Renaissance in Science - CBSE-I Portal

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CLASS-VIII HISTORY 

TEACHERS‘ MANUAL 


Class-VIII 

HISTORY 

Unit –IV 

Renaissance in Science 

TEACHERS’ MANUAL 

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acknowledgements have been included wherever appropriate and 

sources from where the material may be taken are duly mentioned. In 

case any thing has been missed out, the Board will be pleased to rectify 

the error at the earliest possible opportunity. 

All Rights of these documents are reserved. No part of this 

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without the prior permission of the CBSE-i . This material is meant for 

the use of schools who are a part of the CBSE-International only. 

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Preface 

Education plays the most important role in acquiring professional and social skills and a positive attitude to face the 

challenges of life.Curriculum is a comprehensive plan of any educational programme. It is also one of the means of bringing 

about qualitative improvement in an educational system. The Curriculum initiated by Central Board of Secondary Education 

-International (CBSE-i) is a progressive step in making the educational content responsive to global needs. It signifies the 

emergence of a fresh thought process in imparting a curriculum which would restore the independence of the learner to 

pursue the learning process in harmony with the existing personal, social and cultural ethos. 

The CBSE introduced the CBSE-i curriculum as a pilot project in few schools situated outside India in 2010 in classes I and 

IX and extended the programme to classes II, VI and X in the session 2011-12. It is going to be introduced in classes III, VII 

and for Senior Secondary classes with class XI in the session 2012-13. 

The Senior Secondary stage of education decides the course of life of any student. At this stage it becomes extremely 

important for students to develop the right attitude, a willingness to learn and an understanding of the world around them to 

be able to take right decisions for their future. The senior secondary curriculum is expected to provide necessary base for the 

growth of knowledge and skills and thereby enhance a student‘s potential to face the challenges of global competitiveness. 

The CBSE-i Senior Secondary Curriculum aims at developing desired professional, managerial and communication skills as 

per the requirement of the world of work. CBSE-i is for the current session offering curriculum in ten subjects i.e. Physics 

Chemistry, Biology, Accountancy, Business-Studies, Economics, Geography, ICT, English, Mathematics I and Mathematics 

II. Mathematics at two levels caters to the differing needs of students of pure sciences or commerce. 

The Curriculum has been designed to nurture multiple intelligences like linguistic or verbal intelligence, logicalmathematical 

intelligence, spatial intelligence, sports intelligence, musical intelligence, inter-personal intelligence and intrapersonal 

intelligence. 

The Core skills are the most significant aspects of a learner's holistic growth and learning curve. The objective of this part of 

the core of curriculum is to scaffold the learning experiences and to relate tacit knowledge with formal knowledge. This 

involves trans-disciplinary linkages that would form the core of the learning process. Perspectives, SEWA (Social 

Empowerment through Work and Action), Life Skills and Research would be the constituents of this 'Core'. 

The CBSE-i Curriculum evolves by building on learning experiences inside the classroom over a period of time. The Board 

while addressing the issues of empowerment with the help of the schools' administering this system strongly recommends 

that practicing teachers become skilful and lifelong learners and also transfer their learning experiences to their peers 

through the interactive platforms provided by the Board. 

The success of this curriculum depends upon its effective implementation and it is expected that the teachers will make 

efforts to create better facilities, develop linkages with the world of work and foster conducive environment as per 

recommendations made in the curriculum document. 

I appreciate the effort of Dr.Sadhana Parashar, Director (Training), CBSE, Dr. Srijata Das, Education Officer, CBSE and 

Ms. Anjali Chhabra, Assistant Education Officer, CBSE and their teams involved in the development of this document. 

The CBSE-i website enables all stakeholders to participate in this initiative through the discussion forums. Any further 

suggestions on improving the portal are always welcome. 

Vineet Joshi 

Chairman, CBSE 

3

Advisory 

Shri Vineet Joshi, Chairman, CBSE 

Dr. Sadhana Parashar, Director (A&T),CBSE 

Ideators VI-VIII 

Ms. Aditi Mishra 

Ms. Avanita Bir 

Ms. Deepa Puri 

Ms. Himani Asija 

Mr. Maneesh Jaryal 

Ms. Preeti Hans 

Ms. Sonali Sinha 

Ms. Uma Sharma 

Ms. Anuradha Joshi 

Ms. Charu Maini 

Dr. G.P. Bagoria 

Mr. Manish Jaryat 

Ms. Neera Chopra 

Dr. Rajesh Hassija 

Ms. Sudha Ravi 

Dr. Usha Sharma 

Material Production Groups: Classes VI-VIII 

English 

Ms. Dipinder Kaur 

Ms. Gayatri Khanna 

Ms. Neerada Suresh 

Ms. Neha Sharma 

Ms. Preeti Hans 

Ms. Rachna Pandit 

Ms. Renu Anand 

Ms. Ritu BadiaVashisth 

Ms. Sarita Ahuja 

Ms. Sheena Chhabra 

Ms. Sudha Ravi 

Ms. Trishya Mukherjee 

Ms. Veena Bhasin 

Ms. Vijay Laxmi Raman 

Core- Research 

Ms. Anita Sharma 


Dr. K L Chopra 

Ms. Manjushtha Bose 


Ms. Neeta Rastogi 

Dr. N K Sehgal 

Ms. Rashmi Kathuria 

Ms. Renu Anand 

Ms. Varsha Manku 

CORE-Perspectives 

Ms. Madhuchhanda, 


(Late) Dr. Srijata Das E.O 

Shri R. P. Sharma, 

Consultant (Science) 

Mr. Navin Maini, 

RO(Tech) 




Acknowledgements 

Chemistry 

Ms. Kavita Kapoor 

Ms. Poonam Kumar Mendiratta 

Ms. Rashmi Sharma 

Physics 

Ms. Mukta Kaushik 

Ms. Patarlekha Sarkar 

Ms. Vidhu Narayanan 

Biology 

Ms. Deepti Sharma 

Ms. Deepa Shukla 

Ms. Monika Munjal Gandhi 

Ms. Sarika Attri 

Ms. Varsha Parikh 

Ms. Yamini Bisht 

Theatre & Performing 

Arts 

Ms. Asha Singh 

Ms. Amrita Shiv Kumar 

Ms. Archana Sharma 

Ms. Bindia Rajpal 

Ms. Deepti Sharma 

Ms. Manisha Goel 

Ms. Priya Srinivasan 

Ms. Shruti Sharma 

Economics 

Mr. A. Manoharan 

Ms. Anita Yadav 

Ms. Leela Garewal 

Conceptual Framework 

Shri G. Balasubramanian, Former Director (Acad), CBSE 

Ms. Abha Adams, Consultant, Step-by-Step School, Noida 

Dr. Sadhana Parashar, Director (A&T),CBSE 

Chief Co-ordinator: Kshipra Verma, E.O. 

Co-ordinators: 

Ms. Neha Sharma, D.D. 

Ms. Neelima Sharma, 

Consultant (English) 

Shri Al Hilal Ahmed, 

AEO 

4 

Mr. Albert Abraham 

Prof. Chand Kiran Saluja 


Ms. Mallika Preman 

Ms. Neelima Sharma 

Ms. Rita Bokil 

Ms. Sunita Tanwar 

Ms. Vijay Laxmi Raman 

Mathematics 

Ms. Chhavi Raheja 

Ms. Deepa Gupta 

Ms. Gayatri Chowhan 

Mr. Mahendra Shankar 

Ms. Mamta Goyal 

Ms. N Vidya 

Dr. Ram Avtar 

Mr. Rahul Sofat 

Hindi 

Mr. Akshay Kumar Dixit 

Ms. Kiran Soni 

Ms. Nishi Dhanjal 

Ms. Veena Sharma 

CORE-SEWA 


Ms. Nishtha Bharati 

Ms. Reema Arora 

Ms. Seema Bhandari 

Ms. Seema Chopra 

Ms. Vandna 

ICT 

Ms. Babita Mahajan 

Ms. Chanchal Chandna 

Ms. Purvi Srivastava 

Ms. Ritu Arora 

Ms. Swati Panhani 

Ms. Shally Arora 

Ms. Sameeksha Mishra 

Ms. S. Radha Mahalakshmi, 

E. O. 

Ms. Reema Arora, 

Consultant (Chemistry) 

Mr. R P Singh, 

AEO 

Ms. Asha Sharma 

Ms. Deepa Shukla 

Ms. Guneet Ohri 

Ms. Monika Mehan 

Ms. Neerada Suresh 

Ms. Seema Rawat 

Ms. Urmila Guliani 

Geography 

Ms. Aditi Babbar 

Ms. Mallika Preman 

Ms. Neena Phogat 

Ms. Nisheeth Kumar 

Ms. Suparna Sharma 

Ms. Sharda Hans 

Ms. Sushila Pandey 

Ms. Sunita Bajpai 

Ms. Tundra Reddy 

History 

Ms. Dalia Haldar 

Ms. Dolly Haryal 

Ms Kalpana Pant 

Ms Leeza Dutta 

Ms. Nasreen Rekhange 

Ms. N. Saroj 

Ms. Navita Gayla 

Ms. Ruchi Mahajan 

Ms. YachanaVillaitrari 

Political Science 

Ms. Kanu Chopra 

Ms. Manisha Anthwal 

Ms. Mamta Talwar 

Ms. Rashmi Mishra 

Ms. Saudamini Tipra 

Ms. Shilpi Anand 

Visual Arts 

Ms. Anjali Anand 

Ms. Minakshi 

Ms. Rani Bhatnagar 

Ms. Renu Gupta 

Mr. Subroto Mallick 

Ms. P Rajeswary, E.O. 

Ms. Deepa Shukla, 

Consultant (Biology) 

Mr. Sanjay Sachdeva, 

D. O.




Unit-IV RENAISSANCE IN SCIENCE 

Contents 

Development of Scientific thinking 

Rediscovery of ancient texts 

Humanism and Science 

Role of humanism in science 

Scholastic thinking and Science 

Impact of scholastic thinking 

Role of Print Media 

Spread of scientific knowledge 

Scientific Revolution 

Achievements of various scientists 

5

CONCEPT 

A study of 

development 

of science in 

the 

Renaissance 

period 

KNOWLEDGE 

Learn about the 

ancient works 

on science and 

the role they 

played in the 

development of 

scientific 

thinking. 

Know about the 

achievements 

of renaissance 

scientists. 




Unit-IV RENAISSANCE IN SCIENCE 

UNIT- MATRIX 

COMPREHENSION 

Compare and contrast 

the methods and 

views of medieval and 

modern scientists. 

Appreciate the role of 

humanism in the 


science. 

APPLICATION 

Find out why Padua 

became the centre 

for all scientific 

discoveries. 

Find out about the 

renaissance 

scientists. 

6 

ANALYSIS 

Analyse the 

impact of 

scholastic 

thinking on the 


science. 

SYNTHESIS 

Show how 

scientific 

methodology 

was used as a 

means of 

understanding 

the world; 

rational 

thinking was 

replacing 

superstitious 

beliefs. 

EVALUATION 

Assess the role of 

Printing Press in 

spread of scientific 

knowledge.

SCOPE 




The unit would give the students an understanding of the role played by Renaissance in the 

development of science. They would learn how the ancient scientific works were studied and 

scientific thinkers such as Leonardo daVinci, Nicolaus Copernicus, Galileo and Johannes 

Kepler attempted to refine earlier thoughts on astronomy. They would learn how through the 

efforts of the humanist scholars world moved away from the geocentric view to heliocentric 

view; how science began to break into various disciplines, and medicine, astronomy, natural 

science, physics and many other fields took on forms that are recognizable today. The 

invention of Printing Press played a crucial role in the spread of scientific ideas. 

LEARNING OBJECTIVES 

Acquaint themselves with the role of humanism in the development of scientific thinking 

during the renaissance. 

Analyse the impact of scholastic thinking in breaking the age old beliefs and development 

of modern science. 

Assess the importance of print media to the spread of scientific knowledge. 

Appreciate the achievements made by the various scientists during the renaissance. 

Critically analyse the impact of development of science on other developments in Europe. 

WHY WE TEACH THIS UNIT 

The unit would give the students an opportunity to appreciate the efforts of Renaissance 

scientists towards the beginning of modern science. They would realise the difficulties that 

the scientists / scholars encountered to put forward their views as the Catholic church 

suppressed any new idea that challenged their beliefs and practices. It was even difficult for 

them to convince people about their theories as ancient works were authoritative and 

followed by everyone. Today all these discoveries are acceptable to us very easily but 

without the efforts made by these scholars there would have been no breakthroughs in science 

and technology in today‘s time. Curiosity and experimentation, the two important 

components of science is the contribution of Renaissance science. Renaissance stimulated 

medical practice, spurring physicians and scholars towards the scientific study of medicine as 

never before in history. Many innovative discoveries during this period made medical 

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practice more accurate and effective, increasing the knowledge and capabilities of medical 

professionals throughout the world. 

COMMON ERRORS 

Some believe that Renaissance is only associated with art and literature and revival of ancient 

texts. They fail to relate it with the development of modern science, explorations and 

discovery of new land; etc. 

It is believed that the middle ages were dark ages in a stark contrast to the enlightened values 

of the Renaissance but according to some critics, the periods have much in common. Andrew 

Graham-Dixon argues that "the Renaissance represented a culmination rather than a complete 

rejection" of the preceding age. 

CROSS DISCIPLINARY LINKS 

Art- Students of art can compare and contrast the works of artists. 

They can also find out about the materials used for making paintings. 

Geography- Finding about explorers, places and locations. 

Mathematics- Students can write the history of Mathematics based on the 

achievements of these Scientists. 

TEACHERS NOTES 

All the topics have been conceptualised as per the requirement of the students of Class-VIII. 

Teachers can go beyond text (NCF 2005) and should bring innovative activities apart 

from suggested activities. 

Teacher should have a pre-planned idea and well organised way in dealing and handling 

this subject. 

After every sub topic an activity is given for students, which the teacher should conduct 

in the class to reinforce the concept being taught. 

After each concept the teacher should also use the worksheet as per number given in the 

Students‘ Manual. 

The teacher should also explain with examples how teaching of this module can be linked 

with the teaching of other subjects. 

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A number of websites, sources have been given in the Students‘ Manual which should be 

used by the teachers and students to develop a complete understanding of the topic and 

express different perspectives of the same topic. 

Map skills (if needed) and other life skills to be developed, while dealing with this topics 

The unit on the whole to be made activity based and research based as per the Concept of 

CBSE-i. 

9

INTRODUCTION 




Introduce the unit by asking the meanings of Renaissance and Humanism learnt in the 

previous units. Ask the students to list down some of the inventions that they know of 

belonging to this period. 

Show PPT on inventions of Renaissance to create 

interest. 

mrkash.com/activities/renaissanceinventions.ppt 

Development of Scientific Thinking 

Many people including the historians have a very western-based perspective of the history 

of science with a belief that all the innovations arose in Europe and North America. The 

older history books drew a line between the Ancient Greeks and modern science and did 

not recognise any contribution made by the other parts of the world. 

In the present day historians feel that this is not true and that other civilizations and other 

parts of the world made significant contributions to the development of science. The 

Mesopotamians, Egyptians, Indians, Mayans, and Chinese all have played an important 

role in the development of science. Islam has played an important part in preserving the 

knowledge of the ancient civilisations, adding further insights and conclusions. 

Thus the knowledge is not the preserve of the West and that most modern scientists owe a 

great debt to earlier peoples. 

This Eurocentric view sprang from the Renaissance Era in Europe, a time when great 

scientific advances were made and science as we know it started to take shape. Instead of 

the polymaths of Ancient Greece and the Middle East, we started to break science into 

disciplines, and medicine, astronomy, natural science, physics and many other fields took 

on forms that are recognizable today. 

There was a period of intellectual revival from 12 th century onwards, but this was 

interrupted by the infamous Black Death of the mid 14 th century, which killed between 30 

and 50% of Europe‘s population and saw people increasingly begin to migrate for work. 

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The European Renaissance is given the date 1450 CE as its starting point. It was the time 

when European thinkers began to receive information and knowledge from outside 

Europe. When the Ottomans sacked Byzantine Empire and captured Constantinople, in 

1453, many scholars to flee to Europe, bringing texts and knowledge with them. In Spain, 

unrest and change in the constant battle between the Moors and the Christians saw many 

academics fleeto Europe, landing in the great Italian city-states of Florence and Padua, 

amongst others. This led to revival of ancient learning. 

Figure No. 1: Renaissance Era in Europe 

A humanist faith in classical scholarship led to the search for ancient texts that would 

increase current scientific knowledge. Among the works rediscovered were Galen's 

physiological and anatomical studies and Ptolemy's Geography. 

Thinkers like Leonardo da Vinci, Copernicus, Galileo tried to redefine the earlier works 

on astronomy. With the invention of printing these ideas spread very fast. 

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Scientific advance during the Renaissance crossed into many fields. 

Andreas Vesalius of Belgium began dissecting corpse and made many discoveries about 

the human anatomy. 

Case Study-The Ptolemaic Model 

Claudius Ptolemy lived in Rome around 100 CE. His model of the solar system and 

heavenly sphere was a refinement of previous models developed by Greek astronomers. 

Ptolemy‘s major contribution, however, was that his model could so accurately explain the 

motions of heavenly bodies, it became the model for understanding the structure of the 

solar system. In Ptolemy‘s version of the solar system, the Earth was the centre of not only 

the solar system, but the entire universe. The Ptolemaic model accounted for the apparent 

motions of the planets in a very direct way, by assuming that each planet moved on a small 

sphere or circle, called an epicycle that moved on a larger sphere or circle, called a 

deferent. The stars, it was assumed, moved on a celestial sphere around the outside of the 

planetary spheres. 

1. What was Ptolemy‘s major contribution? 

2. What were the assumptions on which the Ptolemy‘s model was said? 

The discovery that there were some mathematic relationships in the world of nature 

created even more questions. In art, they studied how to depict objects in the same way 

they appear to the eye (perspective) 

Leonardo da Vinci combined art and science in his studies of nature and structures. Both 

art and science can be seen in his designs for the different types of machines and devices 

he conceived. 

Some significant inventions during the Renaissance were the printing press, the compass 

and gunpowder. 

Use Worksheet No. 1 

12

Humanism and Science 




Show Video No 1- Renaissance Science 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eKnS_4Mfwe8&feature=related 

Humanism with its emphasis on secular concerns and the rediscovery and study of the 

literature, art, and civilization of ancient Greece and Rome, had an indirect impact on 

science during the Renaissance. 

Educational practice was revolutionized by the recovery of ancient documents, the 

rejection of institutional authority, and renewed emphasis on individual freedom. The 

humanists expressed an enormous confidence in the power of reason as a source of 

profound understanding of human nature and of our place in the natural order. 

Humanism encouraged people to be curious and to question, received wisdom 

(particularly that of the medieval Church). It also encouraged people to use 

experimentation and observation to solve earthly problems. 

Humanism benefited the development of science in a number of more specific ways. It 

was due to humanistic education at Padua; Alberti came up with technological 

applications of mathematics, and stated that mathematics was the key to all sciences. 

Vittorino, another student at Padua, went on to make mathematics a central feature of his 

educational program. Gerolamo Cardano, a scholar of renowned humanistic skills, made 

major contributions to the development of algebra. 

Thus the importance given to mathematics in humanistic pedagogy contributed to the 

critical role that mathematics played in the rise of modern science. 

In 1543 Copernicus wrote De revolution bus, a work that placed the sun at the centre of 

the universe and the planets in semi correct orbital order around it; his work was an 

attempt to revise the earlier writings of Ptolemy. 

Galileo's most famous invention was an accurate telescope through which he observed the 

heavens; he recorded his findings in Siderius. 

The study of Plato‘s works contributed to a new concept that mathematics could answer 

many questions about the universe. 

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Curiosity and experimentation were important for the future of science. The humanist 

attempted to be objective and used experience and experiments to observe their world. 

This was in stark difference to the past when abstract ideas were simply accepted as 

truths. The experimentation and the objective, impartial questioning and acceptance of the 

results had more influence on the world of science than any other achievement. 

Do You Know 

Four of The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles characters are named after Renaissance 

scientists- 

Leonardo (Leo) — The courageous leader and 

devoted student of martial arts, Leonardo was 

named after the Italian polymath, scientist, 

engineer, inventor, anatomist, and painter, 

Leonardo da Vinci. 

Raphael (Raph) — The team's bad boy, Raphael is 

named after the Italian painter and architect of the 

High Renaissance, Raphael. 

Donatello (Don or Donny) — Donatello who wears 

a purple mask and wields the bō staff is named 

after the early Renaissance Italian artist and 

sculptor from Florence, Donatello. 

Michelangelo (Mike or Mikey) — Easy-going and free-spirited, Michelangelo is 

named after the Italian Renaissance painter, sculptor, architect, poet, and engineer, 

Michelangelo Buonarroti. 

Use: Worksheet No. 2 

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Scholastic Thinking and Science 




Case Study: Thinking Brings Enlightenment 

Scholasticism was a method of critical thought and philosophical study as practiced by 

Christian thinkers in medieval universities. The scholastics depended upon ancient 

authorities as sources of dogma and engaged in elaborate debate over their proper 

interpretation. They would choose a book by a renowned scholar for investigation. 

Reading it thoroughly and critically, they learned to appreciate the theories of the author. 

They would also refer to other documents related to the book, such as Church councils, 

papal letters and anything else written on the subject, be it ancient or contemporary. The 

points of disagreement and contention between multiple sources would be written down 

in individual sentences or snippets of text, known as sentential. 

Words were examined and argued to have multiple meanings they tried to show with the 

use of logic that contradictions did not exist but were subjective to the reader. 

These practices were largely discontinued by philosophers of the Renaissance. Medieval 

philosophy was based on Neoplatonic and Aristotelean philosophy. 

1. In what ways was thinking repressed during the middle Ages? What was the 

effect of that repression, in your opinion? 

2. How did thinking flourish in the Renaissance? What factors contributed to the 

encouragement of thinking? 

By the end of the fifteenth century many thinkers tried to make a fresh start by rejecting 

such extensive reliance on the authority of earlier scholars. Educational practice was 

revolutionized by the recovery of ancient documents, the rejection of institutional 

authority, and renewed emphasis on individual freedom. 

Scholastic thinking was used to break the long held belief that the entire physical universe 

was centred on humankind. For example, gravity was believed to be the desire for all 

objects to be at the centre of the earth. Acceleration could be explained by an object‘s 

eagerness as it moved closer to its ―natural‖ home. 

To quote Aristotle: “There is a natural place for everything to seek, as: Heavy things go 

downward, Fire upward, and rivers to the sea.‖ 

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The works of Aristotle and Christian theologians were responsible for these long held 

views. These beliefs in the past relied on the supernatural and could not be explained by 

objectivity or experimentation. 

The scholastic thinkers were responsible for breakthrough thinking regarding the nature 

of the universe. The idea that the universe could be studied and approached objectively 

was a radical new concept. 

To prove Aristotle wrong, Galileo attempted an experiment and dropped two balls of 

different weights off of the tower of Pisa. Galileo believed that the balls would hit the 

ground at the same time, which was different from Aristotle‘s view that heavier objects 

fall faster than lighter ones. Galileo reported that the lighter ball originally fell faster and 

then the heavier ball. They both hit the ground at almost the same time. Galileo claimed 

that without air resistance, the balls would hit the ground at the same time. 

In 1638, Galileo published a book in which he described a mathematical explanation for 

his laws of motion as well as the concept of friction. He was able to disprove the idea 

that heavier objects fall faster than lighter ones. Galileo also spent a great deal of time 

studying falling bodies and the rates at which they fell. 

Scholars travelled to the University of Padua in Italy and it became the scientific centre of 

Europe. Nearly every great scientist of the time was in some way associated with Padua 

and its university. Padua was the home of Copernicus during the 16 th century and Galileo 

and William Harvey in the 17 th century. 

The scientific attitude in Padua relied on experimentation and objectivity and that attitude 

provided the basis for further advances in science in other parts of Europe. 

Show video 2 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Kv-U5tjNCY 

16




Case Study: What is A Scientific Method? 

Scientific method is a procedure that has characterized natural science since the 17th century, 

consisting in systematic observation, measurement, and experiment, and the formulation, 

testing, and modification of hypotheses. 

1. What is the method used in science? 

Source: sciencebuddies.org 

2. Which step reflects the Renaissance brought about in the Scientific Method? 


Group Activity- 1 

Galileo and Scientific Discovery 

Divide students into teams and have them try to imagine the scientific mind set of people in 

the Renaissance. 

Have one team gather arguments in support of Galileo's sun-cantered Copernican system, and 

another gather argument to support the Earth-cantered Ptolemaic system it replaced. 

Have a discussion of how Galileo's discoveries turned the previous scientific worldview 

upside down and why the church found his ideas dangerous. 

17

Role of Print Media 

Introducing of the Topic- 

Start with a game of “telephone” 




Activity-2 

Teacher starts with a message and whispers it into a student’s ear 

That student relays the message to another student, and so on, until everyone 

has heard the message once 

The last student says the message loudly for the whole class to hear 

Most likely, the end message will be quite different from the beginning one 

This game shows that without good communication methods, it is hard to relay 

information accurately 

Explain to students that just for information how the in format get distracted 

when we talk ever telephone, similar ways it got mixed up around before the 

Renaissance also. 

New inventions like the printing press allowed the information to be massrecorded 

and available to the general public on a greater scale, reducing the 

amount of mix-ups and various versions of stories. 

Johannes Gutenberg, a German goldsmith, printer, and publisher in the 1450s introduced 

printing to Europe. His invention of mechanical movable type printing started the Printing 

Revolution and is widely regarded as the most important event of the modern period. It 

played a key role in the development of the Renaissance, Reformation, the Age of 

Enlightenment and the Scientific Revolution and laid the material basis for the modern 

knowledge-based economy and the spread of learning to the masses. 

Prior to Gutenberg's invention, each piece of metal type for printing presses had to be 

individually carved by hand. Gutenberg developed moulds that allowed for the mass 

production of individual pieces of metal type. This allowed a widespread use of movable 

type, where each character is a separate block, in mirror image, and these blocks are 

assembled into a frame to form text. Because of his moulds, an entire upper case and 

lower case alphabet set could be made much more quickly than if they were individually 

hand carved. 

Gutenberg is also credited with the first use of an oil-based ink and printed on both 

vellum and paper. 

Prior to the invention of the printing press, books in Europe were copied mainly in 

monasteries, or (from the 13th century) in commercial scriptoria, where scribes wrote 

18




them out by hand and books were a scarce resource. While it might take someone a year 

or more to hand copy a Bible, with the Gutenberg press it was possible to create several 

hundred copies a year. 

The rise of printed works did not become popular immediately. It was suggested that for 

setting up a printing press a license was required from the Catholic Church. But this idea 

was rejected. 

In the beginning even some nobles refused to have printed books in their libraries, 

thinking that to do so would sully their valuable hand copied manuscripts. Similar 

resistance was later encountered in much of the Islamic world, where calligraphic 

traditions were extremely important, and also in the Far East. 

Despite this resistance, Gutenberg's printing press spread rapidly, and within thirty years 

of its invention in 1453, towns and cities across Europe had functional printing presses. 

Johann Heynlin, for example, introduced the first press to Paris in 1470. 

The discovery and establishment of the printing of books with movable type 

revolutionised the way information was transferred in Europe. Just as the development of 

language, and the invention of the alphabets, had its effects on the society printing of 

books led to the establishment of a community of scientists who could easily 

communicate their discoveries, bringing on the scientific revolution. 

Also, although early texts were printed in Latin, books were soon produced in common 

European vernacular, leading to the decline of the Latin language. Printing changed the 

way Europeans thought. With the older illuminated manuscripts, the emphasis was on the 

images and the beauty of the page. Early printed works emphasized principally the text 

and the line of argument. 

In the sciences, the introduction of the printing press marked a move from the medieval 

language of metaphors to the adoption of the scientific method. In general, knowledge 

came closer to the hands of the people, since printed books could be sold for a fraction of 

the cost of illuminated manuscripts. There were also more copies of each book available, 

so that more people could discuss them. Within a half century, the entire library of 

"classical" knowledge had been printed on the new presses. 

Since printing techniques were available, it made the task of sending the old research 

still safe in hand written texts or to scholars living in distant countries. Scientific thinkers 

such as Leonardo da Vinci, Nicolaus Copernicus, Galileo and Johannes Kepler attempted 

to refine earlier thought on astronomy. 

The printing press was also a factor in the establishment of a community of scientists who 

could easily communicate their discoveries through the establishment of widely 

disseminated scholarly journals, helping to bring on the scientific revolution. Because of 

the printing press, authorship became more meaningful and profitable. It was suddenly 

important who had said or written what, and what the precise formulation and time of 

composition was. This allowed the exact citing of references, producing the rule, "One 

19




Author, one work (title), one piece of information". Before, the author was less important; 

since a copy of Aristotle made in Paris would not be exactly identical to one made in 

Bologna. For many works prior to the printing press, the name of the author has been 

entirely lost. 

The printing press was an important step towards the democratization of knowledge. 

Within fifty or sixty years of the invention of the printing press, the entire classical canon 

had been reprinted and widely promulgated throughout Europe. Now that more people 

had access to knowledge both new and old, more people could discuss these works. 

There was decline of Latin as the language of most published works. It was replaced by 

the vernacular language of each area, increasing the variety of published works. This rise 

in importance of national languages as opposed to pan-European. Latin is cited as one of 

the causes of the rise of nationalism in Europe. 

Print media led to the scientific revolution. In 1543 Copernicus wrote De-revolution bus, 

a work that placed the sun at the centre of the universe and the planets in order around it; 

his work was an attempt to revise the earlier writings of Ptolemy. 

Galileo‘s most famous invention was an accurate telescope through which he observed 

the heavens; he recorded his findings in Sideriusnuncius [starry messenger]. 

Tycho Brahe gave an accurate estimate of planetary positions and refuted the Aristotelian 

theory that placed the planets within crystal spheres. 

Kepler was the first astronomer to suggest that planetary orbits were elliptical or oval 

shaped. 

Scientific Revolution 

The scientific revolution is an era associated primarily with the 16th and 17th centuries 

during which new ideas and knowledge in physics, astronomy, biology, medicine and 

chemistry transformed medieval and ancient views of nature and laid the foundations for 

modern science. 

According to most accounts, the scientific revolution began in Europe towards the end of 

the Renaissance era and continued through the late 18th century, the later period known 

as the Enlightenment. 

It was sparked by the publication in 1543 of two works that changed the course of 

science: Nicolaus Copernicus's De revolutionibusorbiumcoelestium (On the Revolutions 

of the Heavenly Spheres) and Andreas Vesalius's De humanicorporisfabrica (On the 

Fabric of the Human body). 


20




Philosopher and historian Alexandre Koyré coined the term scientific revolution in 1939 

to describe this epoch. 

As with many historical demarcations, historians of science disagree about its boundaries, 

some seeing elements contributing to the revolution as early as the 14th century and 

finding its last stages in chemistry and biology in the 18th and 19th centuries. 

Since the time of Voltaire, some observers have considered that a revolutionary change in 

thought, called in recent times a scientific revolution, took place around the year 1600; 

that is, that there were dramatic and historically rapid changes in the ways in which 

scholars thought about the physical world and studied it. 

The scientific revolution was not marked by any single change but by many new ideas. 

Astronomy 

The astronomy of the late Middle Ages was based on the geocentric model which means 

earth is the centre and all other planets revolve around it as described by Claudius 

Ptolemy in his work Almagest. Very few read his work in original; instead they relied on 

introductions to the Ptolemaic system such as the De sphaera mundi of Johannes de 

Sacrobosco and the genre of textbooks known as Theoricaplanetarum. For the task of 

predicting planetary motions they turned to the Alfonsine Tables, a set of astronomical 

tables based on the Almagest models but incorporating some later modifications in order 

to correct the original Ptolemaic models—until one comes to Copernicus himself. 

Two commonly made observations supported the idea that the Earth was the centre of the 

Universe. The first observation was that the stars, sun, and planets appear to revolve 

around the Earth each day, making the Earth the centre of that system. 

The second common notion supporting the geocentric model was that the Earth does not 

seem to move from the perspective of an Earth bound observer, and that it is solid, stable, 

and unmoving. In other words, it is completely at rest. 

The astronomical predictions of Ptolemy's geocentric model were used to prepare 

astrological charts for over 1500 years. Sometime around 1450, mathematician Georg 

Purbach began a series of lectures on astronomy at the University of Vienna. 

Regiomontanus , who was then one of his students, collected his notes on the lecture and 

21




later published them as Theoricae novae planetarum in the 1470s. This "New Theorica" 

replaced the older theorica as the textbook of advanced astronomy. 

Purbach also began to prepare a summary and commentary on the Almagest. He died after 

completing only six books; however Regiomontanus continued the task, consulting a 

Greek manuscript brought from Constantinople by Cardinal Bessarion. When it was 

published in 1496, the Epitome of the Almagest made the highest levels of Ptolemaic 

astronomy widely accessible to many European astronomers for the first time. 

The geocentric model held sway into the early modern age, but was gradually replaced 

from the late 16th century onward by the heliocentric model. 

Do You Know? 

Early traces of a heliocentric model are found in : 

Several Vedic Sanskrit texts composed in ancient India such as the Vedas, 

Aitareya Brahmanaand Shatapatha Brahmana. 

Greek texts written by Philolaus &Aristarchus 

Arab work written by Ibn al Shatir. 

Figure No. 2: Nicolaus Copernicus Figure No. 3: The Copernican Universal 

Nicolaus Copernicus was among the first generation of astronomers to be trained with the 

Theoricae novae and the Epitome. Shortly before 1514 he began to explore a shocking 

new idea that the Earth revolves around the Sun. He spent the rest of his life attempting a 

22




mathematical proof of heliocentrism. When De revolution ibusorbium coelestium was 

finally published in 1543, Copernicus was on his deathbed. 

Copernicus' work contradicted then-accepted religious dogma: it could be inferred that 

there was no need of an entity (God) that granted a soul, power and life to the World and 

to human beings — science could explain everything that was attributed to Him. 

The work was finished in 1530 but Copernicus did not send it for publication. Finally in 

1541, his pupil Rhaticus was given permission by Copernicus to take the work for 

publication. 

His work was put in the Index of Forbidden Books in 1611 and not taken out until around 

1835. The Index was a list of books put out by the Roman Catholic Church that they 

considered immoral, impious or dangerous. It is hard to believe but the last edition of the 

list was published as recently as 1948. Luckily for Roman Catholics it was decreed in 

1966 that no more new lists would be published and that it was OK to read from existing 

lists without fear of excommunication. 

His findings were- 

(1) There is more than one centre in the universe. 

(2) The Earth's centre is not the centre of the universe. 

(3) The center of the universe is near the sun. 

(4) The distance from the Earth to the sun is imperceptible compared with the distance to 

the stars. 

(5) The rotation of the Earth accounts for the apparent daily rotation of the stars. 

(6) The apparent annual cycle of movements of the sun is caused by the Earth revolving 

around the sun. 

(7) The apparent retrograde motion of the planets is caused by the motion of the Earth, 

from which one observes. 

A comparison of his work with the Almagest shows that Copernicus was in many ways a 

Renaissance scientist rather than a revolutionary, because he followed Ptolemy's methods 

and even his order of presentation was similar to Ptolemy‘s. 

23




The transition between these two theories met much resistance, not only from Christian 

theologians, who were reluctant to accept a theory that seemed to contradict certain Bible 

passages, but also from those who saw geocentrism as an accepted consensus that could 

not be subverted by a new, weakly justified theory. 

Do you know? 

A proportion of the public still believes in the geocentric model. 

According to surveys conducted in 1999, 2006 & 2011, approximately one in five 

Americans, Britons and one third of Russians believe that the Sun revolves around the 

Earth. 

Galileo Galilei 

Galileo was definitely the lead scientist of this era, a truly Renaissance man as he was 

involved in art, astronomy and physical science. 

At the age of 16, Galileo studied the hanging lanterns during a service at the cathedral in 

Pisa. As he watched them sway back and forth, this led him to formulate some ideas about 

pendulums, which later helped in the invention of pendulum clock. 

Galileo wrote a book entitled De motu (On Motion) in which he denounced, Aristotelian 

physics. Much of what the people believed about science was still rooted in the thoughts of 

Aristotle. 

In 1609, Galileo made his own version of a telescope, based on the spyglass he had received 

from Hans Lippershey, a Dutch sea merchant who used it for navigation. With modifications 

and improvements, Galileo used his telescope not to look across the seas, but rather turned 

the telescope towards the heavens. 

Use Worksheet No. 5 

Show Video No. 3 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cTOJRU02QoY&feature=related 

for introduction 

24




He made several important astronomical discoveries, including the four largest moons of 

Jupiter, the phases of Venus, and the rings of Saturn, and made detailed observations of 

sunspots. He developed the laws for falling bodies based on pioneering quantitative 

experiments which he analyzed mathematically. 

In Galileo‘s opinion, all of his discoveries only went to prove the Copernican heliocentric 

theory to be true. Galileo wrote a newsletter called The Starry Messenger, in which he told 

of his discoveries as well as defending the Copernican system. Within 9 days of printing, all 

550 copies had been sold. He also claimed that the church had the burden of proving the 

Copernican system wrong. 

In 1616, Galileo received a letter from Cardinal Bellarmine warning him not to teach or 

defend the Copernican system. 

Figure. Galileo Galilei 

25 

Figure. Galileo Telescope




Activity-3 

Make A Telescope (To be done in pairs) 

Explain to the students how does a telescope work. 

A telescope is an instrument that makes a far away object look closer. It has a device 

that collects light from a distant object (objective lens or primary mirror) and brings 

that light (image) to a focus where a second device (eyepiece lens) magnifies the 

image and brings it to your eye. 

Give them the list of things required to make a telescope- 

Two magnifying glasses - perhaps 1 - 1.5 inches (2.5-3 cm) diameter (it works best if 

one is larger than the other) 

A cardboard tube - paper towel roll or gift-wrapping paper roll (it helps if it is long) 

Duct tape 

Scissors 

A ruler, yard stick, or tape measure 

Sheet of printed paper - newspaper or magazine will do 

Give them the steps involved in the making of telescope- 

Get the two magnifying glasses and a sheet of printed paper. 

Hold one magnifying glass (the bigger one) between you and the paper. The image of 

the print will look blurry. 

Place the second magnifying glass between your eye and the first magnifying glass. 

Move the second glass forward or backward until the print comes into sharp focus. 

Notice that the print appears larger and upside down. 

Have the other student measure the distance between the two magnifying glasses and 

write the distance down. 

Cut a slot in the cardboard tube near the front opening about an inch (2.5 cm) away. 

Do not cut all the way through the tube. The slot should be able to hold the large 

magnifying glass. 

Cut a second slot in the tube the same distance from the first slot as your friend wrote 

down. This is where the second magnifying glass will go. 

Place the two magnifying glasses in their slots (big one at front, small one at back) 

and tape them in with the duct tape 

Leave about 0.5 - 1 inch (1 - 2 cm) of tube behind the small magnifying glass and cut 

off any excess tube remaining. 

Check to see that it works by looking at the printed page. The exact distances between 

the two glasses should be right so that the image comes to a focus. With this simple 

refracting telescope, they should be able to see the moon and some star clusters as 

well as terrestrial objects (i.e. birds). 

Tyco Brahe 

Tycho Brahe made extensive and more accurate naked eye observations of the planets in 

the late 16th century. These became the basic data for Kepler's studies He did not believe 

in a heliocentric system. Although Brahe was wrong in this aspect, he was still widely 

26




respected as an astronomer. Brahe is probably most famous for his observations of 

comets and supernovas. 

While Brahe was observing the great comet of 1577, he attempted to measure the distance 

of the comet from Earth using a parallax. Brahe determined that the comet was at least 4 

times farther away from the Earth than the moon. He also noticed that the comet 

appeared to get brighter and dimmer, so he labelled its path as an ellipse. This proved 

that the comet was not of Earth and showed that the heavens could change a thought that 

originated in 1550. 

Three years later, the King of Denmark built Brahe his own observatory. In 1588, using 

the data from the great comet, Brahe rejected the idea of crystalline spheres. Brahe went 

on to detail the positions of 777 stars. 

In 1600, a new apprentice came to study under Brahe, and he was named his successor 

the next year when Brahe died. The name of this apprentice was Johannes Kepler. 

Activity -4 

Ask the students to prepare a PowerPoint presentation on any one of the astronomers 

highlighting the achievements and interesting facts about them. 

Johannes Kepler 

An accomplished astronomer Kepler spent a lot of time observing stars and supernovas, 

most likely due to the influence of Brahe. He attempted to explain how each of the 

planets would be contained in one of the five Platonic solids. To him and many others, 

this explained why there were six planets. 

Kepler‘s biggest accomplishment was his three laws of planetary motion, although many 

wonder if his ideas were his own or just extensions of Brahe‘s ideas for after Brahe died, 

Kepler often petitioned Brahe‘s family to release Brahe‘s notes on observations to him. 

According to the first law, the planets did not revolve in circular orbits but rather ellipses. 

Kepler‘s second law stated that the planets swept out equal areas for equal amounts of 

time. 

His third law stated that the square of the times of revolution was proportional to the 

cubes of their distances from the Sun. 

27




According to Kepler, these three laws supported the Copernican theory and wrote this in a 

book in 1619. This book was quickly placed in the Catholic Church‘s banned book 

library. 

In 1619, Kepler also explained why a comet‘s tail pointed away from the Sun, a concept 

that had been known for years. Kepler claimed that there must be something coming 

from the Sun pushing the tail away. We now know this to be solar wind. 

Kepler‘s final contribution was a star catalogue in which he detailed 1005 stars. Tycho 

Brahe his mentor, had already detailed 777 stars. 

Figure No. 4: Isaac Newton 

Newton's Myth: 

Show Video Keplers laws-4 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5a2mcE-tzKE 

Use: Worksheet No. 6 & 7 

Do you know? 

28 

Figure No. 5: Johannes Kepler 

Most of people think that Isaac Newton discovered gravity when he was hit on the head by




a falling apple. This story is actually not true. People have known since the beginning of 

time that apples go down when they fall from trees. What Newton did realize was that 

the force of gravity follows the same mathematical rules as light. He did this by 

observing how quickly the Moon circles the Earth. 

Isaac Newton built upon the work of Kepler and Galileo and showed that an inverse 

square law for gravity explained the elliptical orbits of the planets. 

He advanced the law of universal gravitation. 

His development of infinitesimal calculus opened up new applications of the methods of 

mathematics to science. 

Newton taught that scientific theory should be coupled with rigorous experimentation, 

which became the keystone of modern science. 

Activity-5 : Renaissance Trading Card 

Objective: To become familiar with several different scientists and explorers from the 

Renaissance 

Procedure: 

1. Research a scientist and an explorer from the Renaissance in the computer lab. 

For your research, use the online databases from the library homepage. 

2. Your research should include: 

Country where each person was from 

Years of each person’s life 

Major discoveries made by each person. 

How each person’s discovery changed World History 

Any other key facts you want to include about each person 

3. Your research will be placed onto an index card and made into a trading card for 

each person. The front of your trading card should have a picture, the person’s 

name, and what team they played for (The Scientists or The Explorers). The back 

of the card should include the information you researched about the person. 

4. Make the cards in pairs. 

5. Exchange cards and learn about several scientists. 

29




Activity-6 

“If I have seen further than others, it is by standing on the shoulders of giants.” 

-Sir Isaac Newton 

Think about what Newton meant by answering the following questions: 

1. What do you think Newton has seen? 

2. Who do you think Newton refers to as “giants”? 

3. What do you think this quote tells you about Newton’s character? 

Biology 

Andreas Vesalius who is often referred to as the founder of modern human anatomy 

published De Humani Corporis Fabrica (On the Fabric of the Human Body) in 1543, 

which discredited Galen's views. He found that the circulation of blood resolved from 

pumping of the heart. He also assembled the first human skeleton from cutting open 

cadavers. 

As the head of Surgery and Anatomy at Padua he gave up the practice of teaching by 

reading classic texts, mainly Galen, followed by an animal dissection by a barber-surgeon 

whose work was directed by the lecturer. 

Show Video -5 

Who was Andrew Vesalius? 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VNYUsc4moLE 

30




Galen was a prominent Roman (of Greek ethnicity) physician, surgeon and philosopher. 

He was one of the most accomplished of all medical researchers of antiquity. Galen 

contributed greatly to the understanding of numerous scientific disciplines, including 

anatomy, physiology as well as philosophy and logic. 

Galen expertly dissected and accurately observed all kinds of animals. His descriptions of 

bones and muscle were notable. He was the first to observe that muscles work in 

contracting pairs, and described the heart valves and the structural differences between 

arteries and veins. 

After Galen, experimental physiology and anatomical research stopped for many 

centuries. Galen's teachings became the ultimate medical authority, approved by the 

Christian church because of Galen's belief in a divine purpose for all things. The medical 

world moved on from Galenism only with the appearance of Andreas Vesalius' (1514- 

1564) work on anatomy in 1543 and William Harvey's (1578-1657) studies of blood 

circulation in 1628. 

Vesalius carried out dissection as the primary teaching tool, handling the actual work 

himself while his students clustered around the table. Hands-on direct observation was 

considered the only reliable resource, a huge break with medieval practice. The Church 

now allowed human dissection, but did not allow bodies to be boiled up to produce 

skeletons. Vesalius wanted to examine the human skeleton. He had to wait until the 

bodies of hung criminals had decomposed on the gallows. When the bones were bare he 

would remove the bodies and smuggle them back into town to study them. 

He kept meticulous drawings of his work for his students in the form of six large 

illustrated anatomical tables which he later published under the title Tabulae Anatomicae 

Sex. He brought out an updated version of Galen's anatomical handbook, Institutiones 

Anatomicae. When this reached Paris one of his former professors published an attack on 

this version. 

In 1538, he also published a letter on venesection (taking blood samples) or bloodletting 

(withdrawal of little quantity of blood). This was a popular treatment for almost any 

illness, but there was some debate about where to take the blood from. The classical 

Greek procedure, advocated by Galen, was to let blood from a site near the location of the 

illness. Vesalius' pamphlet supported Galen's view, and supported his arguments through 

anatomical diagrams. 

31




Do You Know? 

Galen was appointed physician to the gladiators. The need to keep these performers fit 

taught him the importance of hygienic regimens and preventive measures. Treating the 

severe injuries which were part of a gladiator's existence enabled him to observe living 

human anatomy, particularly of bones, joints, and muscles, and to develop skill in treating 

fractures as well as brutal chest and abdominal wounds. 

In 1539, a Paduan judge became interested in Vesalius' work, and made bodies of 

executed criminals available for dissection. He soon built up a wealth of detailed 

anatomical diagrams, the first accurate set to be produced. Many of these were produced 

by commissioned artists, and were therefore of much better quality than those produced 

previously. 

In 1541, while in Bologna, Vesalius uncovered the fact that all of Galen's research had 

been based upon animal anatomy rather than the human. He published a correction of 

Galen's Opera omnia and began writing his own anatomical text. Until Vesalius pointed 

this out, it had gone unnoticed that it had long been the basis of studying human anatomy. 

However, some people still chose to follow Galen and resented Vesalius for calling 

attention to such glaring mistakes. 

Vesalius came out with a new theory about the functions and structure of the heart. 

Vesalius noted that the heart had four chambers, the liver two lobes, and that the blood 

vessels originated in the heart, not the liver. 

Although Vesalius had begun his career as a Galenist, his hands-on experience led him to 

believe that Galen's descriptions of the human body were based on dissections of pigs, 

dogs, and other animals rather than humans, a procedure that was prohibited during 

Galen's time. Vesalius compared Galen's anatomical texts with his own observations 

made during dissections. After five years spent compiling his findings, in 1543 he 

published De humanicorporisfabrica (On the Structure of the Human Body), which was 

the most accurate and comprehensive anatomy textbook to date and included artists' 

engravings based on Vesalius's own drawings.Based on knowledge gained from human 

dissections it provided a complete map of the human body. It showed for the first time 

how nerves are connected to muscles, how bones are nourished, and the complex 

32




structure of the brain. Vesalius transformed the field of anatomy, as well as medicine and 

biology. 

Due to the invention of the printing press, The Fabric of the Human Body was quickly 

distributed across Europe. Other books on anatomy were soon seen by many as being 

inferior. However, the study of anatomy did not change overnight. Many anatomists 

opposed Vesalius, partly because he was young and dared to challenge some of Galen‘s 

descriptions and ideas. However, Vesalius‘ method of dissection proved to be an efficient 

way of helping the study of the body to progress over time. The tutor was fully involved 

in the process and the students were encouraged to comment. The body was recorded 

using accurate illustrations and explained using effective labelling techniques and the 

printing press spread these ideas across Europe and eventually beyond. 

Figure. The Fabric of the Human Body Figure. Andreas Vesalius' 

Use :Worksheet No. 8 

33

William Harvey 




Imagine that you are living in the year 1535, and that you don't feel well. You have had 

some problems with fatigue, feeling a little more tired than usual when you walked to the 

market and back. When you tell this to your physician, he sends you to another physician 

down the street, telling you there may be some problem with your circulation. The new 

physician, tells you to take off your shirt and lie down on the bench. After a quick look in 

your mouth, he says your vital blood is probably O.K. But he's concerned that maybe 

your nutritive blood is not being made fast enough. After checking your abdomen, he 

mentions that your liver is slightly enlarged and suggests that maybe you have not been 

eating enough green leafy vegetables or protein. You may be wondering that you came in 

with problems with your circulation, and this guy is talking about your liver and the type 

of foods you have been eating! What is going on here? Where did this fellow learn to 

practice medicine anyway? 

Confusion over the nature of the heart, the blood, and the role of the blood in the body 

had existed for centuries. To quote, Pliny the Elder, a Roman writer who is the author of 

a 37-volume treatise entitled Natural History, "The arteries have no sensation, for they 

even are without blood, nor do they all contain the breath of life; and when they are cut 

only the part of the body concerned is paralyzed...the veins spread underneath the whole 

skin, finally ending in very thin threads, and they narrow down into such an extremely 

minute size that the blood cannot pass through them nor can anything else but the 

moisture passing out from the blood in innumerable small drops which is called sweat." 

Galen, a Greek physician who lived in the second century A.D. spent his lifetime in 

observation of the human body and its functioning. He believed and taught his students 

that there were two distinct types of blood. 'Nutritive blood' was thought to be made by 

the liver and carried through veins to the organs, where it was consumed. 'Vital blood' 

was thought to be made by the heart and pumped through arteries to carry the "vital 

spirits." Galen believed that the heart acted not to pump blood, but to suck it in from the 

veins. Galen also believed that blood flowed through the septum of the heart from one 

ventricle to the other through a system of tiny pores. He did not know that the blood left 

each ventricle through arteries. 

Galen made critical errors about the heart and blood vessels that remained virtually 

unchallenged for 1,400 years. Although he correctly recognized that blood passes from 

34




the right to the left side of the heart, but 

concluded that this was accomplished through 

tiny pores (holes) in the septum (wall separating 

the two chambers of the heart), rather than 

through the pumping action of the heart. 

Galen also believed that blood formed in the 

liver and was circulated from there throughout 

the body in the veins. He showed that arteries 

contain blood, but thought they also contained 

and distributed pneuma, a vital spirit. In a 

related idea, Galen believed that the brain generated and transmitted another vital spirit 

through the (hollow) nerves to the muscles, allowing movement and sensation. 

Physicians, as well as citizens, of many cultures had their own beliefs concerning the 

nature of the heart and circulatory system. While the Greeks believed that the heart was 

the seat of the spirit, the Egyptians believed the heart was the centre of the emotions and 

the intellect. The Chinese believed the heart was the centre for happiness. Even our 

modern society continues to put emotions under the control of the heart, speaking of 

having a broken heart when a loved one leaves, or stealing one's heart around Valentine's 

Day. These beliefs continued to be taught and taken as law until an English physician 

named William Harvey challenged them in the late 1620's. 

William Harvey demonstrated that blood circulates, using dissections and other 

experimental techniques. Harvey began investigating his theory that blood circulated 

throughout the body in 1615 when everyone believed that the liver converted food into 

blood and the various parts of the body consumed the blood. 

Harvey believed that direct observation was the correct way to draw conclusions about 

scientific facts. He kept careful records of his experiments. He did not record his findings 

until he could prove them. This practice became known as the scientific method, and 

Harvey received much credit for promoting its use. 

He dissected live animals and the bodies of executed criminals. He saw that the heart 

acted as a pump, pushing the blood throughout the body. Harvey saw that the one-way 

valves described by Fabricius meant the blood could only flow in one direction. 

35 

Figure No. 6: William Harvey




Finally, in 1628, Harvey published his book, An Anatomical Exercise Concerning the 

Motion of the Heart and Blood in Animals. He dedicated the book to King Charles I, who 

had sponsored much of the work Harvey had done. The book went on sale at a book fair 

in Frankfurt, Germany. The book received a mixed response. The medical community 

didn't immediately accept Harvey's premise. The belief that blood was produced by the 

liver and then consumed by the body had already lasted 1400 years. 

Blood-letting continued to be a standard practice, as doctors believed many illnesses were 

caused by an over-supply of blood in the body. As time went by, and more discoveries 

were made, Harvey's work became undisputed. 

Use Worksheet No. 9 (MCQ ) 

Mathematics and Arts 

One of the unique characteristics of the Renaissance was its integrative aspect. Unlike the 

boundaries between disciplines and activities, the activities of women and men of the 

Renaissance frequently overlapped, or were absorbed into the same project. 

Art and science were closely connected. Both the artist and the scientist strove for the 

mastery of the physical world, and the art of painting profited by two fields of study that 

may be called scientific: anatomy, which made possible a more accurate representation of 

the human body, and mathematical perspective. 

Perspective in painting is the rendering on a two- dimensional surface of the illusion of 

three dimensions. Previous painters had achieved this effect by empirical means, but the 

discovery of a mathematical method of attaining a three-dimensional impression is 

attributed to Brunelleschi in about 1420. 

Henceforth, the method could be systematically studied and explained, and it became one 

of the chief instruments of artists, especially painters, in their pursuit of reality. Some 

men were both artists and scientists, notably Leonardo da Vinci and Pierodella Francesca. 

It is doubtful whether they would have understood our distinction between art and 

science. Artists like Leonardo and Michaelangelo performed dissections on human bodies 

and were superb anatomists. 

Do You Know? 

Leonardo da Vinci wrote in Italian using a special kind of shorthand that he invented 

himself. People who study his notebooks have long been puzzled by something else, 

however. He usually used "mirror writing", starting at the right side of the page and 

moving to the left. Only when he was writing something intended for other people he did 

write in the normal way. 

36




A sample of Leonardo's writing as it appears in his drawings. 

This is how it would look reversed by a mirror. 

Source:http://www.mos.org/sln/Leonardo/ClassroomRighttoLeft.html 

Activity-7 

Leonardo Right to Left 

Main Idea: Students will experiment with writing backwards as Leonardo did. 

Learning Objectives: 

Experience writing in reverse. 

Communicate observations. 

Generate hypotheses about Leonardo's reasons for writing this way. 

Materials Required: 

paper 

pencils 

pens and markers 

mirrors 

a printed copy of the Leonardo Right to Left web page for easy 

reference(http://www.mos.org/sln/Leonardo/ClassroomRighttoLeft.html) 

Procedure: 

Be sure students have visited the Leonardo Right to Left web page, and 

37




encourage them to discuss what they learned from it. Make sure they 

understand what we mean by writing backwards. Refer to the sample of 

Leonardo's signature if there is confusion. 

Distribute paper and pencils and encourage students to try writing their 

signatures in cursive from right to left. This is challenging! If students have 

trouble forming letters in reverse, they should try the following exercise: 

Hold a pencil in each hand. 

Simultaneously, write backwards with the usual writing hand while writing 

forwards with the opposite hand. 

Having the one hand mirror the other hand's action seems to help the brain 

coordinate the movements. 

1. Have the students experiment with writing backwards alphabets and 

backwards sentences. 

2. Have them write backwards with pens and markers to make comparisons. Is 

one kind of writing tool easier to use this way than another? 

3. Distribute mirrors and show students how to position them to one side of 

their backwards writing to read it normally. A mirror also lets them check to 

see if they actually reversed all letters properly. 

4. Suggest that they try writing backwards messages to a partner who can then 

decipher them with a mirror. 

Discussion: 

After everyone has begun to feel more comfortable writing backwards, gather 

the students and encourage them to discuss their thoughts and observations 

about the experience of writing backwards. When it's appropriate, introduce the 

following questions for discussion: 

Did left-handed or right-handed students have an easier time writing 

backwards? 

Which medium, pencil, pen, or marker seemed best for writing backwards? 

(Leonardo would have written mostly with pen and ink.) 

For someone who learns to write backwards as easily as they write forwards, 

what advantages might there be to backwards writing? 

Generating Hypotheses: 

Ask each student to write down why they think Leonardo wrote backwards. Post 

these hypotheses where they are visible to everyone. Suggest that students refer 

back to these hypotheses as they explore this website and others and examine 

published materials to learn more about Leonardo. 

Remind them that different authors will state different opinions about this question 

but no one knows the truth. Some of your students may come up with ideas for 

experiments to test some of their hypotheses. If so, encourage and support them! 

For Further Thought: 

38




Point out to students that not all languages are normally written from left to right. 

Hebrew is normally written from right to left. Traditional Japanese and Chinese are 

written from top to bottom starting at the right side of the page. Ask if any of your 

students know of other languages that are not written left to right. 

CASE STUDY: Renaissance man 

Leonardo has been called a genius and the archetypal Renaissance man; his talents 

extended far beyond his artistic works. Like many leaders of Renaissance humanism, he 

did not see a divide between science and art. His observations and inventions were 

recorded in 13,000 pages of notes and drawings, including designs for flying machines 

(some 400 years before the Wright brothers‘ first success), plant studies, war machinery, 

anatomy and architecture. His ideas were mainly theoretical explanations, laid out in 

exacting detail, but they were rarely experimental. One of his last commissioned works 

was a mechanical lion that could walk and open its chest to reveal a bouquet of lilies. 

Figure No. 7: 

39 

Figure No. 8: 

Do you think that Leonardo da Vinci can be rightly regarded as a Renaissance 

man? 

Show Video -6 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pdDFl7q-vyg&feature=related 

Interest in mathematics meant that mathematical perspectives became possible in works 

by artists such as Brunelleschi, Masolino and Masaccio. In their paintings, two




dimensional spaces are rendered as three through mathematically precise positioning of 

planes and angles. 

Similarly, the world of science was informed by the Aristotelian idea that understanding 

the natural world required systematic observation, experience and the careful study of 

nature. Discovery in the Aristotelian view ultimately meant the uncovering of precise 

mathematical structures beneath the appearance of physical events and phenomena. 

In Raphael's painting, The School of Athens, the key mathematicians and philosophers 

Pythagoras, Euclid, Plato and Aristotle are portrayed with the symbols of their work, 

while the Renaissance artist and sculptor Michelangelo works a little apart from the 

central characters. Raphael's symbolism is obvious: the Renaissance artist, he appears to 

say in this painting, is deeply rooted in the mathematical and philosophical heritage of 

Classical Greece and the boundaries between scholarship, art, science, mathematics are in 

extricable inter twined. 

Activity-8 

Renaissance Research Project- What is a Renaissance man? 

1. Students must form the definition of Renaissance Man. 

2. Research one of the Renaissance men or women (Leonardo da vinci, Isabella 

d’Este, etc.) 

3. Give reasons as to why they qualify for the same. 

4. Have them choose a modern day person who they think fits their definition of a 

Renaissance Man. Give reasons for the same. 

5. Have them present their ideas in a simple folder. 

40




Activity-9 

Invention Interview 

Students investigate the inventions of the Renaissance era: pendulum clocks, printing, 

eyeglasses, lenses, musket, rudder, wallpaper, the flush toilet (aka a water closet), air pump, 

barometer, thermometer, and portable timepiece. 

Have the students "interview" one or more of the inventions above. Have him/her take a 

picture of the invention and ask questions of the invention: 

What are you? 

Who invented you? 

When were you invented? 

How do you make live better? 

Where were you invented? 

SOME IMPORTANT INVENTIONS 

Submarine-. Although it was, Cornelius van Drebbel who invented the submarine in the year 

1624; the design of submarine was created by Leonardo Da Vinci. 

Mechanical Clock - The earliest design of mechanical clock incorporated a drum containing 

mercury and which was driven by weights. The mercury passed through holes present in the 

compartments and thereby controlled the rate at which drum movement took place. 

Measurement of day time in a 24 hour cycle became possible after the invention of this clock. 

Eyeglasses- Salvino D'Armatodegli Armati from Italy is credited with making wearable 

eyeglasses in 1284. 

Microscope-.The fact that placing one glass behind other increases their magnifying power 

lead to the development of compound microscope by Hans Janssen. 

Have the students use the poster board and markers to display his/her summary of the 

interviews. 

They would require the following things: 

o A camera 

o Poster board 

o Markers 

Use Worksheet No.10 

41




Leonardo da Vinci 

Leonardo da Vinci lived around 1500 in Italy. In the 15th and 16th century 

mathematicians were also painters. Leonardo made a living with what would nowadays 

be the work of a mathematician, painter, architect and engineer. He painted many 

beautiful and peaceful pictures, and at the same time he designed war machines. 

With the rediscovery of ancient Greek works, scientists adopted the Greek idea that the 

nature can be described best through mathematics. Their way of describing nature was to 

paint it in a way which gives the observer the same impression as the scene in real life 

does. 

This lead to a revolution in painting, to a new style in which the main tool was geometry. 

The mathematicians of the Renaissance created a whole new system, the system of 

perspective which is still taught in art school today. 

The Renaissance painters decided to concentrate on what you can see with one eye. Our 

impression of depth comes through the slightly different point of view of our two eyes. 

The painters compensated this by shading and by using a gradual diminution in the 

intensity of colors depending on the distance. 

The study of light was basic to their new technique. They imagined rays extending from 

the body they were observing toward one of their eyes. In their imagination they could 

put a piece of paper between the eye and the object. The rays would then pierce through 

the paper. Using this method they could get the important points for the proper 

perspective on the paper. 

Among the works of Leonardo, the Mona Lisa is the most famous and most parodied 

portrait and The Last Supper the most reproduced religious painting of all time. 

Nevertheless, these few works, together with his notebooks, which contain drawings, 

scientific diagrams, and his thoughts on the nature of painting, compose a contribution to 

later generations of artists rivalled only by that of his contemporary, Michelangelo 

42

Where was the Mona Lisa Painted? 

Giorgio Vasari, an art historian 




DO YOU KNOW? 

contemporary with the Italian Renaissance, 

suggests that the Mona Lisa is a portrait of 

Mona Lisa del Giocondo, the wife of a 

Florentine businessman. Many scholars, 

like Vasari, believe that Leonardo da Vinci 

painted much of the Mona Lisa in 

Florence. 

The background portions of the Mona Lisa 

may have been painted in Milan, while Da 

Vinci was vacationing in the area. 

It is believed that it took Da Vinci three years and four months to complete the Mona 

Lisa. 

43




Answer key to Worksheets 

WORKSHEET NO: 1 (Solutions) 

Ans. 1. a. As much scientific advancement was made in the renaissance period, this has 

given rise to the theory of Euro-centric view. There was growth of different disciplines in 

science that are recognisable today. This view is incorrect as in the earlier periods 

Mesopotamians, Chinese; Mayans had made important contributions to the development of 

science. Arab scholars had rediscovered ancient works and added their own conclusions. 

Ans. b. When the Ottomans sacked Byzantine Empire and captured Constantinople, in 1453, 

many scholars fled to Europe, bringing texts and knowledge with them. The European 

thinkers began to receive information and knowledge from outside Europe. In Spain, unrest 

and change in the constant battle between the Moors and the Christians saw many academics 

flee to Europe, landing in the great Italian city-states of Florence and Padua, amongst others. 

This led to revival of ancient learning. 

Ans. 2. 

a. Renaissance- Rebirth or revival of interest ancient classical learning. 

b. Humanism -A system of thought that rejects religious beliefs and centres on humans and 

their values, capacities, and worth. A cultural and intellectual movement of the Renaissance 

that emphasized secular concerns as a result of the rediscovery and study of the literature, art, 

and civilization of ancient Greece and Rome. 

c. Geo- centric view –Earth is the centre of the universe and all planets including sun move 

around it. 

Ans.: 3. In Ptolemy‘s version of the solar system, the Earth was the centre of not only the 

solar system, but the entire universe. The Ptolemaic model accounted for the apparent 

motions of the planets in a very direct way, by assuming that each planet moved on a small 

sphere or circle, called an epicycle that moved on a larger sphere or circle, called a deferent. 

The stars, it was assumed, moved on a celestial sphere around the outside of the planetary 

spheres. 

Worksheet No. 2 

Renaissance Quest- (Solution) 

Across 

3. Italian city which became the scientific centre -- PADUA 

5. Ancient scholar whose work was rediscovered---- GALEN 

8. Spirit that drove the Renaissance scientists ----- CURIOUSITY 

Down 

1. Played a crucial role in the rise of science ------- MATHEMATICS 

2. First person to dissect human body-------- VESALIUS 

44




4. Most important invention ------- TELESCOPE 

6. Patron of the Royal Society of London -------- CHARLES II 

7. Ptolemy's theory about the universe ---------- GEOCENTRIC 

WORKSHEET No. 3 (Solution) 

Ans. 1 According to Aristotle the entire physical universe was centred on humankind. 

Gravity was believed to be the desire for all objects to be at the centre of the earth. Every 

object was eager to move closer to its ―natural‖ home hence acceleration. According to him 

each object moves to its natural place which is its home e.g., Fire moves upward, heavy 

objects move downwards and rivers move down to sea. 

Ans.2 Galileo attempted an experiment and dropped two balls of different weights off of the 

tower of Pisa. Galileo believed that the balls would hit the ground at the same time, which 

was different Aristotle‘s view that heavier objects fall faster than lighter ones. Galileo 

reported that the lighter ball originally fell faster and then the heavier ball caught up. They 

both hit the ground at almost the same time. Galileo claimed that without air resistance, the 

balls would hit the ground at the same time. 

Ans.3.As Scholars travelled to the University of Padua in Italy it became the scientific centre 

of Europe. Nearly every great scientist of the time was in some way associated with Padua 

and its university. Padua was the home of Copernicus during the 16th century and Galileo 

and William Harvey in the 17th century. 

Ans.4 Earlier scholars depended upon ancient authoritative works and followed it blindly. 

They held debates to interpret these texts and compared the various texts and came out with 

conclusions. 

Renaissance thinkers driven by the spirit of curiosity and mathematical approach rejected the 

authority of ancient texts. They experimented and came up with new theories. For example 

Galileo proved Aristotle wrong by conducting an experiment to prove his theory of motion. 

In this way they challenged the authority of Catholic Church also and were repressed by the 

church for holding views contradictory to the church. 

Ans.5.Christian Theology was associated with scientific beliefs of the ancient authors. In the 

middle ages, the main purpose of science was that it offered a possibility of a better 

understanding of the working's of God. They thought that material world (thanks to Aristotle) 

was made up of four elements: earth, air, fire and water. This notion of four elements gave 

rise to the idea of alchemy. The four elements combined in the human body to create the four 

humours: blood, phlegm, yellow bile, and black bile. People in the middle ages, followed the 

teaching of the Greek astronomer, Ptolemy (c.85 - 165 AD). The Ptolemaic system put the 

earth in the centre of everything.The Roman Catholic Church absorbed Aristotle's scientific 

methods and Ptolemy's model into its own doctrine. They supported Ptolemy's Solar System, 

the geocentric model. 

45




Galileo became the next challenger to the centric views of Christianity, building upon the 

views of Copernicus. He spent the last years of his life, from 1634 to 1642, under house 

arrest, labelled a dangerous maverick. 

WORKSHEET NO. 4 (Solution) 

This worksheet aims at developing thinking skills. 

Ans. 1.Printing helped in spread of ideas in a cheaper way and this enabled more people to 

read and gather information. The knowledge that they gained helped in not only improving 

the quality of their life but also made them come across new ideas. They could not read 

earlier many ancient works as they did not know Latin and Greek but now the printed book 

was available in their mother tongue. This enhanced their thinking capacity. 

Ans. 2.With more and more books being published, people felt the need to learn to read and 

write as they did not want to miss out on the new ideas and their quest for knowledge 

encouraged them to become literate. They also wanted to express their own views for which 

they began to write. The interest in writing led to new experiments and new form of literature 

came up. 

Ans.3.Earlier when the books were handwritten, very few people had access to information. 

As everyone could not get to read, they depended upon the information provided by the few 

elites who read these books. Hence as they were dependent on others to know any kind of 

information, the information given to them may or may not be correct. This made them 

believe in superstitions and discouraged scientific thinking among them. With the advent of 

print, ideas could spread fast and people could read on their own and develop their own 

understanding of various issues. All this improved the quality of their life. 

Ans. 4.Printing press did bring around a revolution and helped in dissemination of ideas very 

fast. It brought around the scientific revolution without which Internet would not have been 

possible. Internet does help us to get within seconds any information that we need. Any 

information that we want can also be shared very fast through it. But it has some limitations- 

all the information that is available may not be accurate. It may not be sometimes suitable for 

us and sometimes mislead us. 

Ans 5. The rise of printed works did not become immediately popular. It was suggested that 

for setting up a printing press a license was required from the Catholic Church. But this idea 

was rejected. 

In the beginning even some nobles refused to have printed books in their libraries, thinking 

that to do so would sully their valuable hand copied manuscripts. Similar resistance was later 

encountered in much of the Islamic world, where calligraphic traditions were extremely 

important, and also in the Far East. 

46




Ans 6. Knowledge came closer to the hands of the people, since printed books could be sold 

for a fraction of the cost of illuminated manuscripts. There were also more copies of each 

book available, so that more people could discuss them. Within a half century, the entire 

library of "classical" knowledge had been printed on the new presses. 

Since printing techniques were available, it made the task of sending the old research 

still safe in hand written texts to scholars living distant countries. Scientific thinkers such 

as Leonardo da Vinci, Nicolaus Copernicus, Galileo and Johannes Kepler attempted to 

refine earlier thought on astronomy. 

The printing press was also a factor in the establishment of a community of scientists who 

could easily communicate their discoveries through the establishment of widely 

disseminated scholarly journals, helping to bring on the scientific revolution. 

The printing press was an important step towards the democratization of knowledge. 

Within fifty or sixty years of the invention of the printing press, the entire classical canon 

had been reprinted and widely promulgated throughout Europe Now that more people had 

access to knowledge both new and old, more people could discuss these works. 

Print media led to the scientific revolution. In 1543 Copernicus wrote De revolutionibus, 

a work that placed the sun at the centre of the universe and the planets in order around it; 

his work was an attempt to revise the earlier writings of Ptolemy. 

Galileo's most famous invention was an accurate telescope through which he observed the 

heavens; he recorded his findings in Sideriusnuncius [starry messenger]. 

Tycho Brahe gave an accurate estimate of planetary positions and refuted the Aristotelian 

theory that placed the planets within crystal spheres. 

Kepler was the first astronomer to suggest that planetary orbits were elliptical or oval 

shaped. 

Ans 7. Latin was replaced as the language of most published works by the vernacular 

language of each area, increasing the variety of published works. This rise in importance of 

national languages as opposed to pan-European. Latin is cited as one of the causes of the rise 

of nationalism in Europe. 

Ans. 1. 


Copernican theory is of great importance in the history of human knowledge. Many 

authors suggest that only a few other persons have exerted a comparable influence on 

human culture in general and on science in particular. Copernicus‘ theory had a great deal 

of scientific importance. His work affected religion as well as science, dogma as well as 

freedom of scientific inquiry. 

But a comparison of his work with the Almagest shows that Copernicus was in many 

ways a Renaissance scientist rather than a revolutionary, because he followed Ptolemy's 

methods and even his order of presentation which was similar to Ptolemy‘s. 

47




There are some earlier examples of heliocentric theories like that of Phallus and 

Aristarchus which had influenced Copernicus. 

Nonetheless, Copernicus' rank as a scientist is often compared with that of Galileo 

Copernicus' concept marked a scientific revolution in contrast with Aristotle's system, 

which placed much more importance on the derivation of knowledge through the senses 

the publication of his De revolutionibusorbiumcoelestium is often taken to be the 

beginning of the Scientific Revolution. 

Ans. 2. 

The transition between these two theories i.e. Copernicus and galleries theories met much 

resistance, not only from Christian theologians, who were reluctant to accept a theory that 

seemed to contradict certain Bible passages, but also from those who saw geocentrism as an 

accepted consensus that could not be subverted by a new, weakly justified theory. 

Copernicus' work contradicted then-accepted religious dogma: it could be inferred that there 

was no need of an entity (God) that granted a soul, power and life to the World and to 

human beings — science could explain everything that was attributed to Him. 

The work was finished in 1530 but Copernicus did not send it for publication. Finally in 

1541, his pupil Rhaticus was given permission by Copernicus to take the work for 

publication. 

Copernicus' work was eventually published in 1543. It is said that he received the first copy 

on 24th May the day he died. 

His work was put in the Index of Forbidden Books in 1611 and not taken out until around 

1835. The Index was a list of books put out by the Roman Catholic Church that they 

considered immoral, impious or dangerous. 

Ans.3. Early traces of a heliocentric model are found in several Vedic Sanskrit texts 

composed in ancient India such as the Vedas, Aitareya Brahmana and Shatapatha Brahmana. 

Philolaus (4th century BC) a Greek philosopher/scientist, contemporary of Socrates was the 

precursor of Copernicus in moving the earth from the centre of the cosmos and making it a 

planet, but in Philolaus' system it does not orbit the sun but rather the central fire. 

Aristarchus was an ancient Greek astronomer and mathematician who presented the first 

known model that placed the Sun at the centre of the known universe with the Earth 

revolving around it (see Solar system). He was influenced by Philolaus of Croton, but he 

identified the "central fire" with the Sun, and put the other planets in their correct order of 

distance around the Sun. 

Aryabhata in India anticipated Copernicus' discoveries by over 1,000 years and formulated a 

heliocentric model in which the Earth was taken to be spinning on its axis and the periods of 

the Earth and the planets were given with respect to a stationary Sun. 

48




The 14th-century Arab astronomer Ibn al-Shatir developed mathematical techniques similar 

to those used by Copernicus. Copernicus cited Aristarchus and Philolaus in an early 

manuscript of his book. It is possible that Copernicus might have been influenced by them 

Ans.: 4 

A. Padua - An important centre of learning. Almost all the renaissance scientists had studied 

here. 

B. Florence – Centre of Humanism 

C. Pisa- Place where Galileo conducted his experiment of motion. 


+ E + + + + + I + + S + + + + 

+ + H + + + + C + U + + + + + 

+ + + A + + + N C + + + + + + 

+ + + + R H + I R E L P E K + 

+ + + + A B N V G + + + + + + 

+ + + R + R + A + A + + + + + 

+ + V + E + + D + + L + + + + 

+ E + P + + + O + + + I + + + 

Y + O + + + + D + + + + L N + 

+ C + + + + + R + + + + + E + 

+ + + + + + + A + + + + + W O 

+ + + G U T E N B E R G + T + 

+ + + + + + + O + + + + + O + 

+ + + + + + + E + + + + + N + 

+ + + + + + + L + + + + + + + 

(Over, Down, Direction) 

BRAHE (6, 5, NW) 

COPERNICUS (2, 10, NE) 

GALILEO (9, 5, SE) 

GUTENBERG (4, 12, E) 

HARVEY (6, 4, SW) 

KEPLER (14, 4, W) 

LEONARDO-DA-VINCI (8, 15, N) 

NEWTON (14, 9, S) 

49

Name of the 

scientist 

BRAHE 

COPERNICUS 

GALILEO 

GUTENBERG 




Discover the Scientist- Complete the chart 

Main development 

or change 

Gave an accurate 

estimate of planetary 

positions. 

Challenged 

Aristotle‘s theory that 

planets were placed 

within crystal 

spheres. 

Known for 

observations of 

comets and 

supernovas 

Influenced/ 

enabled by: 

Naked eye 

observations. 

Heliocentric theory Study of 

ancient Greek 

works 

Laws of motion and 

concept of friction 

Invented Telescope 

Inspired by 

hanging 

lanterns in 

church led to 

formulate idea 

of pendulum 

Made 

telescope 

using a spy 

glass which he 

received from 

a sea merchant 

Printing Press Working as a 

goldsmith, he 

came with the 

idea of moulds 

to cast letters. 

He may have 

drawn 

inspiration 

from 

woodblock 

printing 

developed by 

the Chinese. 

50 

Why was this 

progression? 

Although he did 

not believe in 

heliocentric 

theory, Brahe 

came out with 

important facts 

about comet. 

It challenged the 

age old belief of 

geo-centric 

world. 

Helped in the 

invention of 

mechanical 

clocks 

Telescope helped 

in the 

observation of 

stars and planets 

and led to the 

formulation of 

new theories. 

Brought around 

an immense 

change in the 

way books were 

produced. From 

handwritten 

manuscripts 

which took 

tremendous time 

books could be 

printed fast. 

Enabled what further 

developments? 

Based on his findings 

Kepler came out with his 

three laws of motion and 

also prepared a star 

catalogue. 

Helped other scientists to 

come out with new 

theories of gravitation , 

motion, etc. 

Copernicus‘ theory could 

be proved right with the 

invention of telescope. 

Helped other scientists 

also in the study of 

heavenly objects. 

Invention of printing led 

to scientific revolution. 

Ideas could spread fast 

with the help of printed 

books. 

HARVEY Circulation of blood Galen‘s Challenged the Many did not accept his

KEPLER 

LEONARDO- 

DA-VINCI 

NEWTON 

Three laws of 

planetary motion 

Mathematician, 

painter, architect and 

engineer. 

Law of universal 

gravitation 




theories were 

challenged by 

Harvey. 

Dissections 

helped Harvey 

to construct 

his theories. 

Drew his 

inspiration 

from Tycho 

Brahe. 

Worked 

further on his 

theories and 

made new 

discoveries. 

Mathematical 

and scientific 

perspective 

helped in 

developing a 

new 

perspective in 

art. 

Worked 

further on the 

theories of 

Galileo and 

Kepler 

51 

belief that blood 

was formed in 

the liver and the 

various parts 

consumed the 

blood. 

Harvey 

demonstrated 

that blood 

circulates in the 

body. 

It was an 

improvement on 

Galileo‘s theory 

of motion. 

The laws also 

supported the 

Copernican 

theory. 

Perspective in 

painting- three 

dimensional on a 

two dimensional 

surface. 

Gave a rational 

explanation for 

gravity. 

Came up with 

universal law of 

gravitation 

which became a 

basis for future 

development. 


People of the Scientific Revolution 

Complete the following table: 

Name Country Achievement 

theories but later 

discoveries proved him 

right. His theories are still 

relevant in the field of 

medicine. 

Brought around a 

revolution in the field of 

astronomy and made way 

for future 

developments.(Newton) 

Creation of beautiful 

masterpieces in art which 

still inspires all the artists 

even today 

Has built the base for 

future development.




Newton England Universal law of gravitation, developed 

calculus. 

Galileo Italy Invention of telescope. 

Harvey England 

52 

Circulation of blood 

Copernicus Poland Heliocentric theory 

People of the Scientific Revolution 

On the given Map locate and name the country associated with the following Renaissance 

scientists- 

A. Copernicus –Poland 

B. Vesalius- Belgium 

C. Harvey- England 

D. Newton- England 

E. Kepler- Germany 

F. Galileo- Italy

C & D 

England 




E 

Germany 

B-Belgium 

53 

F 

Italy 

A 

Poland





Ans. 1. 

Although Vesalius had begun his career as a Galenist, his hands-on experience led 

him to believe that Galen's descriptions of the human body were based on dissections of pigs, 

dogs, and other animals rather than humans, a procedure that was prohibited during Galen's 

time. 

Vesalius compared Galen's anatomical texts with his own observations made during 

dissections.As he grew more familiar with the human body, Vesalius began to notice that 

here and there, Galen had made mistakes. The human breastbone is made of three segments; 

Galen said seven. Galen claimed that the humerus (the upper arm bone) was the longest bone 

in the body, save only the femur; Vesalius saw that the tibia and fibula of the shin pushed the 

humerus to fourth. 

Ans: 2.Over the centuries, Galen‘s work was considered an authority. Vesalius began to 

suspect that there was something seriously wrong with his work. Vesalius widened his scope, 

dissecting animals, and reading over Galen‗s work more carefully. The source of the mistake 

dawned on him. Galen had never dissected a human. The traditions of Rome did not allow 

such a practice, and so Galen had had to make do with dissecting animals and examining his 

patients during surgery. Instead of humans, Galen was often writing about oxen or Barbary 

macaques Vesalius was able to overcome these mistakes by dissecting humans and making 

drawings and careful observations. After five years he published the findings in De 

humanicorporisfabrica (On the Structure of the Human Body), which was the most accurate 

and comprehensive anatomy textbook to date. 

Ans3. Andreas Vesalius is rightly regarded as the founder of modern human anatomy. 

Vesalius transformed the field of anatomy, as well as medicine and biology. His work De 

HumaniCorporisFabrica (On the Fabric of the Human Body) was published in1543, which 

discredited Galen's views. He found that the circulation of blood resolved from pumping of 

the heart. He also assembled the first human skeleton from cutting open cadavers. He kept 

meticulous drawings of his work for his students in the form of six large illustrated 

anatomical tables which he later published under the title Tabulae Anatomicae Sex. He 

brought out an updated version of Galen's anatomical handbook, Institutiones Anatomicae. In 

1538 he also published a letter on venesection, He published a correction of Galen's Opera 

omnia and began writing his own anatomical text. Until Vesalius pointed this out, it had gone 

unnoticed and had long been the basis of studying human anatomy. 

Ans.4. 

Vesalius carried out dissection as the primary teaching tool, handling the actual work 

himself while his students clustered around the table .He kept meticulous drawings of his 

work for his students in the form of six large illustrated anatomical tables which he later 

published under the title TabulaeAnatomicae Sixth soon built up a wealth of detailed 

anatomical diagrams, the first accurate set to be produced. Many of these were produced 

54




by commissioned artists, and were therefore of much better quality than those produced 

previously. 

These drawings have formed the basis for all future studies .Modern medicine is forever 

in debt to the efforts put forth by Vesalius and his ethic to provide the most accurate form 

of the human body. The drawings help in giving clear descriptions and unprecedented 

anatomical drawings that set a new standard for future medical books. The illustrations 

and diagrams not only act as an aid for recognition of details and to supplement the 

reader‘s possible shortage of dissection specimens. 

Vesalius‘s exceptionally detailed muscle drawings in Fabric of the Human Body changed 

the medical history for all times. Medical students can still refer back to his drawings in 

their universities as it is the best sketched view of muscles. Incredibly detailed drawings 

of muscles fill his book. 

Vesalius would not have been able to achieve all this if there had been no renaissance. 

The new scientific outlook came only with humanist education. Without the printing 

press he would not have been able to spread his ideas and findings among people. 

Ans: 5 

Vesalius‘s work corrected many religious beliefs and the finding of a previous physician 

Galen, who dissected apes because religion forbade him to dissect real human cadavers. 

Vesalius went against religious views and claimed that men and women have the same 

amount of ribs, whereas in the Bible it is written that during the night when Adam was 

asleep, God took out one of Adam‘s ribs and created Eve out of it. This claim did create a 

lot of chaos but as Vesalius had public dissections the church had to simply accept that it 

was true. 

The area that created most problems with the church for Vesalius was the nervous system 

where the church believed that the heart controls the whole body, emotion, feelings, and 

even contains the soul. Vesalius proved that all nerves come not from the heart but from 

the brain. The brain is the transmitter of sensation, motion and makes us function. He also 

knew that the idea of the heart containing the soul was ridiculous, as it was simply an 

organ in the body like all the rest, but on this aspect he could not make his discovery as it 

would have caused him too many problems. He was also the first person to ever dissect 

brain. 

Ans: 6 

Vesalius used dissection as the primary teaching tool. He handled the actual work himself 

while his students clustered around the table. This hands-on direct observation was a huge 

break with medieval practice. He kept meticulous drawings of his work for his students in 

the form of six large illustrated anatomical tables which he later published. 

In the earlier period the teaching of anatomy was based on the classical texts like of 

Galen. Dissections were performed only on the animals and that too by a barber-surgeon 

and not by the lecturer. 

55

Ans: 7. 

Heads Tails 

Religion 

Dissection 

The role of the 

individual 




The power of the Church was 

weakening, so it could no longer 

force everyone to accept its ideas, 

e.g. that Galen was inspired by 

God, so his work was perfect 

This was now allowed, although it 

was more difficult to get hold of 

skeletons. 

Vesalius could see Galen‘s errors 

and was prepared to challenge 

accepted views. He was brave 

enough to steal skeletons for study 

and ignored those who criticised 

and opposed his work. 

Renaissance art The move towards lifelike 

Technology 

drawings helped create the art 

which brought Vesalius‘s work to 

life and showed exactly what he 

meant. 

The invention of the printing press 

helped ensure that The Fabric of 

the Human Body was quickly 

distributed, and soon became the 

basis for the study of anatomy 

across Europe. 

An enquiring 

attitude 

Vesalius encouraged his students 

to dissect bodies themselves. This 

is a good example of the 

Renaissance idea of an enquiring 

attitude. 

56

1. d 

2. c 

3. c 

4. b 

5. b 

6. d 

7. 3 

8. b 






Ans:1.Answer depends on students‘ perception and should be evaluated accordingly. 

Ans: 2 Answer depends on students‘ perception and should be evaluated accordingly. 

Ans: 3 Medieval scholars believed that the earth, as created by God, was the centre of the 

universe. According to this geocentric concept the earth was an unmoving object located in 

the centre of the universe. It was scientists and philosophers like Aristotle and Ptolemy who 

had developed this geocentric concept of the universe. According to them the moon, the sun, 

and the planets all moved in a perfectly symmetric and circular path around the earth. They 

believed in that there were seven planets along with a sphere of fixed stars. Beyond the 

sphere of fixed stars, there was Heaven. This was the geocentric idea, as God deliberately 

placed earth in the centre of the universe. These medieval views were proven to be incorrect. 

Modern scientific discoveries proved that the planets and starts revolve and gravitate around 

the Sun 

Ans: 4 According to the Roman Catholic Church Earth was placed in the centre of the 

universe. Human beings as God‘s children occupied a special placement in the Universe 

which was on Earth, and that the rest of the Universe revolved around them. They sought 

support of biblical text (truths from God) to justify their views. The texts were not direct in 

saying this but according to the Church, there were ―hints" that the Earth was not moving. 

An: 5 Scientific method is a procedure that has characterized natural science since the 17th 

century, consisting in systematic observation, measurement, and experiment, and the 

formulation, testing, and modification of hypotheses." 

The steps involved in – 

First ask a question – Do research to find an answer to the questions. Construct hypothesis. 

Next step is to experiment or test the hypothesis. Analyse the results. Repeat the steps if 

results are not satisfactory. 

57

s 

Ask a Question 

Construct hypothesis 

Analyse the results 




58 

Research and find an answer 

Experiment or test the hypothesis




ASSESSMENT RUBRICS 

Given below are some guidelines for assessment. They are closely related to the skills and 

concepts to be developed through the discipline of Social Science. Teachers can arrive at a 

grade for the task performed keeping in mind the following parameters. For each task, the 

specific learning objectives have been given in the worksheets. 

Criteria Excellent(A+,A) Satisfactory(B+,B) Needs Improvement 

(C,D) 

Knowledge 

and 

understanding 

of the content 

Demonstrates detail and 

in depth discussion of a 

chosen topic at a level of 

relative complexity. 

Content is relevant to the 

chosen topic and displays 

relevant research. 

Language Employs complex 

structure and speech. 

Conveys thoughts 

meaningfully and 

systematically. 

Analytical 

skill 

Participation 

in Group 

Discussion 

Logical 

reasoning 

Interprets accurately and 

appropriately in new 

contexts. Draws well 

supported conclusion, 

integrates ideas or 

develops solutions that are 

clear and coherent. 

Participates fully; fully 

gives relevant facts; 

Courteous and listens to 

others; Attempts to get 

others to participate; Does 

not monopolize the 

proceedings. 

Has strong reasoning 

ability: is capable of 

solving complex or 

abstract problems; has 

ability to make inferences; 

integrates knowledge and 

applies to new situations. 

Team work Is sociable, team oriented, 

collaborative, enjoys 

working towards a shared 

goal. 

Content is relevant to 

the chosen topic. 

Reflects some research 

work done. 

Conveys thoughts 

meaningfully and 

systematically. 

Sometimes uses 

complex structure and 

speech. 

Interprets accurately 

and in new contexts 

sometimes. 

Participates fully. 

Listens to others; Gives 

relevant facts; Gets 

disturbed/withdraws 

when criticized. 

Reasons out his/her 

arguments well; can 

make inferences needs 

clues to apply 

knowledge to new 

situations. 

Is sociable, sometimes 

prefers to work 

independently. 

59 

Content is sometimes 

relevant to the chosen topic. 

Mostly copied from outside 

source. 

Is ambiguous and vague. 

Does not interpret, simply 

explains. 

Needs much persuasion 

from teachers to participate; 

Gets agitated when stopped 

in between. 

Finds it difficult to reason 

out. Needs strong teacher 

support to apply knowledge 

to a new context. 

Collaborates occasionally, 

prefers to work 

independently.




Criteria Excellent(A+,A) Satisfactory(B+,B) Needs Improvement 

(C,D) 

Creative 

expression 

Demonstrates a wide 

range of creativity 

versatility imagination 

highlights the essence, 

puts ideas in proper 

context. 

Originality Uses his/her ideas, gives 

his own view points and 

relates it to contemporary 

time‘s in depth thinking. 

Some hesitation in 

expression meaning is 

clear always. 

With support teachers 

uses his view points and 

relates it to new 

situation. 

60 

Some hesitation, Meaning 

is not always clear. 

Cannot relate to new 

situations without support 

from teachers.

References and Web Links 




http://www.wwnorton.com/college/history/ralph/resource/italy.htm 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Tmnt_7.jpg 

en.wikipedia.org 

mathsforeurope.digibel.be 

http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Galileo.arp.300pix.jpg 

http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Tel_galileo.jpg 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Brahe_kepler.jpg 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:NewtonsPrincipia.jpg 

http://en.wikipedia.org./wiki/William_Harvey 

leonardo-da-vinci-biography.com 

geekpreneur.com 

http://www.healthguidance.org/entry/6341/1/The-Greek-Physician-Galen.html 

http://www.discoveriesinmedicine.com/General-Information-and- 

Biographies/Galen.html#ixzz1wVLjt2x8 

http://www.mos.org/sln/Leonardo/LeonardoRighttoLeft.html 

http://www.rcmahar.org/rstewart/interactive-notebook-2/ 

http://www.anselm.edu/homepage/dbanach/timel.htm 

Show PPT on inventions of Renaissance to create interest. 

mrkash.com/activities/renaissanceinventions.ppt 

Video No. 1- Renaissance Science 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eKnS_4Mfwe8&feature=related 

Video No. 2 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Kv-U5tjNCY 

Video No. 3 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cTOJRU02QoY&feature=related for 

introduction 

Video No 4. Keplers laws http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5a2mcE-tzKE 

Video No 5. Who was Andrew Vesalius? 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VNYUsc4moLE 

Video No. 6 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pdDFl7q-vyg&feature=related 

61

ANNEXURE-I 




Inventions of the Renaissance 

Clocks 

The first mechanical clock was invented in the early 1300's. With this invention time began to be 

measured in hours (24 hours equaling a day). 

Galileo, an Italian scientist, discovered the pendulum in 1581. The pendulum greatly improved the constant 

movement of the hands or bell of a clock. The average error with the pendulum varied only by seconds each 

day. Before this the error was from 10 to 15 minutes a day. 

During the 1600's the metallic gear, or toothed wheel, and the use of the screw in assembling the clocks were 

first used. 

Eyeglasses or Spectacles 

Historians are not certain who invented the first spectacles. In the late thirteen century around 1287 paintings 

first appeared with people wearing or holding spectacles. From these paintings we know that spectacles were 

invented in Italy. 

Around 1300 the Venetian Glassmaker's Guild made regulations on glasses. They made it illegal for glasses to 

be made with glass lenses in place of the more valuable rock crystal. 

In 1352 eyeglasses were only worn by the well educated, very rich noblemen or well read Italian clergy. At this 

time a monk named Tommaso da Modena documented the church had painted a fresco with an older churchman 

wearing glasses while looking over an old manuscript. 

In 1456 Gutenberg invented the printing press. This created a widespread of books. Once people owned books 

reading glasses began to be seen in the hands of the common people. These glasses were made with a variety of 

materials including wood, lead, copper, bone, leather, and even horn. 

In 1623 the Spanish invented the first graded lenses. This improved the trial and error method of trying on 

different lenses until one pair helped the wearer to see better. 

Flush Toilet 

Sir John Harrington, godson to Queen Elizabeth, made the first flush toilet for himself and his godmother in 

1596. He was teased by his friends and never made another one although he and Queen Elizabeth continued to 

use the one he did make. 

Two hundred years later Alexander Cummings reinvented the flush toilet more commonly called the water 

closet. Cummings invented the strap. The strap was a sliding valve between the bowl and the trap. 

Two years later in 1777 Samuel Prosser applied for and received a patent for a plunger closet. A year later 

Joseph Bramah invented a valve at the bottom of the bowl that worked on a hinge. 

Gunpowder 

Gunpowder was invented around 850 A.D. The Chinese used gunpowder in the early 1230's to launch fireworks 

and in weapons. 

Gunpowder was probably used for the first time in Europe during the Battle of Crécy in 1346. Historians do not 

know if this invention was carried from China to Europe or in The Europeans invented it independently. 

The invention of gunpowder greatly changed the way men fought. The Medival knight could not defend himself 

against firearms and cannons. Knights were replaced by the foot soldier who carried firearms. 

Between 1670 and 1729 William Congreve developed rockets to use during wars. 

In the seventeenth century the gun was developed by the English and Dutch armies. 

62

Lenses ( Microscope and Telescope) 




The first useful microscope was developed in the Netherlands between 1590 and 1608. Three different eyeglass 

makers are given credit for this invention. The inventor was probably Hans Lippershey who developed the first 

real telescope, or Hans Janssen and his son Zacharias. 

Galileo helped popularize the microscope in the early 17th century. After Robert Hooke published his 

book Micrographia in 1665 men began to take the microscope seriously. 

Many people feared the microscope until the 19th century when improvements made to the lenses created a 

clear image. At this time many advances in medicine and hygiene could be made with the microscope. 

In 1608 a Dutch eyeglass maker named Hans Lippershey made the first telescope. In 11668 Isaac Newton 

improved the telescope by adding mirrors instead of lenses. 

Galileo was the first person to use the telescope to study the heavens. He made many discoveries including that 

the moon had huge valleys and craters. He also discovered four moons orbiting Jupiter. Galileo discovered the 

planets revolve around the sun and not around the earth. His discoveries were printed in a book called Starry 

Messenger in 1610. 

Printing Press 

The printing press was invented in 1436 by a German named Johannes Gutenberg. Gutenberg was a goldsmith. 

Before the printing press was invented, monks had to copy everything by hand. Hand written books took months 

or years to hand print. This made books very expensive. 

Ink, movable type, paper, and the press had been invented. Gutenberg creatively combined these inventions to 

devise the printing press. Gutenberg used the printing press to put ink on hundreds of individual letters. These 

letters were engraved in slabs of brass. These letters were arranged in words, sentences, then paragraphs. After 

this stage as many copies as needed could be made quickly. When a different page was need the individual 

letters had to be completely rearranged. 

The Bible was the first book to be mass produced. The Gutenberg Bible was also known as the 42 line Bible 

from the number of lines on each page. It was published in 1456 in Mainz, Germany. 

Submarine 

The first underwater warship was developed by Leonardo da Vinci. da Vinci kept his plans secret because he 

didn't want to make war any more terrifying than it already was. 

In 1578 William Borne began drawing plans for a submarine. His submarine was never built. Borne's submarine 

worked by using extra tanks which could be filled so the submarine would submerge. The tanks would be 

emptied for the submarine to surface. 

In 1620 Cornelis Drebbel, a Dutch inventor, built a leather covered rowboat with oars. The oars came out 

through watertight seals. Twelve people could ride in the submarine. Drebbel was an engineer who worked for 

the British navy. Drebbel was the first to discuss the problem of air replenishment while the submarine 

submerged. Drebbel's submarine could only go down about fifteen feet. It could stay underwater for a couple of 

hours. 

Wallpaper 

In 1496 the first paper mill came into operation in England. English artist soon make wallpaper decorated with 

hand painted designs, stencils, and wood-block prints. For the next 200 years England was a large producer of 

wallpaper for Europe. 

Before wallpaper was invented only the wealthy people could afforded to decorate the wall of their castles. They 

used woven tapestries. The tapestries kept the cold castle walls warmer. The designs woven into the tapestries 

told stories. The lower class hung cheaper painted cloth imitations for the walls of their homes. 

Technology 

63




The most important technological innovation of the time was the printing press. The 

technology to make this possible was introduced from China in the 1300s. By the 1400s, 

movable type was being used in Europe as Johann Gutenberg began printing the Bible in 

everyday language. Soon millions of books were in circulation. This invention led to a 

higher literacy rate among people, and helped with the spreading of Renaissance Ideas. 

ANNEXURE-II 

The Scientific Revolution 

Important Terms and People 

Terms 

Aristotelian System- The Aristotelian system was the broad term used to refer to the traditional view of the 

world expressed during the age of Aristotle by the ancients, and maintained and modified by the Church to fit 

with religious doctrine throughout the Middle Ages. The Aristotelian system included accepted truths about 

biology, physics, and most notably, astronomy. Many of these "truths" were proven wrong during the Scientific 

Revolution. 

Doctrine of Uniformity - The doctrine of uniformity was an enormous step in the quest to integrate physics and 

astronomy. Developed by Galileo in his Dialogue on the Two Chief Systems of the World, the doctrine of 

uniformity states that corresponding causes produce corresponding affects throughout the universe. Thus, 

terrestrial physics may be used to explain the motion of heavenly bodies. 

Geocentric - The term geocentric describes the theory on the organization of the universe presented by Ptolemy 

of ancient Greece, and incorporated into the Aristotelian system, which claims that the earth is the center of the 

solar system and that the sun and other planets orbit around it. 

Heliocentric - The term heliocentric describes the correct theory, first posed by Nicolas Copernicus, that the 

Earth is simply one of several planets which orbit the sun. 

Inquisition - The Inquisition was the section of the Catholic Church devoted to the maintenance of Church 

doctrine by the discovery and punishment of heretics. It was the Inquisition which warned Galileo to abandon 

his theories after the publication of Messenger of the Heavens, and the Inquisition which committed him to 

house arrest after his publication of Dialogue on the Two Chief Systems of the World. 

Kepler's Laws of Planetary Motion - Though Johannes Kepler was unable to conceive a working model of the 

universe, he did contribute the three laws of planetary motion, all of which were at least somewhat accurate, and 

all of which were used extensively by Isaac Newton in his work. They are: 1. The planets move around the sun 

not in circles, but ellipses. 2. Planets do not move uniformly, but in such a manner that a line drawn from a 

planet to the sun sweeps out an equal area of the ellipse of its orbit in equal time, even if the ellipse is not 

perfectly centered on the sun. 3. The squares of the periods of the planets' orbits are proportional to the cubes of 

their distances from the sun. 

Royal Society - The Royal Society of London brought together the greatest minds of the region in efforts to 

advance science through cooperation. The Royal Society of London, and other scientific societies that grew up 

in Europe during the later seventeenth century, contributed greatly to the scientific progress made during that 

period. 

Universal Gravitation - The cornerstone of Newton's explanation of the organization of the universe, the law 

of universal gravitation states that every particle of matter attracts every other particle with a force proportional 

to the product of the two masses and inversely proportional to the square of the distance between them. 

64

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