Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Illustrations
- Preface
- Acknowledgments
- Part I Something New under the Sun
- Part II Patterns of Education
- Part III Science Unbound
- 7 Infectious Curiosity I
- 8 Infectious Curiosity II
- 9 Infectious Curiosity III
- 10 Prelude to the Grand Synthesis
- 11 The Path to the Grand Synthesis
- 12 The Scientific Revolution in Comparative Perspective
- Epilogue Science, Literacy, and Economic Development
- Selected References
- Index
- References
7 - Infectious Curiosity I
Anatomy and Microbiology
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 June 2012
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Illustrations
- Preface
- Acknowledgments
- Part I Something New under the Sun
- Part II Patterns of Education
- Part III Science Unbound
- 7 Infectious Curiosity I
- 8 Infectious Curiosity II
- 9 Infectious Curiosity III
- 10 Prelude to the Grand Synthesis
- 11 The Path to the Grand Synthesis
- 12 The Scientific Revolution in Comparative Perspective
- Epilogue Science, Literacy, and Economic Development
- Selected References
- Index
- References
Summary
Our fascination with the revolutionary heliocentric hypothesis of Copernicus, carried forward by Galileo and Kepler, has led us to overlook the revolutionary discoveries tumbling out of other scientific investigations in the seventeenth century. The Copernican revolution has an additional fascination because it seems to pit a great scientific hero, Galileo, against an oppressive religious structure. But the Church outside of Italy controlled neither the press, the dissemination of telescopes, nor the exploration of nature. Neither could it suppress the anatomical or microscopic study of nature and the human body.
In this way, the workings of the omnipresent European ethos of science was operative in many fields in England and from Scandinavia to Italy on the Continent. It can be seen in medicine and in the broad range of microscopic studies that gave birth to microbial studies. This was made possible by the invention of the microscope, both single- and compound-lens versions. Likewise, significant empirical advances were made in the field of hydraulics, pneumatics, and electrical studies. All these came out of the ubiquitous scientific curiosity that we saw earlier in the Europe-wide fascination with the telescope. That curiosity had been bred in the universities and both preceded the scientific revolution and served to keep it going.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- Intellectual Curiosity and the Scientific RevolutionA Global Perspective, pp. 171 - 208Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2010