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History Frogcast

S5 Teaser: What was the Scientific Revolution?

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The title page engraving from Thomas Sprat’s History of the Royal Society of London, one of the premier institutions for scientific research in early modern Europe

Between around 1450 and 1750, historians agree that something exciting happened in Europe: new discoveries led to new knowledge about the natural world. Scholars used new methods, like experimentation, to study and examine phenomena in nature. Longstanding theories about the order of the universe and the workings of nature were overturned. In popular histories of this period, the Scientific Revolution is often understood as a period when people let go of their old superstitions and blind beliefs—to include religious faith—and embraced reason, logic, and the evidence of their senses. But is this really true? Were science and religion in conflict in early modern Europe?

Melissa Reynolds

Dr. Reynolds is Assistant Professor of Early Modern European History at TCU.

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