The Coming of the Age of Science and Reason

Question 1

Like many astronomers in the 16-17th
centuries, Kepler was deeply
religious. Why did he see astronomy
as a religious duty?

Answer 1

centuries, Kepler was deeply 
religious. Why did he see astronomy 
as a religious duty? 
Because it would help him 
understand the world that God 
created; he believed that God had 
created the universe to a specific 
mathematical model.

Question 2

Despite the fact that Kepler was a
great scientist, why was he unaware
of the impact that the Third Law
would have?

Answer 2

He was more preoccupied with his
delight at discovering God
s plan.

Question 3

Until Isaac Newton refined Kepler
s
third law of planetary motion, what
did scholars see it as?

Answer 3

Little more than an interesting

sideshow.

Question 4

What was the most important impact
of Kepler
s findings?

Answer 4

The shift from a belief in contact
circular and linear motions always
taking place in the universe, to a
realisation that this was not the case.

Question 5

How did Kepler
s use of mathematics 
to solve problems and explain how 
the physical world worked, rather 
than to simply describe theories, 
impact of everyday life?

Answer 5

Mathematics went through a 
revolution of its own, as civil 
engineering canal building, warfare 
and navigation were improved as a 
result of applied mathematics.

Question 6

What was the time period for Galileo?

Answer 6

1564-1642

1

Question 7

What is Kepler
s second law of
planetary motion?

Answer 7

That planets don't travel at a 
consistent speed as had been 
assumed since ancient times.  The 
speed of planets varies as they circle 
the sun; when an individual planet is 
closer to the sun, it will move faster 
and when it is further away, it will 
move more slowly.

Question 8

What did Kepler do instead of
providing mathematical theories to
make his conclusions?

Answer 8

He provided a physical explanation
based on his own observation and
those of Tyco Brahe.

Question 9

How was Kepler affected by the

witch craze?

Answer 9

His mother was accused of witchcraft 
in 1617 and she was imprisoned in 
1620.  He managed to secure her 
release in 1621 after dedicating 
extensive time and energy into 
defending her.

Question 10

What is Kepler’s third law of

planetary motion?

Answer 10

The distance from a planet to the
Sun, cubed, is proportional to the
time it takes for a planet to complete
its orbit, squared.

Question 11

Through his third law of planetary 
motion, Kepler concluded that the 
further a planet is from the Sun, the 
longer it takes to complete its orbit.  
How did Kepler
s inability to properly 
understand gravity affect this 
theory?

Answer 11

He was unable to comprehend the 
gravitational pull of the Sun and his 
theory was not taken any further 
until Isaac Newton's theory of 
Gravity was developed.

Question 12

Two dominant ideas shaped natural 
philosophy during the Scientific 
Revolution: Aristotelian beliefs and 
Platonic beliefs. What were Platonic 
beliefs?

Answer 12

They were based on the work of 
Plato (427-347 BC) whose approach 
was more theoretical as he 
attempted to move away from 
observed knowledge based on 
thought alone.

Question 13

The methodology underlying the
Scientific Revolution comprised of
two elements. What were they?

Answer 13

Firstly, mathematics featured heavily 
in order to make precise calculations 
about how the world works.  
Secondly, experiment and 
observation were used to gain a 
better understanding of nature.

Question 14

Natural philosophy was the study of
the natural world. With the Scientific
Revolution, how did it change?

Answer 14

Natural philosophers adopted the 
scientific method and their study 
changed from being strictly 
theoretical to one that adopted 
practical elements.

Question 15

What is the
‘homocentric’
belief?

Answer 15

The belief that all rotations in the

universe are centred on the earth.

Question 16

What do Empiricists believe?

Answer 16

1609

Question 17

What was the Scientific Revolution?

Answer 17

The emergence of modern scientific
beliefs and methods that took place
approximately 1550-1800.

Question 18

What did new developments in
biology, physics, chemistry,
astronomy and mathematics help to
fundamentally alter?

Answer 18

The established views of the natural
world and the role of God in
commanding nature.

Question 19

When did the Scientific Revolution

begin?

Answer 19

When
Nicolaus Copernicus (1473-
1543) questioned the ancient 
astronomical belief that Earth was at 
the centre of the universe.

Question 20

Two dominant ideas shaped natural 
philosophy during the Scientific 
Revolution: Aristotelian beliefs and 
Platonic beliefs.  What were 
Aristotelian beliefs?

Answer 20

They were based on the work of 
Aristotle (384-322 BC) who was 
perhaps the most influential figure in 
Ancient Greek natural philosophy.  
Aristotle
s view of the universe was 
homocentric, and he believed that 
only simple circular motions could 
take place in space.  Aristotle
s wider 
approach was one of empiricism.

Question 21

When was Gresham College

founded?

Answer 21

1597

Question 22

When was Francis Bacon,s 
'of the 
Proficience and Advancement of 
Learning, Divine and Human'
published?

Answer 22

1605

Question 23

Towards the end of the Middle Ages,
why was the Ptolemaic system
beginning to be interpreted as
hypothetical?

Answer 23

Because it provided mathematical

models without observed evidence.

Question 24

Based on his models, Ptolemy had 
suggested that there may be 
hypothetical bodies such as extra 
planets and stars in the solar system.  
Was this idea used?

Answer 24

Because his system was the only one
that seemed to work, despite it
having no evidence it was used well
into the 16th century.

Question 25

While Aristotle’s view was that the
Earth was at the centre of all things,
what did Ptolemy’s mathematical
approach suggest?

Answer 25

That planets move on an epicycle, 
although to make his calculations 
work he had to assume that the 
epicycles did not move around the 
Earth but around another point not 
far from Earth.

Question 26

With planets supposedly moving on
an epicycle around the
‘centre of deferent’ what could Ptolemy do?

Answer 26

He could account for the apparent
changes in speed as the planets were
in orbit but also maintain a system of
perfect circles.

Question 27

As the Ptolemaic system was refined
and the number of circles used by
astronomers increased, what
happened?

Answer 27

The system became so complex that

it was almost unworkable.

Question 28

Before Copernicus, what was the

state of ideas about planetary orbit?

Answer 28

The Ancient Greek idea that the
motion of all heavenly bodies must
be perfectly uniform and circular was
restricting progress.

Question 29

When did Galileo Galilei publish
Dialogue Concerning Two Chief
World Systems
?

Answer 29

1632

Question 30

When did Thomas Hobbes publish

‘De Corpore’?

Answer 30

1655

Question 31

When did Thomas Hobbes publish

‘De Homine’?

Answer 31

1638

Question 32

When was the Royal Society

founded?

Answer 32

1660

Question 33

When did Isaac Newton publish

Principia Mathematica?

Answer 33

1687

Question 34

When did John Locke publish
‘Essay Concerning Human Understanding’
?

Answer 34

1690

Question 35

What is an Epicycle?

Answer 35

A small circle on which a planet 
moves.  This circle moves along a 
larger circle (called a deferent) 
around a fixed point.

Question 36

What did Ptolemy, like Aristotle,

believe about the universe?

Answer 36

That the Earth was at the centre of

the universe.

Question 37

What is a Polymath?

Answer 37

A person of wide knowledge and
learning who specialises in a number
of different subjects.

Question 38

Why has there been a tendency to
view Copernicus as a conservative
rather than a revolutionary thinker?

Answer 38

He made theoretical conclusions like 
Ptolemy rather than empirical 
observations.  He continued to 
believe that the planets and stars 
moved on spheres (on a round 
trajectory) and he refused to change 
Ptolemy
s underlying approach and 
believed that all planetary motions 
were perfectly circular.

Question 39

What did most people who were
aware of the work of Copernicus at
the time believe?

Answer 39

That he was simply presenting theory
and that his thoughts about the
motion of the Earth were not to be
taken seriously.

Question 40

How was the view that Copernicus’

ideas were just theory enforced?

Answer 40

By Andreas Osiander a protestant 
minister, who wrote the preface to 
his work and stated that it served to 
simply provide a model in order to 
aid astronomical calculations and 
that they were unlikely to be 
accurate.

Question 41

What has a recent study shown

about public opinion of Copernicus?

Answer 41

It shows that only ten thinkers
accepted Copernicus’
theory as physical truth before 1600.

Question 42

What is a Supernova?

Answer 42

A star that increases in brightness as

it explodes.

Question 43

The inadequacy of the long standing 
Ptolemaic system was evident in its 
inability to explain all astronomical 
movements but which other practical 
problems did it pose?

Answer 43

It was unable to accurately set a date 
for Easter each year 
–
 it was decided 
in 325 AD that Easter should fall on 
the Sunday after the first full moon 
following the spring equinox.

Question 44

Though believing, like Aristotle and
Ptolemy, that heavenly bodies
moved in perfect circles, what did
Copernicus also propose?

Answer 44

That the universe is made up of eight 
spheres, with the sun stationary in 
the centre.  The planets known to 
Copernicus revolved around the Sun 
and the Earth revolving on its own 
axis with the Moon revolving around 
it.

Question 45

Though Copernicus presented his
work as Platonic theory rather than
Aristotelian fact to avoid accusations
of blasphemy, what happened?

Answer 45

In 1616 his book was banned by the 
Catholic Church when it was added 
to their 'Index Librorum 
Prohibitorum' (List of Prohibited 
Books) and although scholars could 
access an edited version of the book, 
it wasn't removed from the 
'Index' until 1758.

Question 46

Despite the church’s attempts to
censor the work of Copernicus, what
was its impact?

Answer 46

The book' De revolutionibus orbium 
coelestium'
 (On the Revolutions of 
the Heavenly Spheres) became 
hugely influential later and his 
findings were seen as accepted fact 
by many in intellectual circles, 
though not necessarily in his lifetime.

Question 47

Tycho Brahe (1546-1601) found a
compromise position between those
of Copernicus and Ptolemy. What
did he believe?

Answer 47

That all planets circled the sun, but 
that the sun in turn circles the Earth, 
which was always stationary.  This 
was clearly inaccurate but was an 
important step in advancing the 
understanding of orbits.

Question 48

In 1572, Brahe observed a new 
supernova and published his findings. 
Why did his findings pose a problem 
for astronomers who followed the 
Aristotelian and Ptolemaic view of 
the Universe?

Answer 48

Because it went against the
established opinion that the universe
was uniform and could not change.

Question 49

Brahe observed a number of comets
and published his findings in 1588.
What did he observe?

Answer 49

That they existed outside the 
atmosphere of Earth rather than 
inside it, as had been the established 
view.  The path that was taken by 
these comets according to Brahe, 
must mean that the idea that all 
heavenly bodies were controlled by 
perfect sphere was redundant.

Question 50

Brahe believed that when medieval 
astronomers referred to spheres on 
which the planet travelled, they were 
referring to solid entities.  How was 
he able to refute this?

Answer 50

By stating that the planets moved 
independently through space and did 
not always follow exactly the same 
paths, thus removing the need for 
spheres.

Question 51

When Kepler went to university to
study philosophy, what did he
become familiar with?

Answer 51

The work of Copernicus; he agreed
with his heliocentric view of the
world.

Question 52

In his ‘Mysterium Cosmographicum’
(Cosmic Mystery) published in 1596,
what did Kepler assert?

Answer 52

His strong religious faith, insisting
that the universe was perfectly
designed by God.

Question 53

Although the model that Kepler was
not without fault, what was he able
to do?

Answer 53

He was able to adopt the heliocentric 
view of Copernicus but avoid his 
reliance on Ptolemaic spheres and 
epicycles.  He proposed a 
complicated system whereby six 
layers of three-dimensional shapes 
nestled together would correspond 
to the path of the six planets.

Question 54

Why did Kepler’s first planetary
model still hold significance despite
him later rejecting it?

Answer 54

It provoked discussion and potential

patrons began to take an interest.

Question 55

In 1609 Kepler published 
'Astronomia Nova'
 (New Astronomy) which is 
notable for its inclusion of what 
became known as Kepler's first two 
laws of planetary motion.  What is 
the first law?

Answer 55

That planets travel in elliptical orbits

around the sun.

Question 56

What does it mean for an orbit to be

elliptical?

Answer 56

Moving in the shape of an ellipse (an

elongated or flattened circle).