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Jan 1, 1543
Nicolaus Copernicus
Nicolaus Copernicus was a Renaissance astronomer and the first person to formulate a comprehensive heliocentric cosmology which displaced the Earth from the center of the universe. His work, "On the Revolutions of the Celestial Spheres" which was published just before his death, is often regarded as the starting point of modern astronomy and the defining epiphany that began the scientific revolution. -
Jan 1, 1573
Tycho Brahe
Tycho Brache was well known in his lifetime as an astronomer and alchemist. He designed and built new instruments, calibrated them, and instituted nightly observations. He also ran his own printing press. Tycho's major works include De Nova et Nullius Aevi Memoria Prius Visa Stella ("On the New and Never Previously Seen Star). -
Johann Kepler
He was mathematician and astronomer who discovered that the Earth and planets travel about the sun in elliptical orbits. He gave three fundamental laws of planetary motion and he also did important work in optics and geometry. In 1609 his work Astronomia nova was published. -
William Harvey
William Harvey was an english physician who was the first to recognize the full circulation of the blood in the human body and to provide experiments and arguments to support this idea. He developed an accurate theory of how the heart and circulatory system operated. He published his theories in 1628 in his famous book "On the Motion of the Heart and Blood in Animals". He was intrigued by everything about the body, and later in life was interested in reproduction. -
Rene Descartes
Rene Descartes was a French philosopher, mathematician, and writer. He has been dubbed the 'Father of Modern Philosophy'. He was arguably the first major philosopher in the modern era to make a serious effort to defeat skepticism. His first substantial work was the "Regulae or Rules for the Direction of Mind" written in 1628-9 but not published until 1701. -
Galileo Galilei
Galileo Galilei was an Italian physicist and astronomer. In 1609, Galileo heard about the invention of the spyglass and used his mathematics knowledge and technical skills to improve upon the spyglass and build the first telescope. He used this telescope to discover four of the moons circling Jupiter, to study Saturn, to observe the phases of Venus, and to study sunspots on the Sun. These discoveries strengthened his belief in Copernicus' theory. -
Isaac Newton
Isaac Newton was an English physicist, mathematician, astronomer, natural philosopher, alchemist, and theologian. In 1687, Newton published his single greatest work, the 'Philosophiae Naturalis Principia Mathematica' ('Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosophy') where he described universal gravitation and the three laws of motion.
