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500 BCE
Aristotle proposed explanations to natural events
Aristotle, who was an ancient Greek philosopher born around 384 BC, created explanations to things like nature and humans. Most astrologers believed in his works. He thought that the position of the stars in the sky influenced human life. -
100
Ptolemy's theories
Around this time, Ptolemy stated that the Earth was the center of the universe, and everything else was revolving around it. His theory was called the geocentric theory. People believed it for a long time. This idea would later change due to new ways of thinking. -
Jan 1, 1200
Roger Bacon believed in science (no specific date)
Roger Bacon was one of the first scientists to favor a scientific experiment system rather than religious belief. He was a leading scholar and studied at Oxford and Paris. But, he also practiced alchemy because that's what everyone was doing at the time. -
Jan 1, 1500
Scientists begin to question ancient beliefs (no specific date)
Early scientists of the 1500s didn't feel like the ancient beliefs they always relied on were accurate anymore. So, they learned to draw conclusions by what they experienced for themselves. They used scientific instruments, experiments, and mathematics to do this also. -
Jan 1, 1500
Magic overruled science (no specific date)
Most Europeans didn't see a lot of difference between magic and science. This didn't change into well into the 1500s. People like alchemists wanted to use spells and magic formulas to transform things into another, like lead into gold. They believed it was by magic. Today, we have many scientific terms to explain this instead. -
Period: Jan 1, 1500 to
European discoveries
Lots of European scientists started making discoveries along with American scientists. German scientist Gottfried Liebnitz helped create calculus with Isaac Newton, although they didn't actually work together. Antoni van Leeuwenhoek, who was a Dutch scientist, used the microscope to discover and study bacteria. He wrote all about these new life forms. English-Irish scientist Robert Boyle created the idea that temperature and pressure affect matter. -
Jan 1, 1543
Andreas Vesalius and the human body (no specific date)
Andreas Vesalius took Leonardo da Vinci's words about the human body seriously and wanted to study anatomy. He didn't want to accept definitions wrote centuries before. He published a seven-volume book that was called On the Fabric of the Human Body. His work was very detailed and changed the way readers thought of the human body. -
Sep 23, 1543
Nicolaus Copernicus' new theory (no specific date)
Nicolaus Copernicus, who was a Polish scientist, abandoned Ptolemy's theory about everything else revolving around the Earth. He created a new theory that the sun was actually the center of the universe. This was called the heliocentric theory. His theory explained some of the facts about astronomy. -
Period: Jan 1, 1550 to
The Scientific Revolution time period (no specific start to finish date)
During this time period, people began using mathematics and experiments instead of magic and belief. It became more organized and specific. The word science meant "to know" before this happened, but it brought a whole different meaning after this. Ideas from the Scientific Revolution were brought to Europe. It inspired schools for science in Rome, England, and France. -
Johannes Kepler and the laws of planetary motion (no specific date)
Johannes Kepler used tools, models, and mathematics to test Copernicus' theory about the sun as the center of the universe. Some of the ideas which Copernicus had gathered turned out to be wrong, which slowed Kepler down. But, he created laws of planetary motion and published them. -
Francis Bacon and scientific theories (no specific date)
Francis Bacon, who was an English philosopher and scientist, believed that theories about science could only be developed by observation. He believed in backing things up with evidence and multiple trials. He depended on truths that could be proven physically, rather than reasoning. He published a book called Novum Organum, which stated his new system. -
Galileo and the telescope (no specific date)
Galileo Galilei, who was a scientist, created one of the greatest inventions, the telescope. He began studying space and the Earth. Even though his telescope was very simple compared to ones to this day, he could see things that no one else could. He drew sketches of them. He published his findings which caused drama for people who believed in Ptolemy's geocentric theory because it supposedly went against the Bible. -
René Descartes and the Scientific Revolution (no specific date)
René Descartes was supposedly the leader of the Scientific Revolution. His ideas helped in subjects like mathematics and science. He developed philosophy on his own reasoning. He wrote a book called Discourse on Method, and in that book he said that all beliefs had to be proven with a basis of known facts. Ideas that were positively true didn't have to be proven. He built a questioning method that was logical and clear. -
Isaac Newton's findings (no specific date)
Isaac Newton published a book that contained the findings of Copernicus, Kepler, and Galileo. He included many of their ideas. He also discovered new things about these theories and proposed a law of universal gravitation, along with many others. He explained the movement of all things on Earth. His ideas impacted the world today, like when we wear seat belts or when astronauts travel in space. -
Creating the oxygen element (no specific date)
English chemist Joseph Priestley discovered the element oxygen, although it had existed before, in 1774. Antoine Lavoisier named it later. People thought that fire was an element before Lavoisier, but he showed that it was only oxygen mixed rapidly with a substance, proving that oxygen was actually the element. Their ideas had spread across Europe. The spread and exchange of knowledge was a big part in the Scientific Revolution.
