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The '''Scientific Revolution''' is a name that some modern historians use to describe what they call the beginning of modern [[science]] in the mid-1500s. At that time, according to their theory, scientists began to develop the systematic use of [[hypotheses]], and to continually test them with [[observation]] and [[experimentation]]. One example is Copernicus publishing the [[Heliocentrism|heliocentric theory]] that the Earth revolves around the Sun, as opposed to the [[Geocentric theory|geocentric theory]] that Sun revolves around the Earth.

The '''Scientific Revolution''' is a name that some modern historians use to describe what they call the beginning of modern [[science]] in the mid-1500s. At that time, according to their theory, scientists began to develop the systematic use of [[hypotheses]], and to continually test them with [[observation]] and [[experimentation]]. Their best example is Copernicus publishing the [[Heliocentrism|heliocentric theory]] that the Earth revolves around the Sun, as opposed to the [[Geocentric theory|geocentric theory]] that Sun revolves around the Earth.

Ptolemaic theory actually predicted planetary motion better than that of the Copernican theory for many decades for two reasons: 1) numerous mathematical adjustments to the Ptolemaic paradigm based on observation of planetary motion managed to uphold the theory that the sun and planets revolve around the Earth, and 2) Copernicus assumed that the orbits of planets around the Sun were perfectly circular, which introduced a significant inaccuracy in predictions based on his model. Once it was discovered that planetary orbits were elliptical rather than circular, the Copernican paradigm that the Earth and other planets revolve around the Sun was proven correct and the scientific revolution he had initiated was complete. Certainly the change in perception that resulted from the realization that the Sun and other planets do not revolve around the Earth was a revolution in the true sense of the word. The fact that scientific observation produced this realization in spite of the weight of popular opinion and that of the Church lends credence to the occurrence of a "scientific revolution." Other examples of scientific revolutions are those of the unification of Biology by the Theory of Evolution and the unification of Geology by the Theory of Plate Tectonics.

In fact, Copernicus had no observations or experiments to show that his model was better than others, and his methods were not significantly more scientific that those that had been in use older cosmological models for over a thousand years. There was no intellectual revolution in the sense of a profound change in intellectual thought. The progress of science has been gradual and continuous.

 

The whole idea of the Scientific Revolution appears to be driven in part by some terminological confusion. Copernicus's famous book was titled ''De revolutionibus orbium coelestium'' (On the Revolutions of the Celestial Spheres). His name was long associated with the word "revolution" in the sense of planetary motion, not in the sense of an intellectual revolution.

== Influence of Religion ==  

== Influence of Religion ==  

== Paradigm Shift ==  

== Paradigm Shift ==  

Thomas Kuhn's book ''The Structure of Scientific Revolutions,'' popularized the term ''scientific revolution'' (and [[paradigm shift]]) to describe enormous changes in accepted scientific thinking in a particular scientific field brought about by a new theory that accounted for far more observations than the previously accepted theory, and resolved anomalies for which the previously dominant theory could not account. The Copernican model of the revolution of the Earth around the Sun was one of his many examples.<ref>T.S.Kuhn, "The Structure of Scientific Revolutions", University of Chicago Press, 1970.</ref>

Thomas Kuhn's book ''The Structure of Scientific Revolutions,'' popularized the term ''scientific revolution'' (and [[paradigm shift]]) to describe changes in accepted scientific thinking that are not necessarily rational or leading to progress. The Copernican model of the revolution of the Earth was his best example.

 

Thomas Kuhn's book ''The Structure of Scientific Revolutions,'' popularized the term ''scientific revolution'' (and [[paradigm shift]]) to describe changes in accepted scientific thinking in a particular scientific field brought about by a new theory. Kuhn believed that the changes are not necessarily rational or leading to progress. The Copernican model of the revolution of the Earth around the Sun was one of his best examples.<ref>T.S.Kuhn, "The Structure of Scientific Revolutions", University of Chicago Press, 1962.</ref>

==Notes and references==  

==Notes and references==