HSTS 412: The Scientific Revolution

Spring 2005

Mid-term examination VERSION 2

[you may only elect Version 1 if you complete Version 1 before 4 PM Friday, May 6th--as we discussed in-class. Do version 2 if you do not do Version 1.]

[Version 2 due in-class on Tuesday, May 10th]

Read the following carefully before proceeding!

This exam is in two parts. Please select one question [and only one question] from Part I and one question [only one question] from Part II. Indicate in each section whether you are answering Question A or B, or Question C or D. Make sure to draw on both class lectures and your course texts in composing your answers. Concrete examples to back up your arguments and generalizations add strength to your essays. If you quote from our course readings, please include a short parenthetical citation (for instance, Dear, 121).

Part I. Shorter Essay [circa 500 words, or roughly two double-spaced typed pages in 12-point font with standard margins]

A. How would you characterize the relationship between science and religion in the Renaissance and the period we call the Scientific Revolution? Draw on specific examples from several fields of natural philosophy to make your claims.

B. How did the ideas of Paracelsus influence thinking about natural world?

C. How did the pursuit of medicine and understanding of human physiology change from Galen to Vesalius? What factors caused these changes?

Part II. Longer Essay [circa 750 words, or roughly three double-spaced typed pages in 12-point font with standard margins]

D. Trace the development of astronomy from Ptolemy through Galileo. What are the factors responsible for this activity, and for new ideas about the nature of the visible universe? In what ways were ideas about astronomy distinctly different from Aristotelian cosmology by the 17th century?

E. What did a Renaissance scholar learn about nature, circa 1550? In what ways did this learning change circa 1630? Address Aristotelian interpretations of the natural world and the body (as well as the new interpretations that challenged them) in framing your answer.