scientific revolution

n. 1. The historical shift in perspective that occurred in Euro-American cultures in the 16th through 18th centuries in which intellectual beliefs began to be guided more by observation and experimentation than by religious revealed truth and simple superstition. This transformation has never been completed, as belief in revealed truth and superstitions contradictory to fact continues, but the dominant perspective remains scientific for now. 2. A marked shift in perspective within a particular field of scientific endeavor such as occurred in physics around the turn of the 20th century, when Newtonian physics was found to be inadequate and was superseded by relativistic and later quantum perspectives.