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Mar 1, 1462
1462
One of the major publications of Renaissance natural philosophy, the Epitome of Ptolemy's Almagest appears; the authors, Georg Peurbach (1423-1461) and Johannes Regiomontanus (1436-1476), symbolize a shift from reverence for Ptolemy and antiquity to respect coupled with confident innovation. -
Mar 1, 1494
1494
Giovanni Pico della Mirandola (1463-1494) attacks practical magic, especially, astrology, as it calls into questions traditional notions of human free will; this concern underscores longstanding issues associated with the Condemnations of 1270 and 1277 which seems to have undermined the authority of Aristotle. -
Mar 1, 1501
1545
In mathematics, Girolamo Cardano's (1501-1576) The Great Art contained many algebraic innovations and new methods for treating equations of the third degree. -
1623
Galileo publishes his strategic essay, The Assayer where he argues against Aristotle and the Scholastics in favor of mathematical and experimental methods, moving deftly across many topics, from statics and dynamics to his theory of matter. -
1628
A classic work in the history of physiology and medicine is published by William Harvey (1578-1657), his Anatomical Exercises on the Movement of the Heart and Blood, or De motu cordis. Here Harvey employed brilliant experiments and new quantitative arguments to show that the blood circulates, thereby opposing Galen and other ancients. -
1633
Galileo is called before the Inquisition in Rome he is vehemently suspected of heresy for supporting and teaching the Copernicanism hypothesis. After he abjured, Galileo was placed under house arrest for the remainder of his life, his visitors, his mail, and his daily actions were monitored. While the Dialogue on the Two Chief World Systems was placed on the Index of Prohibited Books, Galileo lived to see it translated into Latin, for a larger European audience. -
1644
The Italian physicist and mathematician Evangelista Torricelli (1608-1647), having filled a sealed tube with mercury, and with the open end immersed in mercury, noted that the height fell in the tube to a consistent level, leaving a void above it. The problem was addressed by a number of members of the Cimento and challenges to explain the phenomenon were sent to others outside of Italy. -
1651
A self-described student of geometry, atomism, and optics, Thomas Hobbes's (1588-1679) published his classic work on political theory, The Leviathan, which seems to have reflected notions evident in his study of natural phenomena, most notably mechanistic concepts relating to physiology and sensation. Famously, Hobbes held human life 'solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short'.