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1543
Nicolaus Copernicus
Nicolaus Copernicus had set the foundations of modern science. He did this by making the understanding of the universe centered around the sun instead of the Earth like before. This helped allow science to flourish. -
Francis Bacon
Francis Bacon contributed greatly to the scientific revolution. Francis Bacon made a method where he would attempt prove scientists hypothesis wrong. He would do it to scientists who would set up experiments to manipulate nature. -
Galileo Galilei
Galileo Galilei was a philosopher, astronomer, and mathematician. He had made contributions to the sciences of motion, astronomy, to strength of materials, and to the development of scientific methods. He made the telescopic discovery of the four largest moons of Jupiter. -
Rene Descartes
Rene Descartes had a very important role in the Scientific revolution. Rene Descartes was able to transform geometrical problems into algebra. He also established the x and y-axis, and the modern notation for exponents. -
Isaac Newton
Isaac Newton is important to the revolutionary era in the 16th and 17th century. He invented the Law of Universal Gravitation, the Three laws of Motion, and the reflecting telescope. The first law of motion is that an object won't move unless a force acts on it, the second is the force on an object is equal to its mass times its acceleration, and the third is when two objects interact with each other they both apply forces to each other of equal magnitude and opposite direction. -
John Locke
John Locke's contribution greatly impacted the American revolution. John Locke developed the ideas of natural law. religious toleration, social contract, and also the right to revolution. This also proved to be essential to the U.S constitution that had followed. -
Montesquieu
Montesquieu created the idea of separation of powers. Checks and balances influenced the American Founders and the design of the U.S constitution. Americans in the 18th century that he was an oracle of political wisdom whose work is always consulted. -
Denis Diderot
Denis Diderot biggest contribution was to the Enlightenment era. It was his biggest because it was his publication of "Encyclopedia or a Systematic Dictionary of the Sciences, Arts, and Crafts". It provided readers with a deep analysis of almost all aspects of human existence. -
Jean-Jacques Rousseau
Jean-Jacques Rousseau contributed to the French revolution in 1762. Jean-Jacques Rousseau theorized the best way possible to establish a political community in the face of the problems of commercial society. His work helped to inspire political reforms and revolutions in Europe. -
Voltaire
Voltaire's ideas had a part in the American and French revolutions. Voltaire's pamphlets and books contained many scores of assaults on the church authority and clerical power. They also criticized French political institutions and many incorporated elaborate defenses of civil liberty. -
Adam Smith
Adam Smith started his own economic revolution while the American revolution started. Adam Smith published An Inquiry Into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations. In this inquiry he introduced the concept that free trade would benefit individual people and also society as a whole.