What did people think about science in the 16th century?

Question

what did they think of science in the 16th century

Answer 1

There was a lot of interest in science in the 16th century, though people did not always makes the same distinctions between science and superstition that we do.  Astronomy and astrology were closely linked for instance, and most people took a great interest in the effect that the stars and planets had on their lives.  They would have horoscopes cast to find out the most propitious time for any important venture in their lives.

1543 was the year that Copernicus put forward the view that the earth rotated on its axis and, with the other plantets, orbited around the sun.  This view ran counter to that of ancient philosophers, who saw the earth as a fixed centre round which the sun and other heavenly bodies revolved in seperate concentric spheres.  Other astronomers were very interested in his ideas and took them up eagerly.

There was a great interest in navigation during this period, and many devices were invented to improve the safety of ships at sea.  An improved comass, a device for taking altitudes at sea, and other improvements to navigation were made during this century.

One scientific endeavour that took up a lot of time in this century was the search for the 'philosopher's stone' which alcehmists thought would transform base metals into gold.  People continued to hope to discover a means of doing this up until the 1590s.

There were many practical discoveries made during the 16th century, in industrial and technological fields.  The coal-mining industry expanded dramtically in england during Queen Elizabeth's reign for instance, and there was a flourishign iron-smelting industry, the blast furnace was invented in this period, which made smelting a much more efficient process.

On the whole, the Elizabethans seem to have been more interested in practical matters than in abstract scientific thought.

Answer 2

most of them didnot know anything about science as we understand it.  Heck they were burning old woment because they were witches.

Answer 3

Science as we know it did not exist; it could not be allowed. It was the views of the Catholic Church that mattered in Christian nations, that is Europe. It had a settled body of teachings already 1,000 old before the start of the Renaissance and renewed interest in scientific observation.

There was a great, serious problem if one questioned the Church's teachings about the physical universe,

for example, the Church's view was that the sun traveled around the earth because the earth was the center of the universe--a view the ancient Greeks had repudiated.

If caught out in public doubting, questioning, or contradicting the Church's dogmas, ones reputation was ruined, risked trial and corporal punishment and imprisonment, or often recieved a death sentence  as an heretic.

Copernicus (himself a canon of the Church) was one of the first to study astronomy seriously, by observation and measurement, and established the sun as the center of our universe. He was punished for that work, and delayed the publication of his research until after his death. The Church then banned the book, and forbade its study.

The great schism between religion and science is rooted in the early Renaissance when scientests pursued studies regardless of Church dogma.

http://filer.case.edu/sjr16/pre20th_euro...