In the diploma thesis we have described, how physics began shaping up as a modern scientific discipline in (Western) Europe in 16th and 17th centuries. In this place and timespan were early modern natural sciences, usually known by modern historians by their original and collective name natural philosophy, thoroughly rebuilt. Changes in scientific knowledge, scientific method, institutional organisation and in social role of science were so significant, that some historians label the whole process scientific revolution. The view on the physical world changed significantly; universe was no longer unchangeable and confined yet infinite and changing, Earth was no longer a special entity in centre of the universe, however, earthly revolutions and its similarity to other planets were discovered. Mechanical philosophy was replacing Aristotelianism and Occult philosophy as a leading scientific paradigm, therefore was antrophocentric worldview ever more on a retreat. This prompted not only significant progress in astronomy but in knowledge of earthly physics also. There was, for example, a discovery of vacuum and earthly magnetism, basic mechanism of pressure in liquids was explained, optics advanced greatly … The biggest achievement was without any doubt the development of Newton's mechanics, which uniformly explained natural laws on Earth and in the universe for the first time and is thus known today as the first theory in physics. Reevaluation of mechanical knowledge and establishment of non-hermetic knowledge as a standard were both prerequisites for development of experimental method and for increased scepticism towards established facts. Moreover, modernisation of scientific method cannot be imagined without development and use of new mathematics. A different social environment was needed for all beforementioned changes to take place, therefore in the 17th century new scientific academies were replacing universities as leading institutions. Even though there were some groundbraeking changes taking place in science, we should be careful while using the word revolution, because the scientific development was not that fast nor linear, 'new discoveries' were more often a result of recontextualisation of existing ideas rather than invention of completely new ones.
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