The Renaissance was a time of rebirth in Europe. The rediscovering of the learning and art from ancient Greece and Rome sparked new ideas and inspired people in Europe to think about the world in new and different ways. Several discoveries and inventions were developed during this era. One big discovery of the Renaissance was the inventing of the printing press by Johannes Gutenberg. Scientific and religious ideas of the Renaissance would not have spread without the invention of Gutenberg’s printing press.
During the Renaissance, Johannes Gutenberg introduced his revolutionizing invention, the printing press. Before the printing press, the spread of knowledge and learning was challenging. Advances in any field of learning were difficult to
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Each of these scientists contributed to the Scientific Revolution. The development of new ideas and being able to spread them among others, made the revolution possible. Andreas Vesalius made great developments in anatomical studies. His book, On the fabric of the Human Body was printed in 1543. In his text, Vesalius explained functions of the human body and shared detailed drawings of bones, veins, etc (Stewart 37). “Vesalius’s work, based on dissections of humans, was the most important work in human anatomical studies for the next 200 years” (Crompton 47). By having his works printed, Vesalius could share his incredible developments in the field of science. As a result of the printing press, brilliant scientific writings including those of Vesalius, were accurate and easily spread (Butler). This made it easier for the public and other scientists to view other peoples ideas and build off of them. The discoveries of Galileo also circulated across Europe with the aid of the printing press. He studied the surface of the moon and other planets. His results were publicized when they were printed in his book, The Starry Messenger. Although Galileo spent most of his life under house arrest by the Inquisition, his ideas were still able to across Europe with the assistance of printing (Crompton 49). Medicine and anatomy also advanced and spread during the Renaissance. William Harvey made many breakthroughs including finding how arteries, capillaries, and blood vessels work in the body. He shared these ideas in his book Anatomical Studies on the Motion of the Heart and Blood in Animals (Crompton 50). With the printing press multiple copies of one work could be made at a time rather than having handwritten copies that took months to produce (Wishnia). Multiple copies of his work were shared and read throughout Europe. With the use of the printing press
Before the mid-1400s the literacy rates in Europe were not good. Books were hard to get a hold of because they were hand-printed by monks which were hard work and took a long time. Not only that but books were also written in Latin instead of the vernacular and the only people who could read Latin were those who were well-educated and heads of churches. The invention of the printing press greatly altered the lives of Europeans through increasing literacy rates which then influenced philosophy and knowledge, inspiring the reformation of the Catholic Church, and triggering the scientific revolution.
During the early Modern era to the present, the printing press has made a dramatic effect on the Western society. During the early modern era, the printing press was a cheap and effective way to spread the word of the Bible to anyone that could read, increase knowledge and provide education to the world. The printing press allowed people to create and copy the Bible so anyone can have access to the Bible. Along with the Bible, more books were created such as textbooks for schools, reading books for education or entertainment, research and more. As time continues on, printing press created different ways to spread information around.
According to Gordon, by the beginning of the sixteenth century, there were two significant technological developments that forever altered human history and made the New World a possibility. The two developments being the printing press (which would bring down the Church 's monopoly) and the full-rigged ship (which made long ocean voyages possible, opening the door to discovery). 3. Two inventions, according to Gordon, helped in the development of the New World. One sourcing from Italy during the fifteenth century; double-entry bookkeeping.
During the sixteenth and seventeenth century, many scientists had developed a new perspective on the world around them. Scientists such as Galileo and Copernicus envisioned a world where natural phenomenons could be proved through experimentation. Furthermore, the work of scientists during this time period were affected by the approval of political figures, the support from influential members of the church, and social factors that influenced the development and acceptance of new theories. To powerful political figures, scientific theories were regarded as an opportunity to gain power and money.
Vesalius’s discoveries were the basis of human anatomy, he was the first to specifically and accurately explain the human body, which is crucial to current medical and anatomical understanding. Vesalius has proven Galen wrong numerous times as “Vesalius discovered that the skull’s mandible consists of bone which contradicts Galen’s predictions that the mandible was two separate bones in the head” [Source 11] and “The sternum has three parts, not seven as Galen claimed on the basis of ape dissections.” [Source 10] This indicates Vesalius was continuously trying to improve as he continuously corrected what Galen and people believed was correct.
In Steven Shapin’s book, The Scientific Revolution, he described the massive scientific changes that occurred from the late 16th to the early 18th centuries. Shapin utilizes the scientists and their findings to demonstrate the changes that affected Western civilization. He describes his theory of the Scientific Revolution as he proves that the world has always had scientific advances. Steven Shapin states his thesis which influenced the modern world, that the Scientific Revolution did not happen during a single time period through the use of the three essential questions: What was known, How was it known, and What was the Knowledge for.
Harvey had a huge impact on health and medicine because his discoveries helped in future life, and without him blood transfusions wouldn 't be possible today. He saved no lives but he showed other people how to save lives. Another important change in health and medicine was in the understanding of surgery. Ambroise Pare was a surgeon who followed Vesalius’s findings for example books and notes.
The invention of the printing press in 1440, was a huge development that led to many important milestones.
The period of time that spans from around the 1400s to about 1700, otherwise known as the Renaissance was the rebirth and awakening for new ideas and inventions. It was vastly different from the previous era known as the Middle Ages, for a variety of reasons. Different advances were made in the Renaissance and, people became more educated in science, math, and literature. Ignorance about the world and nature was no longer the norm for the average person. During the Renaissance, a majority of the population were no longer illiterate, which in turn influenced the populace to become curious and ask questions.
Chapter 19: Describe the impact of the printing press on the protestant reformation. Johann Gutenberg’s invention of the printing press led to mass production of information that was, for the first time, available to the public. The printing press created a new era of the informed individual with the ability to develop their own opinions. In the 16th century, the Roman Church’s Greedy and Immoral acts began to escalate; This made it clear that there was a need for change. One man, Martin Luther, noticed the offenses made by the church and decided to act by writing the 95 subjects he disagreed on with the church.
Harvey William Harvey’s seminal work “On the Motion on the Heart and Blood in Animals” initiated modern medicine. Harvey’s arguments were detailed readily verifiable and though they did endure a fair bit of criticism when released, in most areas, they were accepted within his lifetime. Once his simple notion of the circulation of blood was carefully described others were able to see and understand its validity themselves. I will argue that William Harvey’s theory which used inductive reasoning to show, with experiments, how blood flowed from veins to arteries through the heart and deduced the existence of capillaries to return blood from arteries to veins. One of the main understandings of the day, proposed by Galen of Pergamon nearly 1500 years earlier, was that blood was a resource that was produced in the liver and consumed in the tissues and the brain.
“God, who has given the world to men in common, has also given them reason to make use of it to the best advantage of life and convenience” (Locke, 35). The Scientific Revolution concentrated on understanding the physical world through astronomical and mathematical calculations, or testable knowledge. The Enlightenment focused more on “Spreading of faith in reason and in universal rights and laws” (Worlds Together, Worlds Apart, 535). While the Scientific Revolution preceded the Enlightenment, both time periods sought to limit and challenge the power of the Church, through the spread of science, reason and intellect, and political philosophies. The Scientific Revolution began with Nicolaus Copernicus (1473-1542) and Galileo Galilei (1564-1642) wanting to understand the movement of the planets beyond what they authorities had told them.
With Renaissance came new music, literature, art and publications that were mess produced and distributed to wider audience. Johannes Gutenberg invented mechanical printing in 1452 and with that came woodcuts and engraved prints as a styles for producing images, idea and entertainment for all people to experience art. Starting industrial revolution in the mid- 1700’s illustration became the part of a daily life. Commercial illustration was used for works of children educational material for school, natural history plates and book covers and newspapers. In the early 1800’s illustration was accepted as a profession, many popular book writers used illustration in their books such as Charles Dickens.
Printing press developed a different method of producing books. According to woodcut images from 16th century, scribes were writing the books by hand from the dictation of a scholar before the invention of the printing press and after the invention print shops were created for printing books in the mid-1500s (doc 1). Before Gutenberg’s press, monks and scribes were handwriting books with pens in scriptoriums and this took them many months and even years to finish a certain book, no matter is it small or big. The invention of the printing press was an advantage for creating books, because it facilitated the creation of books and took less time for the production. It made possible the creation of thousands of identical copies by pressing one button instead of handwriting them for years.
The technological innovations apparent within the 19th century circulated around Gutenberg’s printing press and the penny press as well. The efficiency of the speed of how things were published made a difference in how newspapers got the word around in a timely manner. In the 16th century, trade by ships was still playing a large role in the distribution on products. Maps were often hand made and continuously copied by hand. Many years later when the printing press was created, this helped re create maps with more efficiency and speed.