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500 BCE
Aristotle and Natural Philosophers
Aristotle and other natural philosophers relied on religious beliefs to explain nature. -
206 BCE
Magnetic Compass
This instrument was created by the Chinese and was used for the work of the military for navigation. -
Jan 1, 1200
Roger Bacon, English philosopher and scientist
Bacon was one of the first to start using actual actual scientific experiments, rather than just going with the religious beliefs that many believed for centuries beforehand. He focused on the practice alchemy but he also studied math, astronomy, optics, and languages. Soon he became known as Doctor Mirabilis which in Latin means wonderful teacher. He was the first European to be able to explain the detailed process of making gunpowder. He studied the nature of light and rainbows specifically. -
Jan 1, 1350
Miracles?
Nature was said to be created and taken care of by God through miracles which would always be renewed. However, during the 1350's people started to become curious about these supposed miracles. The men wanted to see some evidence behind these miracles, they didn't want to just hear them. -
Jan 1, 1500
Magic vs. Science
Not until well into the 1500's did people start to realize a difference between magic and science. Alchemists focused on using spells and magic formulas while astrologers thought that the position of the stars had an impact on human life. These scientists started to be able to wonder if these other "scientists" could prove and back up their findings with evidence and observations that they have noted. There needed to be a line between theories and discoveries. -
Jan 1, 1543
Nicolaus Copernicus Heliocentric Theory
Copernicus was a Polish scientist and in the early 1500's he began to question Ptolemy's theory that the universe was geocentric "Earth-centered." Copernicus proved himself correct when in 1543 his ideas were published and proven that the universe was heliocentric "sun-centered." -
Jan 1, 1543
Andreas Vesalius
Vesalius studied anatomy. At this time, he published a book on the topic. He included very detailed illustrations of his work and findings which were included in the book. These illustrations helped give readers a better visual representation and understanding of the concepts. The drawings of the human body were exquisite and also showed how all of the organs and muscles, etc worked together. -
Calculus Development
In the 1550's and 1600's Gottfried Liebnitz and Issac Newton created a new type of mathematics, calculus. Calculus is used in modern sciences, like in physics, engineering, economics, medicine, and statistics. Economics often use calculus to compute marginal cost and revenue. In biology, calculus is used to formulate birth and death dates. Calculus can also be used to check answers in other types of math like statistics, geometry, and algebra. -
Johannes Kepler Laws of Planetary Motion
Kepler used math to prove the heliocentric theory. He discovered three "laws" about planets and how they move about in space. He learned that planets travel around the sun in orbits called eclipses. He also found that planets orbit, or move, faster when they are closer to the sun. Lastly, he learned that it takes a long time for a planet to complete an entire orbit around the sun. -
Human Blood Circulation
William Harvey created a book called On the Motion of the Heart and Blood. His book was all about the circulatory system and he included detailed models showing what he had learned. He was able to show that veins and arteries formed a "complete circuit" and how it starts at the heart and ends at the heart. -
Galileo's Findings
Galileo built a telescope after learning about a similar Dutch device. He then used his newly built telescope to observe mountains on the moon, the rings on Saturn, and the spots on the sun. He also observed the moons surrounding Jupiter. He drew sketches of what he observed and used them to argue that not all "heavenly bodies" revolved around Earth. However, many church scholars did not agree and Galileo caused an uproar with his findings. -
The Royal Society
Francis Bacon and his ideas and theories were heard by aristocrats in 1660. These men developed the Royal Society for Improving Natural Knowledge where they promoted Bacon's ideas on observations and measurements. Their main focus is to not accept an idea, theory, or supposed discovery without proof and facts through an experiment. -
Robert Boyle and Chemistry
He learned and was able to prove/show that pressure and temperature affect the space a gas occupies. He also used a microscope to learn about and observe the structure of living things. Boyle wrote multiple books which were taken upon The Royal Society. He had very philosophical and theological ideas that he wrote about in his books. He acted upon Bacon's ideas of controlled experiments and was able to perform them successfully. -
Issac Newton
Newton was able to explain why these planets in the universe moved as they did, something that Copernicus, Kepler, and Galileo could not do. Newton's first law was about universal gravitation which means that all bodies attract one another. Newton was able to prove why these other scientists were correct and people finally started to believe these theories. His work had a big impact on the science industry. -
First Atomic Bomb
When the first atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, it was a huge breakthrough for the scientific revolution. It showed how far the science industry had come since the very beginning. These are still used in the modern world and the United States uses them to protect themselves and the civilians of the allies. These bombs were created in the second World War which was when the United States was really getting into the more modern machinery. -
Microscope
Zacharias Janssen and his father invented the microscope in 1595. Eyeglasses were very common and scientists started to focus a lot more on lenses. The Janssen's put several different lenses in a tube and they found intriguing discoveries. The end of the tube was greatly enlarged, much larger than any magnifying glass could achieve.