Chapter 16 Part 2

This second half of chapter 16 talks all about science as opposed to religion in the first half of the chapter. Before the Scientific Revolution, everything in European culture was centered around religion, mainly Christianity and Catholicism. Before scientists did their research, people believed that the earth was flat and that it was the center of the universe instead of the sun. A lot of mathematicians and scientists dedicated their lives to figure out the truth about the science of the earth. Nicolaus Copernicus proved that the center of the universe was the sun so he put to rest the rumor of the earth being the  center of all things. Johannes Kepler proved that not only is the sun in the center of the universe, but that all the plants revolve around it every year. Galileo Galilei created an improved telescope and discovered the many moons of the planet Jupiter. Isaac Newton made probably one of the world's most famous scientific laws, which is the law of gravity. Kepler viewed the world as a giant machine that did not require angels or even God to control everything in the world. A lot of scientists also discovered answers to a lot of questions concerning the human body. Although, the Catholic Church highly opposed the scientists taking research to discover more about the human body. A lot of scientists were forced to silence themselves or were killed because they were contradicting the teaching of the Catholic Church and they were not okay with that because for many years, religion was what answered people's questions. Newton on the other hand was a well known biblical scholar and did not see any contradictions between religion and his scientific discoveries. The church held their self proclaimed superiority by saying that no matter what the scientists may "discover," the church will always have the real ultimate answers to the ultimate questions of the people.