Works from the Classical Era (European and American Works)

 The Classical Era: The Sciences

The Classical Era is widely known for the amount of scientific discoveries made. Mounds of experiments and theories came to light, many including fluid, which is interesting but also makes sense with what they had known at the time. Science made a huge leap in popularity and the amount of knowledge that was made public and published for many sources we use today.

Photo from Almanac

It's Getting Hot in Here!

Daniel Gabriel Fahrenheit was known for discovering the Fahrenheit system, which is still used today. He discovered a system to measure heat, and cold, and actually made a thermometer that was used well into the 1800's (Murray). Fahrenheit was European, and while in The Netherlands, he purified mercury into the thermometer in 1714 that was given the boot due to recent studies of mercury poisoning. However, this thermometer changed the way meteorologist were able to test temperatures, as well as many other scientists to help give control and set specific conditions for their experiments.

Fahrenheit's discovery can be seen as an art for the sciences in many lights. Not only with experiments and ecology, but it became widely used in medicine (Almanac, 2015). We were able to accurately find fevers and hypothermia. Saving lives by creating a diagnostic tool for the Classical Era.

Photo from Wikipedia

Is That a Spark Between Us? No, it's Just Benjamin.

Infamous Benjamin Franklin was known for his experiment involving a kite and lightning in 1752 in Philadelphia. Although dangerous, he did make some important conclusions, he concluded that lightning is electricity (Murray). He did, however, incorrectly assume that it was due to electrical fluid - which we now know is actually electrons. Nonetheless, made a huge step in terms of physics and how electrical currents work, and the types of electricity (Encyclopedia, 2018). The work shown above was, however, painted by Benjamin West, in 1816.

Franklin is known for many scientific discoveries, helping aid is physics discoveries and experiments. He published many works on electricity and aided in many publishings such as "Opinions and conjectures concerning the Properties and Effects of the electrical matter, arising from Experiments and Observations, made at Philadelphia, 1749" (Encyclopedia, 2018). So through the many, many years, Franklin was invested in the science community, he made a huge impact on the sciences during the Classical Era.

Photo from Britticana

Buffon Crushes Catholic Dreams.

Georges Buffon was known for his many experiments and findings in geology, and more popular, his hypothesis and challenge of Usshers' guess of the age of the Earth, Ussher based his on the beginnings of the Bible, while Buffon concluded that the earth was actually a production of the collision between a comet and the sun (Murray). He lived in Europe, He determined the age of the earth based on how long it would take the earth to cool down to become habitable. He concluded in 1749 that the earth would be around 70,000 years old (The History). What was the problem? This would crush what was known in the Bible, the book that still took most of Europe by the throat and it would cause a riot to challenge the original theory by Ussher, who based his guess on the Bible (Murray). 

This gave us our beginnings in geology and the theories of evolution, the Big Bang, and other hypotheses of the beginnings of the world that we know. Buffon gave us a leap in science and geology, as well as introducing the beginnings of biology, and how evolution took place to create humans and other forms of life.

My Opinion That No One Asked For:

I love the sciences. I am majoring in biology and work in healthcare, so science is kind of my everyday life. I love to know where theories came from and where they presented themselves in history. Although the many theories of fluid, like electrical fluid (it makes me giggle a bit), are a bit silly, it does make sense with the knowledge they had in their time. The classical era, though far from what we know now, made a huge advancement in scientific discoveries and theories. Helping shape science and physics into what we know today.

"Complete Dictionary of Scientific Biography." Encyclopedia.Com. 15 Jun. 2024 .” Encyclopedia.Com, Encyclopedia.com, 9 July 2024, www.encyclopedia.com/people/history/us-history-biographies/benjamin-franklin#A.

“Almanac: Daniel Fahrenheit.” CBS News, CBS Interactive, 24 May 2015, www.cbsnews.com/news/almanac-daniel-fahrenheit/.

“Daniel Gabriel Fahrenheit.” Encyclopædia Britannica, Encyclopædia Britannica, inc., 20 May 2024, www.britannica.com/biography/Daniel-Gabriel-Fahrenheit.

“Georges-Louis Leclerc, Count de Buffon.” Encyclopædia Britannica, Encyclopædia Britannica, inc., www.britannica.com/biography/Georges-Louis-Leclerc-comte-de-Buffon. Accessed 8 July 2024.

“Home.” Understanding Evolution, evolution.berkeley.edu/the-history-of-evolutionary-thought/pre-1800/old-earth-ancient-life-georges-louis-leclerc-comte-de-buffon/. Accessed 8 July 2024.

“Kite Experiment.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 1 July 2024, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kite_experiment#/media/File:Benjamin_West,_English_(born_America)_-_Benjamin_Franklin_Drawing_Electricity_from_the_Sky_-_Google_Art_Project.jpg.

Murray, Stacey. " Science and Its Times: Understanding the Social Significance of Scientific Discovery. . Encyclopedia.Com. 14 Jun. 2024 .” Encyclopedia.Com, Encyclopedia.com, 9 July 2024, www.encyclopedia.com/science/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/overview-physical-sciences-1700-1799.