Question

How were the scientists of the scientific revolution influenced by ideas of renaissance?

Answer 1

Hint: Renaissance was a period of economic, political, social, scientific, artistic and philosophical rebirth in Europe, it lasted from the 14th to the 17th century. While the scientific revolution was a period of immense scientific developments in Europe, it started in the 16th century towards the end of renaissance and lasted till the 18th century. Both these periods are credited with the establishment of the modern world.

Complete answer: - Scientists of the scientific revolution were immensely influenced by the ideas of renaissance, as it helped them widen their minds for research and think on the basis of research.
- It was an exciting period for science as we see a number of the greatest discoveries and inventions have been attributed to this period.
- Science was closely linked with the renaissance, some examples of this could be the works of Leonardo da Vinci who incorporated anatomical studies in his works to recreate the human body with greater precision.
- Some important scientists who have made very important contributions to modern-day science were actually influenced by the renaissance, these were – Nicolaus Copernicus, he made the discovery that the sun was at the centre of the universe, he also stated that the earth was one of the seven planets that revolve around the sun. This is called the heliocentric model of Copernicus.
- Another important scientist was Galileo, he made important mathematical discoveries and built upon the Copernicus’s heliocentric model, he also discovered the five moons of Jupiter.
- Johannes Kepler was also a scientist influenced by renaissance and he gave the Kepler’s law of planetary motion which was proved after his death by Newton, who was also influenced by the late renaissance period.

Note: Renaissance is relevant to the scientific revolution because it gave the atmosphere to the scientists of the 15th and 16th centuries to think, research and formulate. A new view of the sign came into being with renaissance which brought about five major changes in scientific study, these were – abstract reasoning became important, emphasis on the qualitative view of nature, nature began to be studied as a machine, development of experimental methods to get definite answers, and stress on ‘how’ rather than ‘why’.