The Emergence of SCIENCE!

Question 1

Rene Descartes

Answer 1

• “Cogito ergo sum”
• Cartesian geometry
• Thought set the tone for coming scientific age
• Dedicated life to pursuing truth
• Duality of human existence: matter (body) is quantifiable, mind (soul) is intangible
• Medicine is a key to the natural world
• Human body is a mechanism

Question 2

Francis Bacon

Answer 2

• Developed inductive reasoning
• The Scientific Method
• New science must proceed from: observation, natural histories, planned experiments
• Lawyer, natural philosopher, legislator
• Charged with corruption (fined a fortune)

Question 3

The Royal Society of London

Answer 3

• Founded 1660
• Robert Boyle, Christopher Wren, 10 others
• Became the driving force of the new science
• Critical of Galen and Aristotle, advocated Bacon’s inductive reasoning

Question 4

Academie Royale du Sciences

Answer 4

• Founded 1666 by King Louis XIV

- Followed Descartes’ mechanical philosophy

Question 5

Isaac Newton

Answer 5

• Optics, mathematics (calculus), mechanics and gravitation

- Philosophiae Naturalis Principia Mathematica

Question 6

Robert Boyle

Answer 6

• Prolific experimenter
• With assistant Robert Hooke, developed air pump to evacuate a bell jar
• Air necessary for life, combustion, sound
• Argued against traditional elements of various systems (earth, air, fire, water, mercury etc.)

Question 7

Anton van Leeuwenhoek

Answer 7

• Single lens microscope, 250x
• Discovered “animacules” in water
• No higher education or science training
• Fellow of British Royal Society

Question 8

William Harvey

Answer 8

• “De Motu Cordis,” model of medical research methodology
• Determined that blood must circulate the body
• Studied under Hieronymous Fabricius (and others), built upon their work
• Refuted Galenic ideas

Question 9

Thomas Sydenham

Answer 9

• “The English Hippocrates”

- Believed diseases were specific entities with specific cures

Question 10

Herman Boerhaave

Answer 10

• Founder of modern academic hospital
• Students observed cases twice a week during med school
• Albrecht von Haller called him the communis Europae praeceptor, “teacher of Europe”
• Understood and described the body as a mechanism
• First to use autopsies, thermometer, magnifying lens
• “Boerhaave’s syndrome,” esophageal rupture in violent vomiting