Foreword
Preface
List of Illustrations
PART ONE. INTRODUCTION: THE EVOLUTION AND
IMPACT OF THE SCIENTIFIC REVOLUTION
Why Did the Scientific Revolution Happen?
Aristotle, Ptolemy, and their Early Modern Defenders
Exploration and Technological Innovation
The Emergence of the Scientific Revolution
The New Science
The Mechanical Philosophy
Newtonian Science
Reconciling, Science, Religion, and Magic
Spreading the Scientific Revolution
Conclusion: The Long Road to Acceptance
PART TWO: THE DOCUMENTS
1. Nicolaus Copernicus, On the Revolution of the Heavenly
Orbs, 1543
2. Francis Bacon, The Advancement of Learning, 1605
3. Francis Bacon, The Great Instauration, 1620
4. Galileo Galilei, The Starry Messenger, 1610
5. William Harvey, On The Motion Of The Heart And Blood
In Animals, 1628
6. René Descartes, Discourse on Method, 1637
7. Robert Boyle, New Experiments Physico-Mechanical, 1660
8. Robert Boyle, A Free-Enquiry into the Vulgarly Received
Notion of Nature, 1686
9. Anthony van Leeuwenhoek, Of the Formation of the Teeth in
Several Animals; the Structure of the Human Teeth
Explained…., 1683
10. Isaac Newton, Letter to Philosophical Transactions of the
Royal Society, 1672
11. Isaac Newton, Selections from Principia, 1687
12. Isaac Newton, Thirty-first Query to the Opticks, 1718
13. Christiaan Huygens, The Celestial Worlds Discovered, 1698
14. Maria Sibylla Merian, Letter of 1702
15. Maria Sibylla Merian, Butterfly, Hawk-moth, Caterpillar
16. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society, 1713-14
17. Jean Desaguliers, Physico-Mechanical Lectures, 1717
18. Benjamin Franklin, Experiments and Observations on
Electricity Made in Philadelphia in America, 1751
Appendixes
A Chronology of the Scientific Revolution (1514-1752)
Questions for Consideration
Selected Bibliography
Index