The sixteenth and seventeenth centuries were a period of many changes in world of sciences. Usually the philosophes and researchers of the sciences were either supported or reprimanded by many aspects of life in these centuries. The work of scientists was affected by governments promoting, but also preventing, research of the sciences, religious bodies promoting or condemning the outcomes of experiments and theories and even merging outcomes to religious ideas, and also new relationships between scientists across Europe, but also with a neglect of women. During the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, the work of many scientists was affected by political bodies. For example, Louis XIV supported the building of new academies as a sign of
The work of scientists in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries was also impacted socially. Francis Bacon, an English philosopher of science, believed that without a universal goal for the sciences across humanity, there would be little advancement (Doc. 4). Seeing that Francis Bacon was English, he could have made this quote about a unified goal of the sciences as much research takes place in France and other parts of Europe, where a different language is spoken, thus a universal goal would be useful for furthering the sciences. Friendship among scientists was another effect on the sciences. In a letter to Johannes Hevelius, Henry Oldenbury writes that friendship among the smartest of society would further the sciences and philosophy (Doc. 6). Social norms also affected the work of female scientists in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, as Margaret Cavendish, an English philosopher, writes that even though the goddesses of science in classical mythology are all women, she would be thrown out of schools of philosophy just for being a woman (Doc. 9). Social effects impacted the work of scientists through new universal goals, as that stated by Francis Bacon; new friendships, such as those between Johannes Hevelius and Henry Oldenbury; and the prevention of women to academies due to their