Threshold of the Scientific Revolution Flashcards
How did techniques flow?
Before 1500, flow of techniques was from east to west, from China and India to Europe
What were the three mechanically minded cultures before 1450?
Muslims, Chinese, and Western Europe
What did 12th century Europe see?
significant cluster of borrowings from China through Muslim intermediators like the trebuchet, magnetic needle and paper
How did Europe relate to the East during 13 and 14th centuries?
they remained inferior to the East in subtle handicrafts
Europe began to run ahead during the early Renaissance (15th century) in methods of basic productions
Overseas discoveries gave access to diverse materials and ideas
What complex number system did Europeans use?
Roman numerals
What was the new reckoning system in Europe?
Leonardo Fibonacci of Pisa produced the first text to show Europeans how to calculate
What happened after Fibonacci’s work
Indian-Arabic Numerals gradually replaced the abacus
idea of perpetual motion came about
Europeans turned to magnetism and gravity as forces more constant than wind and water
Who devised one of the earliest perpetual motion machines?
French scholar Petrus Peregrinus de Maricourt using magnets in 1269
What happened during the 15th and 16th centuries and after:
Technological preparation scientific progress control of energy increase in productivity organization skill naval and military superiority OVERSEAS EXPANSION
What technological dialogue is seen between Europe and Asia in 16th century?
cluster of inventions related to transportation like sailing chariot and Chinese helicopter top
What was internal migration stimulated by?
Repressive state policies disruptions of war religious persecution desire for quick riches diffusion of artisans had the effect of spreading technical knowledge from European center to the other
Who carried state secrets?
Portuguese cartographers, pilots and navigator
What was Europe composed of?
competing states lead to rapid progress in technological advancement in context of tension and war rather than in quiet of isolation and peace
Ex. Space Race during Cold War
Why was the clock important?
It quantified a stream of constant energy
bought the concept of Mechanical order
What is mechanical order?
conceptualization of natural processes in terms of mathematical relationships known to be applicable to machines such as clocks
