How Invention Begins ch. 11
We think of printing as about words, while the internet has made possible more use of pictures (and indeed the visual representation of information and visual design is becoming increasingly important). But for science, one of the things that was most revolutionary about the printing press was illustrations.
If typefaces and fonts are something you have never thought about look at:
- History of the Alphabet, Types, and Fonts
- The Scourge of Arial
- Susan Kare who invented the Mac icons
A 1484
Herbal (book of plants
designed to help people recognize herbs for medical use) by Leonhart
Fuchs
Perspective drawing was invented in the 15th century--before that illustrations often had very odd perspective, as in the city to the right.
Over the course of the 15th century artists and architects worked out
laws of perspective--you may have been taught in elementary school how
to use a vanishing
point.
Copper plate printing was invented in the late 15th century and allowed much more detail than wood blocks
With these new technologies it was possible to actually compare ideas not only about botany but also about anatomy--key here is Vesalius
Perspective drawing was invented in the 15th century--before that illustrations often had very odd perspective, as in the city to the right.
Over the course of the 15th century artists and architects worked out
laws of perspective--you may have been taught in elementary school how
to use a vanishing
point.Copper plate printing was invented in the late 15th century and allowed much more detail than wood blocks
With these new technologies it was possible to actually compare ideas not only about botany but also about anatomy--key here is Vesalius
- medieval students learned anatomy when the professor read from Galen and a barber-surgeon dissected a corpse
- Galen said the blood moves through tiny holes between the right and left sides of the heart
- Vesalius (1514-1564) did careful dissection and showed that Galen was wrong about several things
- Vesalius published a book with detailed
illustrations of the body
- Harvey proved the circulation of the blood in 1628,
explaining it gets from the arteries to the veins in capilaries too
small to see
- a replacement book for professors to teach
- more accurate illustrations so scientists can communicate what they have learned
- what people at that time could learn from their own research could disprove the old authorities--new attitude
- shift from believe what the professor tells you to believe what you see with your own eyes
- scientists are supposed to believe experiments, not what they read
- new self-confidence--we know more than the ancients
(discovery of the new world was a key step in people realizing they
knew more than Aristotle did
- the printing press is crucial
- spreads the new theory faster
- allows scientists to communicate what they see more accurately
- when books are cheaper they become easier to compare--you can notice that the authorities don't always agree
- the scientific revolution probably wouldn't have been
possible without the printing press