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The first major factor blocking these scientists was the strict opposition by the Catholic Church. The Church had a great deal of control over science at this point in history’, as shown by Galileo’s experience with the Inquisition, where he was punished by the Church for his work in support of heliocentricity. Scientists were driven to have the Churches aid to help spread their knowledge. This is seen in the writing of Copernicus to pope Paul Ill, when he states, “It is to your Holiness rather than to anyone else that I have chosen to dedicate these studies of mine” (Doc 1).
Thi s statement would be biased since Copernicus mightjust say this to get the Pope’s support. So Cope rnicus recognizes that the Pope is very powerful, therefore he would need the Church to support his wo rk to gain credibility. If the Church had already viewed science positively, this piece in Copernicus’s b 00k, On the Revolutions of the Heavenly Spheres , would not be necessary. This depicts how the pope and the Catholic Church negatively affected these scientists. In addition, others lower on the Church’s chain of command aggressively went after science as well.
One monk, Giovanni Ciampoli, even w rote to Galileo saying, “It is indispensable, therefore, to remove the possibility of malignant rumors by repeatedly showing our willingness to defer to the authority of those who have jurisdiction over t he human intellect, in matters Of the interpretation Of Scripture” (Doc 3). This writing would be more reliable since it is a personal anecdote: so Ciampoli’s truest feelings are most likely to be shown. This letter portrays how scientists were viewed negatively by the Catholic Church, who had incredible power in Europe, were able to negatively affect the works of these scientists.
This control is shown by scientists who still based science on religion, such as Walter Charleton, who said, “The creation a nd arrangement of the toms can be connected to no other cause, but to an Infinite Wisdom and Po wer” (Doc 8). From this document, it is evident that Christianity still had a plethora of control of thoug ht in this time, even in science. Overall, one primary effect on scientists was the negative attitude bro ught on by the Catholic Church. Social factors, specifically the divide between the genders, was another factor that nega tively affected scientists.
Sexism was practically the norm at this point, with Women banned from a true education, among other things. Henry Oldenbury, the Secretary of the English Royal Society, showed his to be true, “Friendship among learned men is a great aid to the investigati on and elucidation of the truth” (Doc 6). Though he may have had a positive view towards science, his u se of “men” shows how Europe was still so dominated by sexism. This would hurt science as a whole because half of the population was not allowed to participate.
Margaret Cavendish, a female scie ntist, further reveals the sexism by writing, “I, being a woman, do fear they would soon cast me out oft heir schools” (Doc 9). Since she is the victim, she would be a very reliable source on the topic. She s aw that women were imply secondclass citizens in science during this time. Therefore, the work of women was not treated the same as their male counterpart, causing science to lose any of the knowle dge that could have been discovered by women.
In summary, the sexism in Europe during the Scientific Revolution destroyed many possible new discoveries that could have been found by women. Lastly, scientists would gain positive benefits from the political aspect of the si tuation. The French government, in all of its absolutism, was one government in particular that was an ally of science. For example, Document 10 shows King Louis XIV at the French Royal Academy. The King of France would not have invested so much in science if he did not like the field himself.
The fact that the French Royal Assembly looks so well developed is a statement to how the scie ntists’ work was so positively affected by the acts of government. Additionally, Jean Baptiste Colb ert, the French Finance Minister wrote that, “we have been persuaded for many years to establish sev eral academies of both letters and sciences” (Doc 1 1). This document is very reliable because it was p art of a letter, which would likely show Colbert’s real opinion on the topic. It is clear that the French government helped cience along significantly with its work in schools because so many discoveri es took place at these Academies.