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May 21, 1543
Nicolas Copernicus
Believed the Earth was round & that it rotated around the sun -
Jun 16, 1543
Andreas Vesalius
Vesalius makes unprecedented observations about the structure of the human body. -
Giordano Bruno
He is remembered for his cosmological theories, which conceptually extended the then novel Copernican model. He proposed that the stars were just distant suns surrounded by their own exoplanets and raised the possibility that these planets could even foster life of their own (a philosophical position known as cosmic pluralism). He also insisted that the universe is in fact infinite and could have no celestial body at its "center" -
Francois Viete Invents Analytical Trigonometry
Viete's invention is essential to the study of physics and astronomy. -
Galileo Galilei Demonstrates the Properties of Gravity
Italian mathematician
Improved the telescope to make it more powerful
Observed: sunspots, mountains on the moon, Jupiter’s moons
Created the pendulum clock
1636 = published ideas on physics, astronomy, etc.
Book banned by the Catholic Church -
John Napier
Napier's invention and cataloguing of logarithms is an essential step in easing the task of numerical calculation. -
Willian Harvey
Concluded that blood circulates throughout the body, pumped by the heart and returning through the veins -
Johannes Kepler Reveals His Third and Final Law of Planetary Motion
Kepler's laws of planetary motion describe the form and operation of planetary orbits, and are the final step leading to the academic rejection of the Aristotelian system. -
Francis Bacon
established the Baconian method to investigate natural science. His approach led to the development of the scientific method, which is still used. -
Rene Descartes
established a modern system of geometry, which described moving matter, and he set forth novel ideas in the field of philosophy. -
Evangelista Torricelli
Torricelli's invention measures air pressure, demonstrating that air does indeed have weight, and that the pressure caused by that weight differs in different situations. -
Robert Hooke
Discovered the cell
Used new microscope -- recognized cells in vegetable tissues -
Robert Boyle
Boyle's work, though highly flawed, sets the stage for the study of matter on the atomic level. -
Giovanni Alfonso Borelli
Borelli's work is the greatest early triumph of the application of mechanical laws to the human organism. -
Isaac Newton
Perhaps the most important event in the history of science, the Principia lays out Newton's comprehensive model of the universe as organized according to the law of universal gravitation. The Principia represents the integration of the works of all of the great astronomers who preceded Newton, and remains the basis of modern physics and astronomy.