World History 173: The Age of Revolution
Artifacts
Model for the demonstration of precession of the equinoxes and nutation (Inv. 1465)
For more on the model, click Here
Model for explaining the very slow motion called precession of the equinoxes. The phenomenon—which sparked scientific and doctrinal controversies—was investigated for several centuries. It was one of the arguments cited by Copernicus in support of his astronomical system. The model, actuated by a series of hand-operated gears, also simulates the nutation of the Earth's axis.
Optical toy by Ludovico Buti, 1593
For more information on the object, click Here
If we view the board from the top toward the lower front, the row of visible sides of the painted sticks displays the portrait of Charles III, Duke of Lorraine; if, using the mirror placed in front, we observe the arrangement from the opposite side, we see the portrait of the Grand Duchess Christina of Lorraine, daughter of Charles III and wife of Ferdinand I de' Medici.
Engraving from the book: Tycho Brahe (1598), Astronomiae instauratae mechanica, Wandsbeck.
From Wikimedia Commons: The observer (right) views a star through the opposite opening (upper left) to determine the star's altitude as it passes through the meridian. An assistant (lower right) reads the time off a clock and another one (lower left) records the measurements. The area above the quadrant is filled with a mural painting showing several other of Brahe's instruments.
Andreas Cellarius's illustration of the Copernican system, from the Harmonia Macrocosmica (1708).
(Note the traditional Greek zodiac constellations depicted).
For more on Cellarius and his maps of the skies, click here
For more information on the heliocentric model and Copernicus' work on the movement of planets, click Here
Deeper Dives
Deeper Dives
Science, Space and Human Discovery (41:00)
- The Integrity of Science III: A Different Kind of Scientific Revolution
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- The Scientific Revolution: The Big Picture
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Scientific Revolution
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Background/Overviews
- Scientific revolution
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Setting the Stage
- The Printing of Important Mathematics Texts Leads the Way to the Scientific Revolution
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- Ordering Knowledge in the Medieval World
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- The Development of Windmills
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Key Figures & Their Work
- Whose Revolution? Copernicus, Brahe & Kepler
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Includes primary source materials - Philosophy of Science: Baconian and Cartesian Approaches
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- René Descartes
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- Rene Descartes "Discourse on the Method of Rightly Conducting One’s Reason and Searching for the Truth in the Sciences" (1637) [Excerpt]
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"I think, therefore I am." - Isaac Newton, "Law of Gravitation," Principia Mathematica Philosophiae Naturalis [excerpt]
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- "Francis Bacon Proclaims the Principles of Modern Scientific Progress,"
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Influence & Legacy
- The Cultural Context of Newtonianism
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- Building a world of science
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- Epilogue (The Scientific Revolution)
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