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Feb 22, 1543
Nicolaus Copernicus publishes "On the Revolutions of the Heavenly Spheres"
published just before his death in 1543, is often regarded as the starting point of modern astronomy and the defining epiphany that began the scientific revolution. His heliocentric model, with the Sun at the center of the universe, demonstrated that the observed motions of celestial objects can be explained without putting Earth at rest in the center of the universe. His work stimulated further scientific investigations, becoming a landmark in the history of science that is often referred to as -
Galileo Galilei publishes Starry Messenger
It reported his discoveries of: * the Galilean moons; * the roughness of the Moon's surface; * the existence of a large number of stars invisible to the naked eye, particularly those responsible for the appearance of the Milky Way; and * differences between the appearances of the planets and those of the fixed stars—the former appearing as small discs, while the latter appeared as unmagnified points of light. -
Rene Descartes writes Discourse on Method
Descartes is, of course, best known for his celebrated reflections on what there might be which he can know with certainty and for his first important conclusion: "I think; therefore, I am" (although to describe more accurately what Descartes means, we should probably translate that famous sentence as "I am thinking; therefore, I am," since the assurance of one's own existence comes only while the thinking is going on). Hence, while he is capable of doubting or being deceived about nature around -
Isaac Newton publishes Principia
irst published 5 July 1687.[1][2] Newton also published two further editions, in 1713 and 1726.[3] The Principia states Newton's laws of motion, forming the foundation of classical mechanics, also Newton's law of universal gravitation, and a derivation of Kepler's laws of planetary motion (which Kepler first obtained empirically). -
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Reign of Frederick William I
House of Hohenzollern, was the King in Prussia and Elector of Brandenburg (as Frederick William II) from 1713 until his death. He was in personal union the sovereign prince of the Principality of Neuchâtel. The King acquired a reputation for his fondness for military display, leading to his special efforts to hire the tallest men he could find in all of Europe for a special regiment nicknamed the Potsdam Giants. -
John Locke writes essay concerning human understanding
An Essay Concerning Human Understanding is one of John Locke's two most famous works, the other being his Second Treatise on Civil Government. First appearing in 1690, the essay concerns the foundation of human knowledge and understanding. -
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Reign of Frederick II
Interested primarily in music and philosophy and not the arts of war during his youth, Frederick unsuccessfully attempted to flee from his authoritarian father, Frederick William I, with childhood friend, Hans Hermann von Katte, whose execution he was forced to watch after they had been captured. Upon ascending to the Prussian throne, he attacked Austria and claimed Silesia during the Silesian Wars, winning military acclaim for himself and Prussia. Near the end of his life, Frederick physically -
Maria Theresa inherits the Austrian throne
She was the eldest daughter of Emperor Charles VI, who promulgated the Pragmatic Sanction to allow her to succeed to the Habsburg monarchy, and Elisabeth Christine of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel. Opposition to her acceding to the throne led to the War of the Austrian Succession in 1740. After Emperor Charles VII, who claimed the throne, died in 1745, Maria Theresa obtained the imperial crown for her husband, Francis I. Though she was technically empress consort, Maria Theresa was the de facto ruler o -
The war of Austrian Succession
also known as King George's War in North America, and incorporating the War of Jenkins' Ear with Spain and two of the three Silesian wars – involved nearly all the powers of Europe, except for the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, the Portuguese Empire and the Ottoman Empire. The war began under the pretext that Maria Theresa of Austria was ineligible to succeed to the Habsburg thrones of her father, Charles VI, because Salic law precluded royal inheritance by a woman, -
First continental congress meets in Philadelphia
The First Continental Congress convened in Philadelphia's Carpenters Hall on September 5, 1774. The idea of such a meeting was advanced a year earlier by Benjamin Franklin, but failed to gain much support until after the Port of Boston was closed in response to the Boston Tea Party. -
Montesque writes the spirit of the laws
The Spirit of the Laws (French: De l'esprit des loix, also sometimes called The Spirit of Laws[1]) is a treatise on political theory first published anonymously by Charles de Secondat, Baron de Montesquieu in 1748 with the help of Claudine Guérin de Tencin. Originally published anonymously partly because Montesquieu's works were subject to censorship, its influence outside of France was aided by its rapid translation into other languages. -
Diderot published the Encyclopedia
n 1750 an elaborate prospectus announced the project to a delighted public, and in 1751 the first volume was published. This work was very unorthodox and had many forward-thinking ideas for the time. Diderot stated within this work, "An encyclopedia ought to make good the failure to execute such a project hitherto, and should encompass not only the fields already covered by the academies, but each and every branch of human knowledge." Upon encompassing every branch of knowledge this will give, " -
Rousseau writes Discourse on the Origins of the Inequality of Mankind
also commonly known as the "Second Discourse", is a work by philosopher Jean-Jacques Rousseau. The text was written in 1754 in response to a prize competition of the Academy of Dijon answering the prompt: What is the origin of inequality among men, and is it authorized by natural law? Though he was not recognized by the prize committee for this piece (as he had been for the Discourse on the Arts and Sciences) he nevertheless published the text in 1755. -
First daily newspaper printed in London
The Daily Courant in London, 1702. In 1754, The Daily Advertiser in London uses the first four-column format. France's first daily newspaper appears in 1777, Journal de Paris, while the first United States daily was the Pennsylvania Packet in 1784. -
Rousseau writes The Social Contract
The notion of the social contract is that individuals unite into a society by a process of mutual consent, agreeing to abide by certain rules and to accept duties to protect one another from violence, fraud, or negligence. Although developed for understanding human societies, sociobiologists have adapted it to societies of other social species or even to interspecies symbiotic relationships.[1] Among humans, it implies that the people give up sovereignty to a government or other authority in ord -
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Reign of Catherine the Great
Under her direct auspices the Russian Empire expanded, improved its administration, and continued to modernize along Western European lines. Catherine's rule re-vitalized Russia, which grew stronger than ever and became recognized as one of the great powers of Europe. She had successes in foreign policy and oversaw sometimes brutal reprisals in the wake of rebellion (most notably Pugachev's Rebellion). -
Voltaire writes treatise on toleration
There are some who say that, if we treated with paternal indulgence those erring brethren who pray to God in bad French [instead of bad Latin], we should be putting weapons in their hands, and would once more witness the battles of Jarnac, Moncontour, Coutras, Dreux, and St. Denis. I do not know anything about this, as I am not a prophet; but it seems to me an illogical piece of reasoning to say: "These men rebelled when I treated them ill, therefore they will rebel when I treat them well." -
Beginning of the end of the 7 years war
By 1763 Frederick had Silesia under his control and had occupied parts of Austria. The British subsidies had been withdrawn by the new Prime Minister Lord Bute, and the Russian Emperor had been overthrown by his wife Catherine the Great who now switched Russian support back to Austria and launched fresh attacks on Prussia. Austria, however, had been weakened from the war and like most participants they were facing a severe financial crisis. In 1763 a peace settlement was reached at the Treaty of -
Casare Beccaria writes On Crimes and Punishments
The Verri brothers and Beccaria started an important cultural reformist movement centered around their journal Il Pavone, which ran from the summer of 1764 for about two years, and was inspired by Addison and Steele's literary magazine, The Spectator and other such journals. Il Pavone represented an entirely new cultural moment in northern Italy. With their Enlightenment rhetoric and their balance between topics of socio-political and literary interest, the anonymous contributors held the intere -
Stamp act imposed in colonies
The Stamp Act of 1765 (short title Duties in American Colonies Act 1765; 5 George III, c. 12) was a direct tax imposed by the British Parliament specifically on the colonies of British America. The act required that many printed materials in the colonies be produced on stamped paper produced in London and carrying an embossed revenue stamp.[1][2] These printed materials were legal documents, magazines, newspapers and many other types of paper used throughout the colonies. Like previous taxes, th -
Adam Smith writes The Wealth of Nations
An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations, generally referred to by its shortened title The Wealth of Nations, is the magnum opus of the Scottish economist and moral philosopher Adam Smith. First published in 1776, it is a reflection on economics at the beginning of the Industrial Revolution and argues that free market economies are more productive and beneficial to their societies. The book is considered to be the foundation of modern economic theory. -
Treaty of Paris signed
The Treaty of Paris, signed on September 3, 1783, ratified by the Congress of the Confederation on January 14, 1784, and by the King of Great Britain on April 9, 1784 (the ratification documents were exchanged in Paris on May 12, 1784), formally ended the American Revolutionary War between the Kingdom of Great Britain and the United States of America, which had rebelled against British rule. The other combatant nations, France, Spain and the Dutch Republic had separate agreements; for details of -
Mary Wollstonecraft writes A Vindication of the rights of a Woman
written by the 18th-century British feminist Mary Wollstonecraft, is one of the earliest works of feminist philosophy. In it, Wollstonecraft responds to those educational and political theorists of the 18th century who did not believe women should have an education. She argues that women ought to have an education commensurate with their position in society, claiming that women are essential to the nation because they educate its children and because they could be "companions" to their husbands, -
Hanovers take British Crown
Succession to the British throne is governed both by common law and statute. Under common law the crown is passed on by male-preference primogeniture.[1] In other words, an individual's male children are preferred over his or her female children, and an older child is preferred over a younger child of the same gender, with children representing their deceased ancestors. Succession in the United Kingdom is also governed by the Act of Union 1800, which restates the provisions of the Act of Settlem