DBQ 1/14/11

Analyze how political, religious, and social factors, affected the work of scientists in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries.

Scientific revolution took place during the 16^th and 17^th centuries with a multitude of ground breaking discoveries. Political, religious, and social factors affected not only the works of scientists during this time period, but the way the discoveries and persons were viewed in the public eye. The scientists during this time period were often criticized and threatened for their scientific discoveries or methods. People in high political, religious, and social power affected the work of the scientists more than anything else. The negativity brought to works of scientists during the 16^th and 17^th centuries by political authority and religious officials are the very reason why the works were influential on the public during this time period.

Religious officials high in the Church affected the way the works of scientists were viewed during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. The fuss made by the Church against scientific discoveries that disagreed with their teachings is why the works became so popular. Galileo Galilei expanded on Copernicus’s idea of a heliocentric universe while the bible taught the universe revolved around Earth, or a geocentric model. An Italian monk named Giovanni Ciampoli sent a letter to Galileo in 1615 telling him he needs to differ to the Church. “It is indispensable, therefore, to remove the possibility of malignant rumors by repeatedly showing your willingness to defer to the authority of those who have jurisdiction over the human intellect in matters of the interpretation of Scripture” (Doc 3). Letters like this to Galileo made the public more interested in his discoveries, allowing them to spread through Europe. The Church tried to gain control over scientific discoveries to boil them down, but inadvertently spread them and gave them more meaning. Other religious figure heads, such as John Calvin, a French Protestant, understood the importance of scientific works and encouraged them to be shown to the public, not condemned for the selfish reasons of Church integrity (Doc 2).

During a time of religious reformation, science was able to thrive with new discoveries. Social stature was affected by the new forming of religions and religious ideas and had opened peoples mind to new things. A French monk and scientist, Marin Mersenne, wrote a letter to his noble patron in 1635 confirming that in his experiments, he found that the discoveries of Galileo were true (Doc 5). The fact that a monk, a lower building block in the Church agreed with scientific discoveries even though higher authority was against it. The negativity of high power along with the support of the common people allowed for the radical works of scientists to be fully noticed. Scientists now could experiment to try and prove these discoveries right or wrong, a social factor that affected the works of scientists greatly. Social separations between male and female also affected the work of scientists. Margaret Cavendish, a female scientist said in her book in 1666, “But I, being a woman, do fear they would soon cast me out of their schools” (Doc 9). Science was predominantly male dominated as was every major profession during this time period.