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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]]. 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.<ref>Eg, see http://www.historyguide.org/earlymod/lecture10c.html</ref>

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.<ref>Eg, see http://www.historyguide.org/earlymod/lecture10c.html</ref>

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.  

In fact, Copernicus had no observations or experiments to show that his model was better than others, and his methods were not significantly more accurate than those of Ptolemy that had been in use older cosmological models for over a thousand years. Rather, his system was indicative of a changing approach the analyzing the natural world: challenging the millenia-held beliefs of antiquity, such as the Ptolemaic and Aristotelian systems, and asserting the ability of natural-philosophers to improve upon them.

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.

The 'scientific revolution,' as it later came to be called, saw relatively rapid change in astronomy, which was still closely tied to mysticism and astrology, as men such as Kepler and Galileo asserted that the solar system was not perfect and round, but contained imperfect bodies and exhibited elliptical motion.

 

The height of the revolution was seen with the expansion of scientific societies such as the Royal Society in the 17th century, and the establishment of the experimental method (later called the scientific method) and the creation of Newtonian physics, which had enormous impact upon European culture and philosophy in the 1700s.

== Influence of Religion ==  

== Influence of Religion ==