What scientific discoveries did Westerners make in the eighteenth century, and how did the discoveries contribute to rising productivity?
What will be an ideal response?
A. Scientific discoveries
1. science and technical innovation grew because of curiosity about the
real world and how things work
2. scientific revolution that occurred in the West extended the reach of
human knowledge to subjects that had formerly been too remote or too
difficult to understand
a. Galileo Galilei (1564–1642 ) could see the moons of Jupiter
through his telescope
b. Anton van Leeuwenhoek (1632–1723 ) saw microbes through
his microscope
c. Marin Mersenne (1588–1648 ) measured the speed of sound
d. Robert Hooke (1635–1703 ) could sniff what he called "nitre-
air" in the acrid smell of vapor from a lighted wick, before
Antoine Lavoisier (1743–1794 ) proved the existence of oxygen
by isolating it and setting it on fire
e. Isaac Newton (1642–1727 ) could wrest the rainbow from a
shaft of light or feel the force that bound the cosmos in the
weight of an apple
f. Luigi Galvani (1737–1798 ) could feel the thrill of electricity in
his fingertips
g. Friedrich Mesmer (1734–1815 ) thought hypnotism was a kind
of detectable animal magnetism
h. through life-threatening demonstrations with kite and keys,
Benjamin Franklin (1706–1790 ) claimed to show that lightning
is a kind of electricity
B. Contribution to rising productivity
1. discoveries accustomed Europeans to the idea that barely detectable
forces can have enormous power
2. nature was full of invisible powers that could replace human effort
3. idea of harnessing natural energy arose unsurprisingly in the context of
scientific thought
a. use of steam
b. conditions in parts of Europe promoted industrial output
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