The Scientific Revolution Web Quest

The Scientific Revolution Web Quest


PLEASE READ CAREFULLY. Follow the web links EXACTLY to get information to answer the questions. You can write in your answers or you can copy and paste it into a Word document and type in your answers. You do NOT have to answer in complete sentences.

Copernicus
http://www.phy.hr/~dpaar/fizicari/xcopern.html

1. Where was Copernicus born and what did he do in his early life?
2. Besides astronomy, what did Copernicus study in school?
3. What different occupations did Copernicus engage in?
4. What was Copernicus’ Heliocentric Theory?
5. When did Copernicus reportedly receive a copy of his printed theory?

Kepler
http://galileo.rice.edu/sci/kepler.html

1. Where was Kepler born and where did he receive his education?
2. Who did he replace after serving as his assistant?
3. What was Kepler’s mother accused of being?

Galileo

http://www.lucidcafe.com/library/96feb/galileo.html

1. What invention did Galileo improve upon?
2. What did he discover with his new invention?
3. What accepted theory was he required to teach at the University of Pisa?
4. Whose theory was he exposed to at the University of Padua?
5. What was he convicted of and what was the disposition of his sentence?
6. Who was born in the year that Galileo died?

Francis Bacon
http://www.oregonstate.edu/instruct/phl302/philosophers/bacon.html

1. By today’s standards, Bacon did things at a young age.
        a. When did he enter college?
        b. When did he become a member of the House of Commons?
2. What was Bacon’s father’s role in the Queen’s court?
3. Describe Bacon’s “method.”

Rene Descartes
http://www.maths.tcd.ie/pub/HistMath/People/Descartes/RouseBall/RB_Descartes.html

1. What is the source of this account of Descartes’ life?
2. What was Descartes’ excuse for sleeping late?
3. What were Descartes’ chief contributions to mathematics?
4. Besides mathematics, what other science did Descartes delve into?

Isaac Newton
http://www.newton.cam.ac.uk/newtlife.html

1. What was Newton’s involvement with the English money system?
2. When did Isaac Newton become Sir Isaac Newton?
3. Besides his work with the law of gravity, what were Newton’s other interests?
4. What were Newton’s posthumous (after death) publications?