, even today, his work isn't universally known or celebrated.

Cuvier and the "jagged alligator"

2018-06-10 20:38:23 UTC

For me, Georges Cuvier and his work inspired a form of poetic exploration that remains unmatched since the great Romantics Percy Shelley and Lord Byron incorporated his scientific theories into their poetry. Cuvier's influence has long been forgotten and the poets message is often overlooked due to the changing nature of science during the early 19th century. Charles Lyell's theory of Uniformitarianism superceded Catastrophism and pushed Cuvier's theories aside. I think the every changing face of science is of the utmost importance in understanding the poetry and art, and humanities scholars who are not incorporating the full impact of science on popular culture throughtout time are missing some of the most interesting elements of these great works. Cuvier may not be a recognized name in circles outside the scientific community today, but his work influenced some of the greatest poets and artists. I am working on the integration of these ideas into the Humanities through interdisciplinary work that highlights the importance of science in popular culture.

John Aubrey

2018-06-13 16:12:43 UTC

As an amateur archaeologist John Aubrey is a fascinating person, very little of his works were published in his lifetime but he was a pioneer archaeologist in that he recorded, often for the first time, many of the field monuments of Southern Britain. His work Monumenta Brittanica makes very interesting reading.

Earth's pelgrim to the Moon

2018-06-17 11:22:26 UTC

By 14th century means, Ernst Borse calculated the distance from Earth to Moon: ten times the circonference of the Earth.
A pelgrim walking 10 miles a day, would take 100 days to walk from Utrecht to Rome.
From Rome to the Moon would take some 50 years walk (not walking on Sundays)

2018-06-28 01:15:34 UTC

2018-06-28 01:15:35 UTC

The Search for Pi

2018-07-13 14:21:02 UTC

The efforts of so many mathematicians to evaluate the value of pi have produced an array of outcomes, from crude approximations to highly sophisticated, elegant formulae. An easily understood, but tedious method, initially presented by Madhava and popularized by Leibniz, involves the infinite sum of terms that evaluate the Arctan(1) = pi = 4/1 - 4/3 + 4/5 - 4/7 + 4/9. . . . An incredibly rapid accelerator method for this sum uses a series of averages of the averages of the subtotals. If one generates just the first 35 of the subtotals of the Arctan(1) series, and then calculates 16 columns of subsequent sums of the averages of these subtotals, one can generate pi to 14 correct decimal places. Using the initial Arctan(1) series, would require the sum of approximately 10^14 Leibniz fractions to reach 3.14159265358979
An original approach to pi by Lon Brouse

2018-07-24 14:47:41 UTC

📎 Photo 📎 Photo Earth's pelgrim to the Moon Earth's pelgrim to the Moon By 14th century means, Ernst Borse calculated the distance from Earth to Moon: ten times the circonference of the Earth. A pelgrim walking 10 miles a day, would take 100 days to walk from Utrecht to Rome. From Rome to the Moon would take some 50 years walk (not walking on Sundays) The Search for Pi The Search for Pi The efforts of so many mathematicians to evaluate the value of pi have produced an array of outcomes, from crude approximations to highly sophisticated, elegant formulae. An easily understood, but tedious method, initially presented by Madhava and popularized by Leibniz, involves the infinite sum of terms that evaluate the Arctan(1) = pi = 4/1 - 4/3 + 4/5 - 4/7 + 4/9. . . . An incredibly rapid accelerator method for this sum uses a series of averages of the averages of the subtotals. If one generates just the first 35 of the subtotals of the Arctan(1) series, and then calculates 16 columns of subsequent sums of the averages of these subtotals, one can generate pi to 14 correct decimal places. Using the initial Arctan(1) series, would require the sum of approximately 10^14 Leibniz fractions to reach 3.14159265358979 An original approach to pi by Lon Brouse John Aubrey John Aubrey As an amateur archaeologist John Aubrey is a fascinating person, very little of his works were published in his lifetime but he was a pioneer archaeologist in that he recorded, often for the first time, many of the field monuments of Southern Britain. His work Monumenta Brittanica makes very interesting reading. Cuvier and the "jagged alligator" Cuvier and the "jagged alligator" For me, Georges Cuvier and his work inspired a form of poetic exploration that remains unmatched since the great Romantics Percy Shelley and Lord Byron incorporated his scientific theories into their poetry. Cuvier's influence has long been forgotten and the poets message is often overlooked due to the changing nature of science during the early 19th century. Charles Lyell's theory of Uniformitarianism superceded Catastrophism and pushed Cuvier's theories aside. I think the every changing face of science is of the utmost importance in understanding the poetry and art, and humanities scholars who are not incorporating the full impact of science on popular culture throughtout time are missing some of the most interesting elements of these great works. Cuvier may not be a recognized name in circles outside the scientific community today, but his work influenced some of the greatest poets and artists. I am working on the integration of these ideas into the Humanities through interdisciplinary work that highlights the importance of science in popular culture. Harrison's Clocks Harrison's Clocks For me, John Harrison's quest to solve the age old problem of how to measure Longitude will always stand as a beacon. One man's fight against the 18th century's scientific establishment to prove that his mechanical solution to the problem was more practical than all other proposed solutions. His life long dedication to perfecting the most elegant solution in the form of a clock changed the world and saved countless lives. And yet, even today, his work isn't universally known or celebrated. The Pioneer Plaque The Pioneer Plaque Being able to contact life on other planets will be made possible by the history of science. Women are also Mathematicians Women are also Mathematicians Jason and the Argonauts Jason and the Argonauts According to Greek mythology, the first ship ever made was built by Argo when Jason accepted to retreive the Golden Fleece. It was the first peace of technology that allowed humanity to explore a Universe full of mystery and dangers. For me science began in that period: when spaceships where just ships and the unknown Universe was just outside of the city walls. Newton Newton Frits Zernike Frits Zernike For me science was a field dominated by men. However that was the situation in history at the time. One of the discoveries that still affect me today is the invention of the phase contrast microscope by Frits Zernike. In Groningen he is honored by having the whole study-complex be named after him. Порожній What are those stars and why do they move as they do? What are those stars and why do they move as they do? The start of the understanding of celestial mechanics is a major turning point in changing from just a mythological explanation. The Royal Society The Royal Society Hooke's 'Micrographia' (1665) Hooke's 'Micrographia' (1665) I find Hooke's drawing of a flea under magnification quite beautiful and can only imagine what people in the seventeenth century thought when they saw it. He took an everyday pest and studied it under the microscope and recorded it in large and vivid detail for all to see. Just stunning! Bookmark of History Bookmark of History Madame Curie: Such a courage woman who dedicated to science and people. Madame Curie: Such a courage woman who dedicated to science and people. Sir James Hutton Sir James Hutton The founder of uniformitarianism - the principle that the laws of the universe never change, which led him to take crucial steps forward in the documentation of the history of the Earth, thus earning him the title, Father of Modern Geology. Baruch Spinoza Baruch Spinoza The Philosopher's Philosopher. His work on consciousness is still useful today. 'The object of the idea of mind is body.' De Ethica. Istanbul Museum of t Istanbul Museum of the History of Science and Technology in Islam Below the surface Below the surface »The Anatomy Lesson of Dr. Nicolaes Tulp« (1632) by Rembrandt. For me, it is a symbol of the scientific curiosity to look literally below the surface in early modern times. Aristotle vs Plato Aristotle vs Plato Newton Newton What goes up must come down. The scientific method The scientific method Should he be included as a precursor of the "scientific method"? 📎 Photo 1001 inventions 1001 inventions A man of insight and courageGiordano Bruno, philosopher and scientist, burnt at the stake 400 years agoBy Frank Gaglioti16 February 2000Four centuries ago today, on February 16, 1600, the Roman Catholic Church executed Giordano Bruno, Italian philosopher and scientist, for the crime of heresy. He was taken from his cell in the early hours of the morning to the Piazza dei Fiori in Rome and burnt alive at the stake. To the last, the Church authorities were fearful of the ideas of a man who was known throughout Europe as a bold and brilliant thinker. In a peculiar twist to the gruesome affair, the executioners were ordered to tie his tongue so that he would be unable to address those gathered.Throughout his life Bruno championed the Copernican system of astronomy which placed the sun, not the Earth, at the centre of the solar system. He opposed the stultifying authority of the Church and refused to recant his philosophical beliefs throughout his eight years of imprisonment by the Venetian and Roman Inquisitions. His life stands as a testimony to the drive for knowledge and truth that marked the astonishing period of history known as the Renaissance—from which so much in modern art, thought and science derives.In 1992, after 12 years of deliberations, the Roman Catholic Church grudgingly admitted that Galileo Galilei had been right in supporting the theories of Copernicus. The Holy Inquisition had forced an aged Galileo to recant his ideas under threat of torture in 1633. But no such admission has been made in the case of Bruno. His writings are still on the Vatican's list of forbidden texts.The Church is currently considering a new batch of apologies. A theological commission headed by Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, the head of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, the modern successor of the Inquisition, has completed an inquiry entitled "The Church and the Faults of the Past: Memory in the Service of Reconciliation", which proposes making an apology for "past errors". The results have been handed to Pope John Paul II, who is due to make a statement on March 12. The execution of Bruno is one of the church's crimes being considered but it is unlikely that major concessions will be made in his case. A number of hard-line Catholic figures have opposed the investigation from the outset, saying that excessive penitence and self-questioning could undermine faith in the Church and its institutions.The current attitude of the Roman Catholic Church to Bruno is defined by a two-page entry in the latest edition of the Catholic Encyclopaedia. It describes Bruno's "intolerance" and berates him, declaring "his attitude of mind towards religious truth was that of a rationalist”. [1] The article describes in detail Bruno's theological errors and his lengthy detention at the hands of the Inquisition, but fails to mention the best-known fact—that the church authorities burnt him alive at the stake.Bruno has long been revered as a martyr to scientific truth. In 1889 a monument to him was erected at the location of his execution. Such was the feeling for Bruno that scientists and poets paid tribute to him and a book was written detailing his life's work. In a dedication for a meeting held at the Contemporary Club in Philadelphia in 1890, American poet Walt Whitman wrote: "As America's mental courage (the thought comes to me today) is so indebted, above all current lands and peoples, to the noble army of old-world martyrs past, how incumbent on us that we clear those martyrs' lives and names, and hold them up for reverent admiration as well as beacons. And typical of this, and standing for it and all perhaps, Giordano Bruno may well be put, today and to come, in our New World's thankfulest heart and memory."[2]Karl Marx's co-thinker Fredrick Engels summed up the period that produced figures, such as Bruno, who challenged the church and laid the basis for modern science. In an introduction written in the 1870s to his unfinished work the Dialectics of Nature, Engels wrote: “It was the greatest progressive revolution that mankind had so far experienced, a time which called for giants and produced giants—giants in power of thought, passion and character, in universality and learning. The men who founded the modern rule of the bourgeoisie had anything but bourgeois limitations. On the contrary, the adventurous character of the time inspired them to a greater or lesser degree. There was hardly any man of importance then living who had not travelled extensively, who did not speak four or five languages, who did not shine in a number of fields....“At that time natural science also developed in the midst of the general revolution and was itself thoroughly revolutionary; it had indeed to win in struggle its right of existence. Side by side with the great Italians from whom modern philosophy dates, it provided its martyrs for the stake and the dungeons of the Inquisition. And it is characteristic that Protestants outdid Catholics in persecuting the free investigation of nature. Calvin had Servetus burnt at the stake when the latter was on the point of discovering the circulation of the blood, and indeed he kept him roasting alive during two hours; for the Inquisition at least it sufficed to have Giordano Bruno simply burnt alive."[3]What is most characteristic of Bruno is his vigorous appeal to reason and logic, rather than religious dogma, as the basis for determining truth. In a manner that anticipates the Enlightenment thinkers of the eighteenth century, he wrote in one of his final works, De triplici minimo (1591): “He who desires to philosophise must first of all doubt all things. He must not assume a position in a debate before he has listened to the various opinions, and considered and compared the reasons for and against. He must never judge or take up a position on the evidence of what he has heard, on the opinion of the majority, the age, merits, or prestige of the speaker concerned, but he must proceed according to the persuasion of an organic doctrine which adheres to real things, and to a truth that can be understood by the light of reason."[4]A complex intellectual figureAn examination of Bruno's philosophical legacy reveals a complex figure who was influenced by the various intellectual trends of the time, in a period when modern science was just beginning to emerge. His enthusiastic polemics earned the admiration of the most advanced thinkers of the period and the loathing of the Church, whose authority was being shaken to the core by learned assaults such as these.Bruno was born in the town of Nola, near Naples, in 1548, at the dawn of the revolution in astronomy which was heralded by the publication of Copernicus's De revolutionibus orbium coelestium libri VI in 1543. Copernicus asserted that the sun, not the Earth, was the centre of a finite universe, with the planets on circular orbits around it and the stars on a fixed sphere a considerable distance beyond.The Copernican system not only challenged the Church's cosmological views, but also the rigid social hierarchy of feudalism. The previous neatly ordered view of the universe, with the Earth at the centre, reinforced the rigid feudal order with serfs at the bottom and the Pope at the pinnacle. The dangerous implication of the Copernican theory was that if the Church's credo of infallibility could be challenged in the cosmological arena then its social position was also cast into doubt.The Church was already under siege from all sides. In 1517 Martin Luther nailed his Ninety-Five Theses to the church door in Germany, denouncing the practices of the Roman Catholic Church, the first blow in the Protestant Reformation that swept across Europe. The Vatican responded with a counterattack—the Counter Reformation—on anyone who appeared to challenge Catholic doctrine. In 1542 it established the Roman Inquisition to enforce its edicts with torture and execution.Thus Bruno entered a world in ferment. In 1563 Bruno entered the monastery of St. Dominic, where he came to the notice of Church authorities for his unorthodox religious views. He used his time as a novitiate to acquaint himself not only with the philosophical works of the ancient Greeks, but also his more contemporary European thinkers. It was at this time that he first encountered the work of Copernicus, which was to have such a profound impact on his life.Bruno took holy orders in 1572 but then left the order in 1576 after travelling to Rome. He had been caught reading philosophical texts annotated by the Dutch humanist philosopher Erasmus and escaped before being denounced to ecclesiastical authorities. He spent the rest of his life until his capture wandering Europe discussing and promoting his philosophical ideas.After three years in Italy he went to Geneva, which was then dominated by the Protestant sect led by Calvin. He soon came into conflict with academic authorities when he published a pamphlet stating that a local professor of philosophy had made 20 errors in one lecture. He was imprisoned by the Calvinist authorities and only released after withdrawing the offending publication. Twenty-six years earlier the Calvinists had burnt Servetus, a Spanish doctor, geographer and man of letters, at the stake for his scientific views.Bruno then travelled to Toulouse in France, where he lectured on Aristotle's De anima and wrote a book on mnemonics—systems of memory training. He arrived in Paris by 1581, where he came to the attention of King Henry III who was attracted by his reputation of having a prodigious memory. The King found a position for him at the College de France after he had been forbidden entry to the Sorbonne by the ecclesiastical authority.During his stay in Paris he wrote three books, two on mnemonics and a play entitled The Torch-Bearer by Bruno the Nolan, Graduate of No Academy, Called the Nuisance. In this play Bruno described his time in the Dominican convent in Naples and presented a withering indictment of the Church. Giovanni Gentile's commentary on the play describes Bruno's characterisation of the Church as follows: "You will see, in mixed confusion, snatches of cutpurses, wiles of cheats, enterprises of rogues; also delicious repulsiveness, bitter sweets, foolish decisions, mistaken faith and crippled hopes, niggard charities, judges noble and serious for other men's affairs with little truth in their own; virile women, effeminate men and voices of craft and not of mercy so that he who believes most is most fooled—and everywhere the love of gold."[5]Bruno was forced to leave France in 1583 and travelled to England where his three-year stay proved to be one of the most fruitful periods of his life. He was introduced into a society that craved all forms of Italian learning and already had a considerable Italian and foreign exile community. Many had fled to avoid persecution for unorthodox philosophical and religious ideas. Bruno held discussions with Queen Elizabeth I, who was attracted by the prospect of discussing philosophical matters directly in Italian. He quickly attracted a number of intellectuals who eagerly discussed the philosophical ideas of the time.In England, Bruno published six books, all in Italian, fully elaborating his philosophical ideas for the first time. He was one of the first philosophers to discuss scientific issues in the vernacular. The very act of publishing in Italian was an open challenge to the Church, which sought to maintain Latin as the language of intellectual discourse and so limit the wider dissemination of ideas. Copernicus's groundbreaking work had been published only in Latin. So afraid were Bruno's printers that not one of them identified himself in the printed texts.Bruno's view of the universeBruno's cosmology is outlined in The Ash Wednesday Supper, Cause, Principle and Unity and On the Infinite Universe and Worlds, which represent a brilliant anticipation of subsequent scientific and philosophical developments. In some respects the conclusions Bruno arrived at by bold intuition surpassed the work of his successors such as Galileo and Kepler. The works are in the form of dialogues, where Bruno's characters argue various philosophical positions from different points of view, one representing Bruno himself.In The Ash Wednesday Supper Bruno was one of the first to argue for the existence of an infinite universe, which contained an infinite number of worlds similar to the Earth. In doing so, he rejected the limits of the Copernican system, which posited a finite universe limited by a fixed sphere of stars just beyond the solar system. He argued that the sun was not the centre of the universe, saying that if the sun were observed from any of the other stars it would appear no different from them. Bruno even speculated that the other worlds would be inhabited.German philosopher Ernst Cassirer explained the significance of Bruno's conception of an infinite universe as follows: "This doctrine ... was the first and decisive step toward man's self-liberation. Man no longer lives in the world of a prisoner enclosed within the narrow walls of a finite physical universe. He can traverse the air and break through all the imaginary boundaries of the celestial spheres which have been erected by a false metaphysics and cosmology. The infinite universe sets no limits to human reason; on the contrary, it is the great incentive of human reason. The human intellect becomes aware of its own infinity through measuring its powers by the infinite universe."[6]Bruno's other three works published in England— The Expulsion of the Triumphant Beast, Cabal of the Cheval Pegasus and On Heroic Frenzies —contain a biting critique of the Counter Reformation. Italian historian Hilary Gatti in her book Giordano Bruno and Renaissance Science observed: "The sense of these final Italian works, in my opinion, is ... to be found in a transition from an intellectual sphere dominated by a vision of the world in essentially theological terms to an intellectual sphere dominated by a vision of the world in essentially philosophical terms. In this passage from theology to philosophy all forms of revealed religion receive harsh treatment, but above all the Christian religion that dominated the life and culture of the Europe of the sixteenth century, often through violence and oppression."[7]It was in England that Bruno had his most profound impact. His views were discussed in intellectual circles and the arguments presented in his various books give a flavour of the contemporary discussion. Two leading scientists, William Gilbert and Thomas Harriot, became leading proponents of Bruno's cosmological views. Gilbert, whose De Magnete (1600) stood as a basic text on magnetism until the nineteenth century, was prominent in a grouping that discussed scientific issues. He was particularly interested in developing his magnetic theories in relation to Bruno's cosmological views.Harriot was a noted mathematician and astronomer, who was thought to have discovered sunspots before Galileo. Harriot exchanged letters with Kepler in 1608 discussing Bruno's conception of an infinite universe, which Kepler was to reject. Harriot was one of the scientists cultivated by the Ninth Earl of Northumberland—a devoted follower of Bruno. Northumberland had an extensive library of Bruno's works, which he made available to the scientists in his circle.Bruno was forced to return to France because of the decline in the fortunes of his patron, the Marquis de Mauvissiere, with whom he had travelled to England. He produced three works on his return to Paris but was forced to leave after his challenge to debate all comers on the topic One Hundred and Twenty Articles on Nature and the World resulted in him being set upon by supporters of the Church. He then travelled to Germany, where he resided in Wittenberg and Marburg until 1588. He was forced to leave Marburg after coming into conflict with the Lutheran authorities, then wandered Europe—Prague, Helmstedt, Frankfurt and Zurich.In 1591 Bruno returned to Italy after being invited by the Venetian nobleman Zuane Mocenigo to educate the aristocrat in mnemonics. Mocenigo subsequently denounced him to the Inquisition. Bruno was arrested on May 23, 1592, cross-examined on his philosophical works and on January 27, 1593 handed over to the Inquisition in Rome on the direct request of the Papal Nuncio, Taverna, acting on behalf of Pope Clement VIII.During his detention in Rome he was interrogated on all aspects of his life and his philosophical and theological views over a period of seven years. On February 15, 1599 the Inquisition charged Bruno with eight specific acts of heresy, which the church has not revealed to this day. According to the limited documents available, Bruno was indicted for his "atheistic" views and for the publication of The Expulsion of the Triumphant Beast. He refused to recant.The Inquisition delivered its verdict on January 20, 1600, stating: "We hereby, in these documents ... pronounce sentence and declare the aforesaid Brother Giordano Bruno to be an impenitent and pertinacious heretic, and therefore to have incurred all the ecclesiastical censures and pains of the Holy Canon.... We ordain and command that thou must be delivered to the Secular Court ... that thou mayest be punished with the punishment deserved, though we earnestly pray that he (the Roman Governor) will mitigate the rigour of the laws concerning the pains of thy person, that thou mayest not be in danger of death or of mutilation of thy members.“Furthermore, we condemn, we reprobate and we prohibit all thine aforesaid and thy other books and writings as heretical and erroneous, containing many heresies and errors, and we ordain that all of them which have come or may come in future into the hands of the Holy Office shall be publicly destroyed and burned in the square of St. Peter before the steps and that they shall be placed upon the Index of Forbidden Books."[8]Despite the false note of concern about Bruno's physical well-being, the Inquisition's verdict was a death sentence. Bruno was defiant to the end. Gaspar Schopp of Brelau, a recent convert to Catholicism and a witness to the sentencing, reported that Bruno exclaimed on hearing the sentence: "Perchance you who pronounce my sentence are in greater fear than I who receive it."[9]The Holy Inquisition and its tormentors are remembered only as symbols of arch-reaction. But Bruno has stood the test of time. An examination of his life reveals a true Renaissance man with a passionate interest in all aspects of human learning, who participated with great energy and determination in the intellectual turbulence of his times. His insights made an important contribution to the ideas that laid the basis for modern science. His stubborn refusal to bow to the authority, power and repressive apparatus of the Roman Catholic Church, the most powerful institution of his day, will no doubt be an inspiration for centuries to come.The German philosopher Georg Hegel summed up the generation of thinkers to which Bruno belonged in his Lectures on the History of Philosophy: "These men felt themselves dominated, as they really were, by the impulse to create existence and to derive truth from their very selves. They were men of vehement nature, of wild and restless character, of enthusiastic temperament, who could not attain to the calm of knowledge. Though it cannot be denied that there was in them a wonderful insight into what was true and great, there is no doubt on the other hand that they revelled in all manner of corruption in thought and heart as well as in their outer life. There is thus to be found in them great originality and subjective energy of spirit; at the same time the content is heterogeneous and unequal, and their confusion of mind is great. Their fate, their lives, their writings—which often fill many volumes—manifest only this restlessness of their being, this tearing asunder, the revolt of their inner being against present existence and the longing to get out of it and reach certainty. These remarkable individuals really resemble the upheavals, tremblings and eruptions of a volcano which has become worked up in its depths and has brought forward new developments, which as yet are wild and uncontrolled."[10]Notes:1. The Catholic Encyclopaedia (http://www.knight.org/advent/cathen/03016a.htm)2. Quoted in The Infinite Worlds of Giordano Bruno by Antoinette Mann Paterson, 1970, page ix3. Dialectics of Nature by Frederick Engels, page 21-224. De triplici minimo by Giordano Bruno as quoted in Giordano Bruno and Renaissance Science by Hilary Gatti, 1998, page 45. Quoted in Giordano Bruno, His Life and Thought by Dorothea Waley Singer, 1950, page 226. Quoted in The Infinite Worlds of Giordano Bruno by Antoinette Mann Paterson, 1970, pages 33-347. Giordano Bruno and Renaissance Science by Hilary Gatti, 1998, page 2298. Quoted in Giordano Bruno, His Life and Thought by Dorothea Waley Singer, 1950, page 176-1779. Quoted in Giordano Bruno, His Life and Thought by Dorothea Waley Singer, 1950, page 17910. Lectures on the History of Philosophy by G.W.F.Hegel, Volume 3, pages 115-116 A man of insight and courageGiordano Bruno, philosopher and scientist, burnt at the stake 400 years agoBy Frank Gaglioti16 February 2000Four centuries ago today, on February 16, 1600, the Roman Catholic Church executed Giordano Bruno, Italian philosopher and scientist, for the crime of heresy. He was taken from his cell in the early hours of the morning to the Piazza dei Fiori in Rome and burnt alive at the stake. To the last, the Church authorities were fearful of the ideas of a man who was known throughout Europe as a bold and brilliant thinker. In a peculiar twist to the gruesome affair, the executioners were ordered to tie his tongue so that he would be unable to address those gathered.Throughout his life Bruno championed the Copernican system of astronomy which placed the sun, not the Earth, at the centre of the solar system. He opposed the stultifying authority of the Church and refused to recant his philosophical beliefs throughout his eight years of imprisonment by the Venetian and Roman Inquisitions. His life stands as a testimony to the drive for knowledge and truth that marked the astonishing period of history known as the Renaissance—from which so much in modern art, thought and science derives.In 1992, after 12 years of deliberations, the Roman Catholic Church grudgingly admitted that Galileo Galilei had been right in supporting the theories of Copernicus. The Holy Inquisition had forced an aged Galileo to recant his ideas under threat of torture in 1633. But no such admission has been made in the case of Bruno. His writings are still on the Vatican's list of forbidden texts.The Church is currently considering a new batch of apologies. A theological commission headed by Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, the head of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, the modern successor of the Inquisition, has completed an inquiry entitled "The Church and the Faults of the Past: Memory in the Service of Reconciliation", which proposes making an apology for "past errors". The results have been handed to Pope John Paul II, who is due to make a statement on March 12. The execution of Bruno is one of the church's crimes being considered but it is unlikely that major concessions will be made in his case. A number of hard-line Catholic figures have opposed the investigation from the outset, saying that excessive penitence and self-questioning could undermine faith in the Church and its institutions.The current attitude of the Roman Catholic Church to Bruno is defined by a two-page entry in the latest edition of the Catholic Encyclopaedia. It describes Bruno's "intolerance" and berates him, declaring "his attitude of mind towards religious truth was that of a rationalist”. [1] The article describes in detail Bruno's theological errors and his lengthy detention at the hands of the Inquisition, but fails to mention the best-known fact—that the church authorities burnt him alive at the stake.Bruno has long been revered as a martyr to scientific truth. In 1889 a monument to him was erected at the location of his execution. Such was the feeling for Bruno that scientists and poets paid tribute to him and a book was written detailing his life's work. In a dedication for a meeting held at the Contemporary Club in Philadelphia in 1890, American poet Walt Whitman wrote: "As America's mental courage (the thought comes to me today) is so indebted, above all current lands and peoples, to the noble army of old-world martyrs past, how incumbent on us that we clear those martyrs' lives and names, and hold them up for reverent admiration as well as beacons. And typical of this, and standing for it and all perhaps, Giordano Bruno may well be put, today and to come, in our New World's thankfulest heart and memory."[2]Karl Marx's co-thinker Fredrick Engels summed up the period that produced figures, such as Bruno, who challenged the church and laid the basis for modern science. In an introduction written in the 1870s to his unfinished work the Dialectics of Nature, Engels wrote: “It was the greatest progressive revolution that mankind had so far experienced, a time which called for giants and produced giants—giants in power of thought, passion and character, in universality and learning. The men who founded the modern rule of the bourgeoisie had anything but bourgeois limitations. On the contrary, the adventurous character of the time inspired them to a greater or lesser degree. There was hardly any man of importance then living who had not travelled extensively, who did not speak four or five languages, who did not shine in a number of fields....“At that time natural science also developed in the midst of the general revolution and was itself thoroughly revolutionary; it had indeed to win in struggle its right of existence. Side by side with the great Italians from whom modern philosophy dates, it provided its martyrs for the stake and the dungeons of the Inquisition. And it is characteristic that Protestants outdid Catholics in persecuting the free investigation of nature. Calvin had Servetus burnt at the stake when the latter was on the point of discovering the circulation of the blood, and indeed he kept him roasting alive during two hours; for the Inquisition at least it sufficed to have Giordano Bruno simply burnt alive."[3]What is most characteristic of Bruno is his vigorous appeal to reason and logic, rather than religious dogma, as the basis for determining truth. In a manner that anticipates the Enlightenment thinkers of the eighteenth century, he wrote in one of his final works, De triplici minimo (1591): “He who desires to philosophise must first of all doubt all things. He must not assume a position in a debate before he has listened to the various opinions, and considered and compared the reasons for and against. He must never judge or take up a position on the evidence of what he has heard, on the opinion of the majority, the age, merits, or prestige of the speaker concerned, but he must proceed according to the persuasion of an organic doctrine which adheres to real things, and to a truth that can be understood by the light of reason."[4]A complex intellectual figureAn examination of Bruno's philosophical legacy reveals a complex figure who was influenced by the various intellectual trends of the time, in a period when modern science was just beginning to emerge. His enthusiastic polemics earned the admiration of the most advanced thinkers of the period and the loathing of the Church, whose authority was being shaken to the core by learned assaults such as these.Bruno was born in the town of Nola, near Naples, in 1548, at the dawn of the revolution in astronomy which was heralded by the publication of Copernicus's De revolutionibus orbium coelestium libri VI in 1543. Copernicus asserted that the sun, not the Earth, was the centre of a finite universe, with the planets on circular orbits around it and the stars on a fixed sphere a considerable distance beyond.The Copernican system not only challenged the Church's cosmological views, but also the rigid social hierarchy of feudalism. The previous neatly ordered view of the universe, with the Earth at the centre, reinforced the rigid feudal order with serfs at the bottom and the Pope at the pinnacle. The dangerous implication of the Copernican theory was that if the Church's credo of infallibility could be challenged in the cosmological arena then its social position was also cast into doubt.The Church was already under siege from all sides. In 1517 Martin Luther nailed his Ninety-Five Theses to the church door in Germany, denouncing the practices of the Roman Catholic Church, the first blow in the Protestant Reformation that swept across Europe. The Vatican responded with a counterattack—the Counter Reformation—on anyone who appeared to challenge Catholic doctrine. In 1542 it established the Roman Inquisition to enforce its edicts with torture and execution.Thus Bruno entered a world in ferment. In 1563 Bruno entered the monastery of St. Dominic, where he came to the notice of Church authorities for his unorthodox religious views. He used his time as a novitiate to acquaint himself not only with the philosophical works of the ancient Greeks, but also his more contemporary European thinkers. It was at this time that he first encountered the work of Copernicus, which was to have such a profound impact on his life.Bruno took holy orders in 1572 but then left the order in 1576 after travelling to Rome. He had been caught reading philosophical texts annotated by the Dutch humanist philosopher Erasmus and escaped before being denounced to ecclesiastical authorities. He spent the rest of his life until his capture wandering Europe discussing and promoting his philosophical ideas.After three years in Italy he went to Geneva, which was then dominated by the Protestant sect led by Calvin. He soon came into conflict with academic authorities when he published a pamphlet stating that a local professor of philosophy had made 20 errors in one lecture. He was imprisoned by the Calvinist authorities and only released after withdrawing the offending publication. Twenty-six years earlier the Calvinists had burnt Servetus, a Spanish doctor, geographer and man of letters, at the stake for his scientific views.Bruno then travelled to Toulouse in France, where he lectured on Aristotle's De anima and wrote a book on mnemonics—systems of memory training. He arrived in Paris by 1581, where he came to the attention of King Henry III who was attracted by his reputation of having a prodigious memory. The King found a position for him at the College de France after he had been forbidden entry to the Sorbonne by the ecclesiastical authority.During his stay in Paris he wrote three books, two on mnemonics and a play entitled The Torch-Bearer by Bruno the Nolan, Graduate of No Academy, Called the Nuisance. In this play Bruno described his time in the Dominican convent in Naples and presented a withering indictment of the Church. Giovanni Gentile's commentary on the play describes Bruno's characterisation of the Church as follows: "You will see, in mixed confusion, snatches of cutpurses, wiles of cheats, enterprises of rogues; also delicious repulsiveness, bitter sweets, foolish decisions, mistaken faith and crippled hopes, niggard charities, judges noble and serious for other men's affairs with little truth in their own; virile women, effeminate men and voices of craft and not of mercy so that he who believes most is most fooled—and everywhere the love of gold."[5]Bruno was forced to leave France in 1583 and travelled to England where his three-year stay proved to be one of the most fruitful periods of his life. He was introduced into a society that craved all forms of Italian learning and already had a considerable Italian and foreign exile community. Many had fled to avoid persecution for unorthodox philosophical and religious ideas. Bruno held discussions with Queen Elizabeth I, who was attracted by the prospect of discussing philosophical matters directly in Italian. He quickly attracted a number of intellectuals who eagerly discussed the philosophical ideas of the time.In England, Bruno published six books, all in Italian, fully elaborating his philosophical ideas for the first time. He was one of the first philosophers to discuss scientific issues in the vernacular. The very act of publishing in Italian was an open challenge to the Church, which sought to maintain Latin as the language of intellectual discourse and so limit the wider dissemination of ideas. Copernicus's groundbreaking work had been published only in Latin. So afraid were Bruno's printers that not one of them identified himself in the printed texts.Bruno's view of the universeBruno's cosmology is outlined in The Ash Wednesday Supper, Cause, Principle and Unity and On the Infinite Universe and Worlds, which represent a brilliant anticipation of subsequent scientific and philosophical developments. In some respects the conclusions Bruno arrived at by bold intuition surpassed the work of his successors such as Galileo and Kepler. The works are in the form of dialogues, where Bruno's characters argue various philosophical positions from different points of view, one representing Bruno himself.In The Ash Wednesday Supper Bruno was one of the first to argue for the existence of an infinite universe, which contained an infinite number of worlds similar to the Earth. In doing so, he rejected the limits of the Copernican system, which posited a finite universe limited by a fixed sphere of stars just beyond the solar system. He argued that the sun was not the centre of the universe, saying that if the sun were observed from any of the other stars it would appear no different from them. Bruno even speculated that the other worlds would be inhabited.German philosopher Ernst Cassirer explained the significance of Bruno's conception of an infinite universe as follows: "This doctrine ... was the first and decisive step toward man's self-liberation. Man no longer lives in the world of a prisoner enclosed within the narrow walls of a finite physical universe. He can traverse the air and break through all the imaginary boundaries of the celestial spheres which have been erected by a false metaphysics and cosmology. The infinite universe sets no limits to human reason; on the contrary, it is the great incentive of human reason. The human intellect becomes aware of its own infinity through measuring its powers by the infinite universe."[6]Bruno's other three works published in England— The Expulsion of the Triumphant Beast, Cabal of the Cheval Pegasus and On Heroic Frenzies —contain a biting critique of the Counter Reformation. Italian historian Hilary Gatti in her book Giordano Bruno and Renaissance Science observed: "The sense of these final Italian works, in my opinion, is ... to be found in a transition from an intellectual sphere dominated by a vision of the world in essentially theological terms to an intellectual sphere dominated by a vision of the world in essentially philosophical terms. In this passage from theology to philosophy all forms of revealed religion receive harsh treatment, but above all the Christian religion that dominated the life and culture of the Europe of the sixteenth century, often through violence and oppression."[7]It was in England that Bruno had his most profound impact. His views were discussed in intellectual circles and the arguments presented in his various books give a flavour of the contemporary discussion. Two leading scientists, William Gilbert and Thomas Harriot, became leading proponents of Bruno's cosmological views. Gilbert, whose De Magnete (1600) stood as a basic text on magnetism until the nineteenth century, was prominent in a grouping that discussed scientific issues. He was particularly interested in developing his magnetic theories in relation to Bruno's cosmological views.Harriot was a noted mathematician and astronomer, who was thought to have discovered sunspots before Galileo. Harriot exchanged letters with Kepler in 1608 discussing Bruno's conception of an infinite universe, which Kepler was to reject. Harriot was one of the scientists cultivated by the Ninth Earl of Northumberland—a devoted follower of Bruno. Northumberland had an extensive library of Bruno's works, which he made available to the scientists in his circle.Bruno was forced to return to France because of the decline in the fortunes of his patron, the Marquis de Mauvissiere, with whom he had travelled to England. He produced three works on his return to Paris but was forced to leave after his challenge to debate all comers on the topic One Hundred and Twenty Articles on Nature and the World resulted in him being set upon by supporters of the Church. He then travelled to Germany, where he resided in Wittenberg and Marburg until 1588. He was forced to leave Marburg after coming into conflict with the Lutheran authorities, then wandered Europe—Prague, Helmstedt, Frankfurt and Zurich.In 1591 Bruno returned to Italy after being invited by the Venetian nobleman Zuane Mocenigo to educate the aristocrat in mnemonics. Mocenigo subsequently denounced him to the Inquisition. Bruno was arrested on May 23, 1592, cross-examined on his philosophical works and on January 27, 1593 handed over to the Inquisition in Rome on the direct request of the Papal Nuncio, Taverna, acting on behalf of Pope Clement VIII.During his detention in Rome he was interrogated on all aspects of his life and his philosophical and theological views over a period of seven years. On February 15, 1599 the Inquisition charged Bruno with eight specific acts of heresy, which the church has not revealed to this day. According to the limited documents available, Bruno was indicted for his "atheistic" views and for the publication of The Expulsion of the Triumphant Beast. He refused to recant.The Inquisition delivered its verdict on January 20, 1600, stating: "We hereby, in these documents ... pronounce sentence and declare the aforesaid Brother Giordano Bruno to be an impenitent and pertinacious heretic, and therefore to have incurred all the ecclesiastical censures and pains of the Holy Canon.... We ordain and command that thou must be delivered to the Secular Court ... that thou mayest be punished with the punishment deserved, though we earnestly pray that he (the Roman Governor) will mitigate the rigour of the laws concerning the pains of thy person, that thou mayest not be in danger of death or of mutilation of thy members.“Furthermore, we condemn, we reprobate and we prohibit all thine aforesaid and thy other books and writings as heretical and erroneous, containing many heresies and errors, and we ordain that all of them which have come or may come in future into the hands of the Holy Office shall be publicly destroyed and burned in the square of St. Peter before the steps and that they shall be placed upon the Index of Forbidden Books."[8]Despite the false note of concern about Bruno's physical well-being, the Inquisition's verdict was a death sentence. Bruno was defiant to the end. Gaspar Schopp of Brelau, a recent convert to Catholicism and a witness to the sentencing, reported that Bruno exclaimed on hearing the sentence: "Perchance you who pronounce my sentence are in greater fear than I who receive it."[9]The Holy Inquisition and its tormentors are remembered only as symbols of arch-reaction. But Bruno has stood the test of time. An examination of his life reveals a true Renaissance man with a passionate interest in all aspects of human learning, who participated with great energy and determination in the intellectual turbulence of his times. His insights made an important contribution to the ideas that laid the basis for modern science. His stubborn refusal to bow to the authority, power and repressive apparatus of the Roman Catholic Church, the most powerful institution of his day, will no doubt be an inspiration for centuries to come.The German philosopher Georg Hegel summed up the generation of thinkers to which Bruno belonged in his Lectures on the History of Philosophy: "These men felt themselves dominated, as they really were, by the impulse to create existence and to derive truth from their very selves. They were men of vehement nature, of wild and restless character, of enthusiastic temperament, who could not attain to the calm of knowledge. Though it cannot be denied that there was in them a wonderful insight into what was true and great, there is no doubt on the other hand that they revelled in all manner of corruption in thought and heart as well as in their outer life. There is thus to be found in them great originality and subjective energy of spirit; at the same time the content is heterogeneous and unequal, and their confusion of mind is great. Their fate, their lives, their writings—which often fill many volumes—manifest only this restlessness of their being, this tearing asunder, the revolt of their inner being against present existence and the longing to get out of it and reach certainty. These remarkable individuals really resemble the upheavals, tremblings and eruptions of a volcano which has become worked up in its depths and has brought forward new developments, which as yet are wild and uncontrolled."[10]Notes:1. The Catholic Encyclopaedia (http://www.knight.org/advent/cathen/03016a.htm)2. Quoted in The Infinite Worlds of Giordano Bruno by Antoinette Mann Paterson, 1970, page ix3. Dialectics of Nature by Frederick Engels, page 21-224. De triplici minimo by Giordano Bruno as quoted in Giordano Bruno and Renaissance Science by Hilary Gatti, 1998, page 45. Quoted in Giordano Bruno, His Life and Thought by Dorothea Waley Singer, 1950, page 226. Quoted in The Infinite Worlds of Giordano Bruno by Antoinette Mann Paterson, 1970, pages 33-347. Giordano Bruno and Renaissance Science by Hilary Gatti, 1998, page 2298. Quoted in Giordano Bruno, His Life and Thought by Dorothea Waley Singer, 1950, page 176-1779. Quoted in Giordano Bruno, His Life and Thought by Dorothea Waley Singer, 1950, page 17910. Lectures on the History of Philosophy by G.W.F.Hegel, Volume 3, pages 115-116 Michael Faraday Michael Faraday Scientist and Educator Paleontology Paleontology My daughter the paleontologist in front of one of her many displays. She works at the Museum of Natural History at the University of Utah. Shaman Shaman Shaman in the Amazon curing a native who has been cursed by witch's spit causing a sore hip. We witnessed this on a recent trip. Many natives prefer this cure to scientific medicine. Charles Darwin Charles Darwin He answered the question of our origin & told us that all living things are related. Knowledge Tree Knowledge Tree Tycho Brahe 1546-1601 Tycho Brahe 1546-1601 The Danish astronomer using new instruments to measure the movement of the stars in his observatory. Kuhn's Book Kuhn's Book When I think of the history of science, I think of how fascinated I was to read Kuhn's account of how science changes over time. Fenómeno de ingravidez (Weightlessness phenomenon). Remedios Varo (1963) Fenómeno de ingravidez (Weightlessness phenomenon). Remedios Varo (1963) The clear allegory to the figure of Sir Isaac Newton, for me it conveys the attempt of the humanity to connect the earthling with the cosmic. All the traditions do this in one way or another, from the ancient myths to the modern theories, in a quest to reach the understanding of the universe on its totality. Newton, being profoundly religious, atempted to connect the motion of the planets, with the motion of the earthly objects, uniting them all to the same manifestation of the matter. Planets and stars were no longer made of a quintessence, but of the same matter as we are. - R.A.M. Cortés The picture of the orrarry , with joseph wright . The picture of the orrarry , with joseph wright . It sums up what science is to me i have an orrarry and it is a wonderful thing, that was an innovation in science in its time. The picture of the orrarry with Joseph wri The picture of the orrarry with Joseph wri The difference engin The difference engine - an early computer. Beautiful, Coalbrookdale by Coalbrookdale by Night (1801), oil painting by Philip James de Loutherbourg. Looks like a destaster, but it shows a working production site. Nicolas Copernicus--a Truly Revolutionary Scientist Nicolas Copernicus--a Truly Revolutionary Scientist Want to know more about The Copernican Model? Visit link for video graphic and short biographical notes https://qph.ec.quoracdn.net/main-qimg-baae87e9e8e4daefa1b219ab29dbd79c René Descartes | Drawing of solar systems from 'Principia philosophiae' | 1644 René Descartes | Drawing of solar systems from 'Principia philosophiae' | 1644 AFTER 350 YEARS, VAT AFTER 350 YEARS, VATICAN "CONFESSES" THAT GALILEO WAS RIGHT-- http://www.nytimes.com/1992/10/31/world/after-350-years-vatican-says-galileo-was-right-it-moves.html Wanderer am Weltenrand Wanderer am Weltenrand Looking beyond the obvious, that, to me, is what science is all about! The Periodic Table The Periodic Table This summarises the discovery of the make-up of everything around us, from the earlist identified atoms through to more recent discoveries. Mary Anning, fossil finder Mary Anning, fossil finder Mary is an example of a woman who made a great contribution to science. Her fossil finds helped to develop palaeontology. She lived in Lyme Regis in Dorset, England, and owned a shop where she sold her fossils. http://www.lymeregismuseum.co.uk/collection/mary-anning/ Geology, 1791 Geology, 1791 Here is a late 18C view of the structure of the Earth from Erasmus Darwin (Charles' granddad) Economy of Vegetation, 1791. Lesson: it's necessary to get the science half-right before you can get it right! 📎 Photo Robert Hooke and the discoverment of cell (1665) Robert Hooke and the discoverment of cell (1665) Robert Hooke is considered one of the most important experimental scientifics of the History of Science. He was member of the first scientific society of History, The Royal Society of London. He looked at cork from trees and saw tiny boxes, he called them "cells". But he thought than only plants had cells. Joseph Wright of Derby The Orrery Joseph Wright of Derby The Orrery Definately the artist of Enlightenment science. Mach's Reverse Rotor Mach's Reverse Rotor I heard about this on a radio programme. A physicist, Ernst Mach, suggests that since if we squeeze air out of the pump bulb it makes the rotor turn clockwise, then if the bulb is already squeezed empty and we put the device underwater, as it sucks in liquid the rotor should turn anticlockwise. So much seems obvious. But that isn't seen to happen if we try it out, and even in the 1980s and 1990s it was surprisingly hard to explain why not. Albrecht Durer's Melencolia (1514) Albrecht Durer's Melencolia (1514) The angel of genius sits surrounded by tools and symbols both scientific and mystical. This Renaissance masterpiece sums up the contradictory historical impulses that ultimately gave rise to the Scientific Revolution. Albrecht Durer's Mel Albrecht Durer's Melancholia I Study of sun and moo Study of sun and moon by babylonian philosophers Leonardo da Vinci’s Leonardo da Vinci’s Vitruvian man Leonardo Leonardo Leonardo da vinci in his quest for knowledge of human anatomy paid "collectors" to supply corpses for dissection. When i hear the term history of science the first image that comes in my mind is the first page of Principia by Isaac Newton When i hear the term history of science the first image that comes in my mind is the first page of Principia by Isaac Newton ASME B&PV Code ASME B&PV Code Explosions and deaths led to the creation of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers Boiler and Pressure Vessel Code. A sort of Engineering for Dummies guidebook to building things that probably won't kill others. Albrecht Durer's Melencolia I (1514) Albrecht Durer's Melencolia I (1514) The angel of genius surrounded by symbols and tools that could be viewed as either scientific or magical, or both. This Renaissance masterpiece sums up the contradictory impulses that ultimately gave rise to the so-called Scientific Revolution. Fingerprints of Marie Jaëll’s students, 1897. Fingerprints of Marie Jaëll’s students, 1897. These fingerprints were taken by fixing paper to piano keys and having the piano students cover their fingers with ink before playing short passages. The purpose was to investigate piano technique in a scientific (quasi-scientific?) manner. Bibliothèque Nationale et Universitaire de Strasbourg. Fonds Marie Jaëll, Mrs 560-1. The Astrolabe (ca. 927 CE) The Astrolabe (ca. 927 CE) a type of analog calculator, and an astronomical instrument used for observing planetary movements, was indispensable for navigation. , Inclined plane Inclined plane A lovely scientific apparatus for investigating the physics of the falling body. See it in the Museo Galileo in Florence, Italy. 📎 Jacques Louis David | Antoine Laurent Lavoisier (1743-1794) and His Wife (Marie Anne Pierrette Paulze, 1758-1836) | The Met 📎 Science in the Age of Enlightenment - Wikipedia The Ambassadors by Hans Holbein the Younger 1533 The Ambassadors by Hans Holbein the Younger 1533 The extension of trade and exploration, the search for knowledge and the Reformation opened the world to knew ideas and methods of inquiry... my favourite picture in the National Gallery, London. An Experiment on a Bird in the Air Pump by Joseph Wright of Derby 1768 An Experiment on a Bird in the Air Pump by Joseph Wright of Derby 1768 This picture always fascinated my eldest son when visiting the National Gallery in London and it was the first image I thought of when asked to share a picture that represented the history of science. I always found it rather disturbing but intriguing - it looks as if he is demonstrating a conjuring trick. Curiosity Curiosity Untamed Minds Discover Wonders.

LAVOISIER THE FATHER OF MODERN CHEMISTRY BY KOUASSI N’NANCOCQUOT CHRYSTELLE

2018-11-26 14:13:40 UTC

Antoine Laurent de Lavoisier, formerly of Lavoisier, born August 26, 1743 in Paris and guillotined May 8, 1794 in Paris, is a French chemist, philosopher and economist, often presented as the father of modern chemistry, who will develop in from the basics and notions he has established and from a new requirement of precision offered by the instruments he has developed. He inaugurated the scientific method, both experimental and mathematical, in this field which, unlike mechanics, seemed to escape.
One of his most important researches has been to determine the nature of the phenomenon of combustion, or rapid oxidation. His experiments demonstrate that combustion is a process that involves the combination of a substance with dioxygen. Through this discovery, the whole concept of chemistry is upset.
Lavoisier established the consistent use of chemical equilibrium, used his discoveries on oxygen, which he coined the name, as well as on nitrogen and hydrogen, to reverse the phlogistic theory, and developed a a new chemical nomenclature which supports, which will prove to be incorrect, that oxygen is an essential constituent of all acids.

William Smith's geological map

2018-12-03 09:21:33 UTC

Smith faced so many challenges when combining his day job with his scientific theory of the earths strata. Yet he produced and incredibly accurate representation of much of the UK's complicated geology

Science is the result of curiosity

2018-12-03 21:43:26 UTC

This is a map with a mitical island of Brassil, and led some to speculate about the origens of the name Brazil.

Discovert

2018-12-04 11:38:31 UTC

https://www.bing.com/th?id=OIP.lNXMt7MaRuqPy0_QWkydyQHaLG&w=187&h=280&c=7&o=5&pid=1.7

Discovery

2018-12-04 11:41:34 UTC

A monument in Northampton to celebrate Crick & Watson's discov

J. J. Thomson (1856–1940)

2018-12-05 11:40:30 UTC

http://clipart-library.com/atom.html
by the discovery of e- by Thomson the understanding of how atoms bond and share charge opened so many concepts to follow in chemistry.

18th Century Colonial Science

2018-12-05 19:16:48 UTC

Thomas Jefferson and many others in the 18th century were full of new science and political ideas. Here you can see a stack of quills and paper which could likely be written upon in the event of a discovery or observation.

The

2018-12-05 19:26:25 UTC

begobango — 2018-12-09 20:56:49 UTC

Beyond the skies.

From the understanding of our Solar System to the search for habitable planets, I find cosmology an intriguing, fascinating part of science. It was Pythagoras who attributed harmony in the order of the planets, and cosmos. I find the initial Presocratic philosophers the fathers of modern science, and pioneers of the universe.

The mapp of munda

2018-12-16 09:47:08 UTC

I think this map shows the ability of progress.
It is a 13C mapp it is Christian so shows the world as it was important to the time. It has unicorns mermaids and can be used to travel in and near map style from the known Christian world's edges to its center.
It shows a restricted knowledge but it involves thoughts stories facts arcitecture anatomy history and biology. But it is 17C so it is also wrong

A means of finding truth (or getting lost).

2018-12-20 16:17:10 UTC

B

kathleen_horanyi — 2018-12-26 18:18:51 UTC

The Copernican Revolution

2018-12-27 10:06:18 UTC

To me, revolutions or profound insights that overturn flawed model such as the one that Nicolaus Copernicus created is what history of science is all about. By knowing about these "paradigm shifts," we get into the nitty-gritty of how scientists think and why they think the way they do, and what separates each new generation of scientists from the previous one (like what they improved upon in the scientific method or what the predominant themes are).

1

2018-12-28 06:55:18 UTC

Ķ

2018-12-30 07:12:03 UTC

Antikythera Mechanism

rbernat6 — 2019-01-01 17:20:07 UTC

To me: an instrument showing remarkable technology and craftsmanship for its time. The Antikythera mechanism is an ancient Greek analogue computer and orrery used to predict astronomical positions and eclipses for calendar and astrological purposes decades in advance.

2019-01-04 16:03:56 UTC

Kaliapparat

2019-01-07 09:25:13 UTC

The so-called Kaliapparat was invented by Justus von Liebig in 1831. This device enabled the chemists in the 19h century to perform precise and fast analysis of organic substances. Now a sufficient quantity of exact data was available and laid the basis for the development of modern organic chemistry. It was said, that Liebig himself commented his invention: "Now even a monkey could become chemist."

Wondrous but not mysterious

w_dijkhuis — 2019-01-07 10:11:46 UTC

Simon Stevin put his life's motto Wonder En Is Gheen Wonder (Wondrous but not mysterious) on his gravestone.

Niels Bohr later formulated the same sentiment less poetic as:

It is the task of science to reduce mysteries to trivialities.

Experimental testing as the core of science.

w_dijkhuis — 2019-01-07 10:31:12 UTC

Here is a picture of the Magdeburg hemispheres . They were the apparatus that was used to demonstrate the existence of the vacuum. A decisive experiment that demolished the 2000 year old Aristotelian/Cartesian horror vacui article of faith. The experiment also opened the path to vacuum machines (now better know as steam engines).

Truly revolutionary in thinking and practical impact.

Study of nature

2019-01-11 12:36:27 UTC

Observation of human and animal skulls and bones developed anthropological studies and it is considered the foundation of modern biology.

An experiment on a bird in the air pump

2019-01-24 16:38:46 UTC

A painting which to me represents history of science - I remember being captivated by the use of light and the composition when I first saw it.

2019-01-28 08:52:52 UTC

Neurons

Curiosity

2019-01-29 08:34:59 UTC

The constantly curious discovering and inventing things with History of Science trying to fit all pieces together to form a big picture.
The stories- of failures, hopes and successes that are often missed while studying Science- the most important aspect that makes Science human. That is the role of History of Science as perceived by me.

Hypatia of Alexandria

jollygoodbean — 2019-02-10 11:54:46 UTC

Hypatia was a philosopher, astronomer, mathematician, and designer of scientific instruments who lived in Alexandria, Egypt, between 350 (or 370) AD and 415 AD, where she was a prominent and respected teacher and a famously wise counselor. No true likeness of her is known to exist.
Hypatia represents science for me because she is a curious, penetrating mind observing the world and thoughtfully seeking reasonable explanations for the natural wonders around her.

2019-06-03 01:49:24 UTC

London Science Museum
So many school holiday visits!

Da Vinci and his inventions

permont — 2019-06-03 02:42:59 UTC

Da Vinci was a man of Science and a man of Art. He personified the capacities of decoding mysteries of existence, making use of different "knowledge systems" (Cornell et all, 2012), and specifically contributing to humankind evolution. These are the reasons I consider his work representative in the history of Science.

He presented to the world cornerstone inventions vested in transdisciplinary rationality and creativity. Parachute, Aerial Screw, Ornithopter, Robots, Viola Organista and the Self-Propelled Cart* are among his creations.

The Vitruvian Man (in the
picture**)[1490], a representation of the perfect human body proportions, bridges concepts of mathematics and art. The drawing embeds metaphors connecting "man to nature" and expresses the inventor's understanding that the function of human body is a microcosmic representation of the function of the universe***.
(*https://historylists.org/other/9-incredible-leonardo-da-vinci-inventions.html)
(**https://www.architecturaldigest.com/story/5-fascinating-ideas-rare-leonardo-da-vinci-notebook
(***https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vitruvian_Man)

Charles Darwin and his theory

2019-06-03 05:17:05 UTC

Darwin's theory on evolution and natural selection still holds true right from huge mammals to microscopic bacteria.

Nothing new under the sun - well, not much

grant36 — 2019-06-03 06:50:30 UTC

Almost everything 'new' was already there. Charles Babbage was one of many credited with inventing the computer.

Carl Sagan’s “Pale Blue Dot”

pab42 — 2019-06-03 08:37:00 UTC

Car

pab42 — 2019-06-03 08:39:05 UTC

Carl Sagan's "Pale Blue Dot"

pab42 — 2019-06-03 08:39:06 UTC

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wupToqz1e2g

Puts everything into perspective for me. I commend the video at the link above...

“Look again at that dot. That's here. That's home. That's us. On it everyone you love, everyone you know, everyone you ever heard of, every human being who ever was, lived out their lives. The aggregate of our joy and suffering, thousands of confident religions, ideologies, and economic doctrines, every hunter and forager, every hero and coward, every creator and destroyer of civilization, every king and peasant, every young couple in love, every mother and father, hopeful child, inventor and explorer, every teacher of morals, every corrupt politician, every "superstar," every "supreme leader," every saint and sinner in the history of our species lived there--on a mote of dust suspended in a sunbeam.

The Earth is a very small stage in a vast cosmic arena. Think of the rivers of blood spilled by all those generals and emperors so that, in glory and triumph, they could become the momentary masters of a fraction of a dot. Think of the endless cruelties visited by the inhabitants of one corner of this pixel on the scarcely distinguishable inhabitants of some other corner, how frequent their misunderstandings, how eager they are to kill one another, how fervent their hatreds.

Our posturings, our imagined self-importance, the delusion that we have some privileged position in the Universe, are challenged by this point of pale light. Our planet is a lonely speck in the great enveloping cosmic dark. In our obscurity, in all this vastness, there is no hint that help will come from elsewhere to save us from ourselves.

The Earth is the only world known so far to harbor life. There is nowhere else, at least in the near future, to which our species could migrate. Visit, yes. Settle, not yet. Like it or not, for the moment the Earth is where we make our stand.

It has been said that astronomy is a humbling and character-building experience. There is perhaps no better demonstration of the folly of human conceits than this distant image of our tiny world. To me, it underscores our responsibility to deal more kindly with one another, and to preserve and cherish the pale blue dot, the only home we've ever known.”

-- Carl Sagan, Pale Blue Dot, 1994

The discovery of new planets and the possibility that there might be something/somebody else out there.

2019-06-03 14:38:14 UTC

John Locke's use of empiricism leads to democracy and self governance

MaureenMoore — 2019-06-03 17:11:29 UTC

2019-06-03 19:52:55 UTC

Leonardo da Vinci’s (ideas for) inventions.

2019-06-04 17:13:14 UTC

Aristotle and Observation.
Aristotle's acute observation of animal life was a precursor to modern observational techniques

2019-06-04 17:22:08 UTC

Space

2019-06-04 20:35:08 UTC

One of my Scientific interests

Mercator: His Projection revolutionised navigation. Father of modern map making .

2019-06-06 18:35:04 UTC

Giordano Bruno

2019-06-06 19:00:32 UTC

I watched Cosmos and Giordano has got so imprinted on my conscious now that I have almost began to think that it began with him. Cosmos made him alive for all of us (If I may say so) and for me it has become a source of one of the biggest inspiration to speak truth to power and ignorance no matter what the cost is.

Alchemists

2019-06-07 15:14:03 UTC

Some of the firsts interpretations and abstractions of nature.

Intensive Agriculture

2019-06-07 15:40:14 UTC

Scientific advances applied to agriculture allow us to extract maximum yields from farmland, but at the cost of reducing wildlife habitat and losing pollinators from use of pesticides. Here a tractor is guided across the field by satellite and tractor and implement settings are selected one the screens.

Power Masquerading as Understanding

2019-06-07 16:42:53 UTC

Human development comes from many domains including the scientific. The illusion that these domains can be separated is reflected in many grande scientific failures.

The Hyperboloid of Engineer Garin

2019-06-10 01:29:08 UTC

Russian novelist Alexey Tolstoy published his sci-fi novel in 1927. The book in fact spoke about the device which would be invented 40 years later - laser. Noteworthy is that the novel describes the structure of the mechanismus.

2019-06-15 08:50:34 UTC

2019-06-15 12:54:00 UTC

the ideas that laid the basis for modern science. His

The spread of printing among different nations, societies, and countries

2019-06-26 14:09:46 UTC

Printed book invention had a great influence on spreading ideas and knowledge among ordinary people. That brings a great change in the life of small nations as well, promoting a secularization and development of societies.

2019-08-01 12:04:07 UTC

Mariam al-Asturlabiyy, was a 10th-century Muslim female astronomer and maker of astrolabes in Aleppo, in what is now northern Syria.

Awe

greenfyre_mike — 2019-12-02 01:38:53 UTC

“There is grandeur in this view of life, with its several powers, having been originally breathed by the Creator into a few forms or into one; and that, whilst this planet has gone cycling on according to the fixed law of gravity, from so simple a beginning endless forms most beautiful and most wonderful have been and are being evolved.”

― Charles Darwin, The Origin of Species

History of living Aboriginal science

2019-12-02 11:36:19 UTC

This photo shows Yukultji Napananka, one of the last Aboriginal Australians to make contact with the non-Aboriginal people, in 1984. Her hunting and tracking skills are extraordinary and she is now educating people throughout Australia in hunting feral cats, which are the major cause of extinctions in Australia.

Micrographia

2019-12-02 13:18:08 UTC

When i was young I fell in love with science when reading a book called The Science of Life by Gordon Rattray Taylor. It was full of early discoveries in Biology. My favourite: Robert Hooke's Flea.

The world around us

2019-12-02 22:47:55 UTC

Having four young grandchildren allows me to look at our world in a different perspective. The two year old encountering a slater. The seven year old wanting to know about the stars and planets. The nine year old examining flowers and the five year old wanting to know how the world was made. Hopefully they will always be interested in the world around them.

Mendeleev's Periodic Table

2019-12-05 16:42:09 UTC

This statue and wall in St Petersburg illustrate for me both the persistence and ingenuity of the scientific mind

Ulugh Beg

2019-12-05 17:04:25 UTC

Uzbekistan astronomer who studied astronomy and supported the education of women opening up the study of the world to women. His advanced ideas led to to his assassination by his son, though I expect the thought of taking over the country played a part in that too.

2019-12-08 16:01:30 UTC

Marie Curie

2019-12-08 16:43:14 UTC

Maryam Mirzakhani

alanscrivner — 2019-12-09 12:43:19 UTC

On 13 August 2014, Mirzakhani was honored with the Fields Medal, the most prestigious award in mathematics. Thus, she became both the first, and to date, the only woman and the first Iranian to be honored with the award. The award committee cited her work in the dynamics and geometry of Riemann surfaces and their moduli spaces.

The Telescope

2019-12-15 17:01:29 UTC

Galileo is one of the scientist that captured my interest, especially because he is the one who invented the telescope. I think , I may be wrong. My very first history assignment was about him.

Fritz Zwicky (1898 - 1974)

2019-12-21 20:12:47 UTC

Early Telescopes Early telescopes only had available small, poor quality glass discs from which to grind lenses. These lenses suffered from chromatic aberration – different colours focussed at different distances - and spherical aberration – distortion inherent to lenses with spherical surfaces. It was found that these problems decreased if the surfaces were less curved - the telescope was made longer. As the picture shows, this was taken to ridiculous lengths. Nonetheless these telescopes were made to function. Objects such as planets were found and held in the tiny, wobbly field of view , and important discoveries were made. Eventually Isaac Newton cut the Gordian knot by devising the reflecting telescope – mirrors treat all colours equally. The picture shows a 48m long telescope built by Johannes Hevelius

2019-12-24 13:33:03 UTC

Electromagnetic Theory: Radio Waves.

2020-01-15 00:22:36 UTC

James Clerk Maxwell FRS FRSE (13 June 1831 – 5 November 1879) was a Scottish^[2]^[3] scientist in the field of mathematical physics.^[4] His most notable achievement was to formulate the classical theory of electromagnetic radiation, bringing together for the first time electricity, magnetism, and light as different manifestations of the same phenomenon. Maxwell's equations for electromagnetism have been called the "second great unification in physics" ^[5] after the first one realised by Isaac Newton.

With the publication of "A Dynamical Theory of the Electromagnetic Field" in 1865, Maxwell demonstrated that electric and magnetic fields travel through space as waves moving at the speed of light.^[6] He proposed that light is an undulation in the same medium that is the cause of electric and magnetic phenomena.^[7] The unification of light and electrical phenomena led his prediction of the existence of radio waves. Maxwell is also regarded as a founder of the modern field of electrical engineering.^[8]

He helped develop the Maxwell–Boltzmann distribution, a statistical means of describing aspects of the kinetic theory of gases. He is also known for presenting the first durable colour photograph in 1861 and for his foundational work on analysing the rigidity of rod-and-joint frameworks (trusses) like those in many bridges.

His discoveries helped usher in the era of modern physics, laying the foundation for such fields as special relativity and quantum mechanics. Many physicists regard Maxwell as the 19th-century scientist having the greatest influence on 20th-century physics. His contributions to the science are considered by many to be of the same magnitude as those of Isaac Newton and Albert Einstein.^[9] In the millennium poll—a survey of the 100 most prominent physicists—Maxwell was voted the third greatest physicist of all time, behind only Newton and Einstein.^[10] On the centenary of Maxwell's birthday, Einstein described Maxwell's work as the "most profound and the most fruitful that physics has experienced since the time of Newton".^[11] Einstein, when he visited the University of Cambridge in 1922, was told by his host that he had done great things because he stood on Newton's shoulders; Einstein replied: "No I don't. I stand on the shoulders of Maxwell"

Development of compass, sextant en glasses made possible better localization en navigation and description of the globe.

prvanderwerf — 2020-01-28 12:59:14 UTC

Kepler's laws of planetary motion.

2020-11-23 17:45:17 UTC

Johannes Kepler (1571-1630) used observation to derive a mathematical theory of planetary motion.

Mousterian stone tools

andrewbeaven13 — 2020-11-24 14:52:18 UTC

From experiment to artefact.
Production of points & spearheads from a flint stone core, Levallois technique, Mousterian Culture, Tabun Cave, 250,000-50,000 BP (detail)
Gary Todd, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons

The Astronomer

2020-11-29 21:00:18 UTC

I think it all started when we looked up and over time realized we could profit from observation - predictions, etc. I suppose there's a finer line between science and magic than we're comfortable with ... Vermeer's painting speaks to me about the ascendancy of science (and geography too) as a kind of celebrated thing. It's beautiful too :)

The Astronomer

2020-11-29 21:06:30 UTC

Maybe 'science' was born when our ancestors looked up and began recording what they saw in some way. We realized observing that which happens repeatedly and predictably can give us power to understand and improve our lives. Bruce Robertson

Margherita Hack

fabiolachechetto — 2020-11-30 00:12:49 UTC

was an Italian astrophysicist and scientific disseminator. The asteroid 8558 Hack, discovered in 1995, was named in her honour.
via wikipedia

Exploring the Universe

audy_castaneda1 — 2020-11-30 01:38:25 UTC

From looking to studying

2020-11-30 01:52:04 UTC

Frances Willughby, "the man who pulled the study of birds out of the dark ages and formed the foundations of modern ornithology." Willughby's books set a standard for the way birds--and indeed the whole of natural history--should be studied, and laid the foundations of modern field biology.

Early Microscopy

2020-11-30 03:18:44 UTC

The invention of microscopes opened the scientific community to a whole new world of organisms, and made a major contribution to our understanding of disease.

Darwin’s Tree of Life...I think

andrewbeaven13 — 2020-11-30 07:08:06 UTC

As others have commented, the driving force behind all scientific advances is human curiosity, the capacity to imagine new explanations.
I think.

Our Place in the Universe

2020-11-30 07:52:51 UTC

Space - our understanding of our place in Space - discovery of Jupiter's moons and what that meant to the theory that all celestial bodies went around the Earth. Kepler's laws, Newton's law of gravity etc

Puerperal fever in women after childbirth

2020-11-30 09:13:08 UTC

Ignace Philippe Semmelweis was born in 1818 in Buda, which is now part of Budapest. This Hungarian obstetrician demonstrated the usefulness of washing hands after dissecting a corpse, before giving birth. He also demonstrated that hand washing reduced the number of deaths caused by the dreaded puerperal fever in women after childbirth. Until then, midwife doctors tried in vain to understand where puerperal fevers came from by performing numerous autopsies. It was a terrible blow to those who were finally convinced by Semmelweis's ideas: they turned out to be unwittingly transmitting the disease. It was only after Semmelweis' death that the theory of microbial diseases was developed. He is now considered to be a pioneer in antisepsis measures and the prevention of nosocomial infections.
The tragic fate of this visionary doctor will be taken as the subject of the medical thesis defended in 1924 by Louis Destouches, who will become the famous French writer Louis-Ferdinand Céline.

Rosalind Franklin, from the structure of coal to the structure of DNA

2020-11-30 10:05:26 UTC

Franklin started her career as a physical chemist in coal research during WW2. Her expertise in microstructures gained there led her to her famous work at Cambridge which uncovered the structure of DNA's double helix. Her work was famously 'stolen' or hidden (according to your perspective) by Crick & co.

Photosynthesis

2020-11-30 10:32:04 UTC

I could not find exactly the picture I was looking for with a free licence, but here is a schematic diagram. The reason why I think this represents the history of science is that a) various discoveries over time led to our current understanding, and b) it represents three major divisions that have developed in science (physics, chemistry and biology).
(picture attribution: At09kg, Wattcle, NefronusAt09kg: original Wattcle: vector graphics Nefronus: redoing the vector graphics, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons)

Hugh Miller was a stonemason by trade and developed interest in geology, living in an area rich in fossilized forms of life. Self-taught, his name was even given to this creature. The history of science is based on many, many individual observations made by interested humans, curious about their environment.

2020-11-30 14:29:21 UTC

Ada Lovelace

2020-11-30 15:47:26 UTC

An English mathematician

Improved health

2020-11-30 17:05:03 UTC

This is so relevant now, with scientists working hard to develop vaccines for Covid-19. I am so grateful to them for their efforts, building on the work of their predecessors over the centuries. But the biggest thing has been the improvement in child health, so that - in many, although not all parts of the world - children no longer die young from treatable diseases. Vaccination is key to this, but so are low-tech solutions like rehydration kits. This is truly an example of where the history of science is also the history of progress.

The Anatomy Lesson of Dr. Nicolaes Tulp

2020-11-30 22:59:39 UTC

Electricity

2020-12-01 02:20:09 UTC

It is a force seen and felt everywhere. A force inside everything. Measuring, controlling, using and being awed by electricity has helped us to develop the sort of lifestyle we now enjoy. I have studied and worked with this energy over many years. But, do I really know what it is?
Murray

TH Flewett

jerbird54 — 2020-12-01 13:26:52 UTC

Thomas Henry Flewett was an eminent virologist in the 20thC. His PhD was in whether bacteria had nuclei. He researched into major smallpox, HIV, Rubella in pregnancy and Rotavirus (which he named), giving advice on the requirements needed to produce a working vaccine for Rotavirus shortly before his death in 2006

Charles Babbage

2020-12-01 16:14:11 UTC

English polymath, inventor,
mathematician, philosopher,
mechanical engineer.Origin of
modern,analytical computer,
invented principle of the
analytical engine, forerunner
of modern electronic
computer.

Promoting the scientific revolution

2020-12-03 02:10:57 UTC

José Celestino Mutis (1732-1808). While in Europe the Scientific Revolution consolidated a new knowledge, a new world, throughout from the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries in the Americas colonialism suffocated any new idea. Mutis introduced the ideas of Copernicus, Kepler Galileo, Newton and Linnaeus, and guided by an almost Baconian spirit he investigated the enormous diversity of flora, seeking to expand the practice of medicine, and the exploration of new plants for trade and industrial exploitation. Ideals that are clearly assigned to Science.

2020-12-11 08:34:35 UTC

2020-12-21 07:54:09 UTC

Mendeleev and his periodic table

As a chemist the early origins of the periodic table fascinate me and the fact that Mandeleev gets all the credit whilst others had very similar ideas

Geometry

2020-12-21 19:57:06 UTC

The science of shapes

A SNAPSHOT OF THE HISTORY OF SCIENCE

2020-12-29 12:35:25 UTC

The Enlightenment Gallery, British Museum London UK - one of my favourite museums, I have always found this a particularly fascinating space, bringing together a snapshot of scientific development.

Leonardo da Vinci. A great innovator in the History of Science

mariogmartinez2011 — 2021-01-01 11:39:27 UTC

He also contributed to different arts with scientific view.

2021-01-07 16:40:52 UTC

Isaac Newton

2021-01-07 16:41:24 UTC

Isaac Newton - study of sunlight using prism.

William Herschel

2021-01-14 17:23:42 UTC

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Herschel
I visited William Herschel's house in bath which showed where he conducted experiments and instruments that he invented.

Pottery - the fusing of earth, air, fire and water and the use in society.

2021-01-31 17:21:45 UTC

Is this the birth of technology?

2021-02-03 10:21:21 UTC

Antoni van Leeuwenhoek

2021-02-21 19:16:19 UTC

Antoni van Leeuwenhoek was a Dutch scientist who was one of the pioneers of microbiology, and who made many new discoveries with use of his invention called the microscope. One of his discoveries was the sperm cell.

Universe

2021-05-31 01:30:23 UTC

Heliocentrism

Connections

2021-05-31 09:12:46 UTC

In 1978, BBC aired a 10-part series entitled Connections, in which science historian James Burke made a compelling case for what’s essentially our founding philosophy: That ideas and innovation don’t occur in isolation, and that creativity is a combinatorial force. (Something more recently echoed by Paula Scher, Nina Paley and Steven Johnson.) True to the program’s subtitle, An Alternative View of Change, Burke debunks the myth of historical progress as a linear force and instead explores the interplay and interconnectedness of events and motives as the origin of modernity’s gestalt.

2021-05-31 09:15:21 UTC

Musée des Arts et Métiers, Paris

2021-05-31 09:17:30 UTC

It opened my mind to Sciences, and the history of sciences

Lovelace's Letters

2021-05-31 11:48:50 UTC

I loved reading her enthusiasm for maths and defence of her work.

Vermeer's Scientists

2021-05-31 12:18:09 UTC

I have always loved Vermeer's paintings, and here are two of the finest (though rather dark reproductions). One called The Astronomer, the other The Geographer - but which is which? And surely the same man posed for both, possibly the physicist Antoni Van Leeuwenhoek, a DelftAlderman.

William Harvey and Circulation

2021-05-31 12:43:12 UTC

William Harvey (1578-1657) was an English physician who challenged Galen's received ideas about the circulation of blood in humans. He was an international figure, studying at Cambridge and Padua universities and publishing his controversial book, De Motu Cordae in Frankfurt in 1628. He personifies the nature of modern scientific discourse and communication of ideas, confronting and challenging previous theory.

Newton

2021-05-31 17:40:05 UTC

I am fascinated by the discoveries and breakthroughs he and others were able to make.

Mary Anning

mary1eleanor — 2021-05-31 19:10:55 UTC

Mary Anning's discovery of the first complete Ichthyosaur skeleton challenged the Genesis theory of creation nearly 50 years before Darwin published On the Origin of Species

James Clerk Maxwell

hilma10 — 2021-05-31 19:48:00 UTC

He is regarded by most modern physicists as the scientist of the 19th century who had the greatest influence on 20th-century physics.

The scientific revolution an the european imperises

2021-06-01 00:04:41 UTC

I interest in the science and technology's history, the implications in the human civilization and the history of european imperies.

2021-06-02 21:37:21 UTC

This is my favourite image, drawn by William Herschel in the 18C, showing stars in different regions of the night sky and producing the first drawing of the Milky Way.

Microscope

2021-06-08 18:39:43 UTC

In my opinion, it's one of the beginnings of science.

Tycho Brahe and Uraniborg

2021-06-21 05:40:51 UTC

I'm an amateur astronomer and a lover of maths, so my most inspiring scientist of the 16th century has to be Tycho Brahe. He was a very strong empirical astronomer and his huge number of (for their time) precise observations of the planets and the stars, at his observatory Uraniborg on the island of Hven (Sweden) allowed Johannes Kepler, years later, to develop the planetary laws of motion. Kepler's work provided the basis for Isaac Newton's theory of gravitation. For me, Tycho Brahe is where the sciences of astronomy and cosmology started.

2021-06-27 13:52:43 UTC

Charles Darwin analytically explained the evolution of plant and animals and causes behind the extinction of many species from the earth.This led to arise scientific intervestigation in my early childhood and always tinkering my mind the cause and effect relationship of natural phenomenon.

2021-11-15 17:56:59 UTC

Books and letters

spelbepaler — 2021-11-24 15:35:49 UTC

_{science developed through the exchange of thoughts in letters and was boosted by the invention of the printing press}

suesmith795 — 2021-11-29 15:41:18 UTC

These are historical items from an old pharmacy where I was working. They demonstrates how formulating medicine has changed from compounding in a pharmacy to genomic sequencing in vaccine development today.

Rob Williams and The Telescope

2021-11-30 23:53:05 UTC

Most people think of Galileo Galilei when a telescope is mentioned. However, Hans Lippershey, a lensmaker, is credited with the invention in 1608.

Hans Lippershey, telescope inventor, 1608.

2021-11-30 23:57:10 UTC

2021-12-04 11:03:54 UTC

https://www.britannica.comhttps://www.britannica.com/biography/Euclid-Greek-mathematician/biography/Euclid-Greek-mathematician

2021-12-08 07:33:50 UTC

Scientific knowledge moving forward?

johndunne1009 — 2021-12-08 09:00:43 UTC

The origination of a "New Person"- inquisitive researcher, who is ready to invest money to education.

2021-12-20 14:54:53 UTC

Isn't He awsome?)

myriamgarcon — 2022-01-13 16:47:41 UTC

2022-01-17 16:00:11 UTC

One of father of neuroscience Santiago Ramón y Cajal's beautiful drawings of neurons.

2022-01-21 11:12:19 UTC

I find these images both beautiful artistically and remarkable scientifically, not least because he made his discoveries with the limited instruments and techniques available to him at the time (the late 18th century) and drew his pictures by hand - a very gifted hand! What's more, the idea of the brain looking in at itself in an attempt to understand itself is fascinating.

The first Woman Scientist

enypnio — 2022-04-03 07:12:03 UTC

2022-04-07 09:13:50 UTC

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder.

Quantum Mechanics & Particle Physics

2022-06-06 11:44:34 UTC

These two branches of physics have completely changed our view of the Universe. In Classical physics matter consisted of solid particles where complete knowledge of the past allowed the future to be predicted. In quantum physics matter is both particle and wave and the future can only be predicted as probabilities.

https://www.britannica.com/topic/School-of-Athens

2022-06-21 05:41:38 UTC

A combination of science, art, and philosophy.

2022-09-25 06:34:57 UTC

Some years back I read a book written by Tracy Chevalier about Mary Anning and her Marvelous Creatures.
It was inspirational.

The Human body

2022-10-20 23:26:55 UTC

2023-07-10 00:01:13 UTC

Development

2023-07-18 14:00:20 UTC

For me, the history of science is about moving forward, developing. This includes trials and errors as well, theories that were later proven wrong, because either way, they provided ideas and so on. It has been a long journey for humanity to know what we know of science today, and there is still a lot of knowledge to gain, a lot of room to further develop.

Which is the picture of science?

2023-09-21 20:23:34 UTC

We should not part to understand sciences by only the modern times; we must see to the past and understand the initial point: mystic and myth. The first purpose of science is to convert the myth in a synthetic language, but we also have to see hermetics illustrations like this and think: what is the scientific spirit here? The four elements, it is evident, but is not that easy...

The accumulation of knowledge through cultures

2023-11-19 20:19:57 UTC

The secret disciplines and knowledge lost in time or maybe not... accumulates and derivated that is awesome to think through centuries and kilometers

Mephistopheles

2023-11-23 01:08:55 UTC

Science brought about a dance with Mephistopheles not because of the discoveries, but the human need to call the tune with little ethical melody.

Leonardo da Vinci's flying machine

2024-01-17 04:33:16 UTC

Astrolabe by Muhammed Muqim al-Yazdi, Persian, 1647/8

2024-02-13 10:50:10 UTC

From the collections of the History of Science Museum, Oxford, UK.

Prehistoric Cave Art

2024-04-26 22:58:26 UTC

Da Vinci's globe, 1515

2025-01-18 17:23:38 UTC

Gocentric Model of Earth in our Solar System

helensch1 — 2025-03-17 10:03:04 UTC

Religious beliefs gave people the idea that the sun, stars, other planets all moved around the Earth (the centre of everything!). Scientific observations and calculations were needed to eventually convince some other scientists that the Sun was at the centre. It took quite some time.

Tycho Brahe.

2025-08-16 14:50:09 UTC

Tycho Brahe was the world's greatest pre-telescope astronomer and is noted for his extremely accurate astronomical observations for which he developed an underground observatory and multiple instruments. He disproved the Aristotelian belief in an unchanging celestial realm with the discovery of a new star. He was primarily an empiricist who made detailed observations, which he kept in notebooks and he developed many new instruments which helped in his observations and discoveries.

2025-12-03 14:28:13 UTC

Mary Tharp on the shoulders of Wegener

Mary Somerville

2025-12-09 13:49:45 UTC

Mary was a Scottish mathematician and astronomer who became the first 'Scientist' as opposed to 'Man of Science'. Mary was self-taught and struggled against the disapproval of her family for wanting to gain an education.

Errors and Progress

2026-02-03 19:04:18 UTC

Not simple right or wrong answers but try and error and constant development. What is top of the art today may be outdated tomorrow

The Pioneer Plaque

2026-03-25 15:11:28 UTC

The first time I watched Carl Sagan’s TV Show “Cosmos” I had a kind of “science” epiphany, an enormous wave of curiosity was born inside me that day. It was almost 45 years ago and it has been kept as strong as ever, that’s why this image has an special meaning for me, It represents, in a very personal way those times of realization about how much our civilization has achieved but how much we haven’t yet, it’s a manifest of not just about the infinite curiosity of humankind but about our hope as well, the hope we are not alone in this Universe, and that there is someone else out there and the certainty that we will find them, curiosity and hope has been always essential in the history of Science.