The Day The Universe Changed (1985)

Episode 5. Infinitely Reasonable: Science Revises the Heavens (3/5)

As philosophers and scientists continued their research and theorizing, what became known as the Scientific Revolution came into direct contrast with the teachings of the Catholic church. The church's authority came into question as scientific evidence challenged historical biblical teachings. This program explains how from 1550 and forward science began to undermine the Church-sanctioned Aristotelian doctrine of the universe, in which the Sun and all the planets revolved around the Earth. In its place, was established the model to which we adhere today of a clockwork universe, governed by discoverable laws of math and physics. Deals with advances made during the Scientific Revolution, including Copernicus's explanation that the heavens do not revolve around the earth, Galileo's exploration of the acceleration of falling objects, and Newton's theories, and examines the bitter conflict that these ideas caused within the Catholic Church.

1. Church summit in Trento, Italy
2. talks drag on but end up with hard line - literal belief in Bible required
3. need to get calendar straight for proper worship
4. astronomer priest got enough information to see irregularities in motion
5. perfect circular motion in heaven and straight line motion on earth
6. ballistics were not straight lines
7. Aristotle was wrong
8. Copernicus's math trick - heliocentric solar system
9. Newton showed gravity was the same thing on earth and the planets
10. Galileo's telescope say it was true and he said so
11. Catholic Church locked him up
12. Halley's comet finally convince the church

The Day the Universe Changed (subtitled "A Personal View by James Burke") is a British documentary television series produced by and starring science historian James Burke, originally broadcast in 1985. It was released in DVD form in 2009. A companion book of the same title, also written by Burke, was published the same year, presenting the same general premise of the television series in expanded detail. A revised edition subsequently appeared in 1995.

The series' primary focus is on the effect of advances in science and technology on western philosophy. The title comes from the philosophical idea that the universe essentially only exists as you perceive it through what you know; therefore, if you change your perception of the universe with new knowledge, you have essentially changed the universe itself.

To illustrate this concept, James Burke tells the various stories of important scientific discoveries and technological advances and how they fundamentally altered how western civilization perceives the world. The series runs in roughly chronological order, from around the beginning of the Middle Ages to the present.

Episodes

1. The Way We Are: It Started with the Greeks
2. In the Light of the Above: Medieval Conflict - Faith & Reason
3. Point of View: Scientific Imagination in the Renaissance
4. A Matter of Fact: Printing Transforms Knowledge
5. Infinitely Reasonable: Science Revises the Heavens
6. Credit Where It's Due: The Factory & Marketplace Revolution
7. What the Doctor Ordered: Social Impacts of New Medical Knowledge
8. Fit to Rule: Darwin's Revolution
9. Making Waves: The New Physics - Newton Revised
10. Worlds Without End: Changing Knowledge, Changing Reality

Source: Wikipedia