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100
Ptolemy
Ptolemy was an astronomer who developed a theory called geocentric, he said that the earth was in the center of the universe, meaning that all the planets, including the sun revolved around the Earth. This is very important because it added knowledge to astronomy and challenged people to think about what is the center of the universe, what is the planet around which everything revolves? -
Period: 100 to
Scientific Revolution
Timeline of key events and people -
1200
Roger Bacon
Roger bacon was a English scientist, philosopher and a Franciscan monk. Bacon was among the first few people that put science in front of religious beliefs because they wanted to find the truth. He practiced Alchemy and was also a famous teacher called doctor Mirabilis, the challenge in his path were the people who still believed in the religious texts and studies of Greeks/Romans. His finding was very significant because it challenged people to stand up for what they believed in. -
1500
The New study of nature
The new study of nature happened because scientists observed things in the world, that did not go with the religious explanations. Scientists started to form conclusions on what they saw, they used three tools to test their conclusions, scientific instruments, mathematics and experiments. This study was a major factor in the scientific revolution because it helped people think and test their thinking, not just believe in the religious texts.This way of learning is called the Scientific Method. -
1500
Nicolaus Copernicus
Copernicus was a polish scientist, who developed a theory, known as heliocentric. He said that the sun was in the center of the universe, meaning all the planets revolved around it. Copernicus, thought that his theory was right because it explained many other things astronomers had found about the universe. This is very significant because it challenged the geocentric theory and it also taught people to think outside the box, the truth is not always what we see. -
1543
Andreas Vesalius
Vesalius was a scientist who studied anatomy, he performed his own study of the human body to see how it worked. In 1543, he published his book called On the Fabric of Human Body. He drew many detailed illustrations of the components of the human body, this changed people's understanding on how the parts of the body worked and performed certain functions. This challenged the work of the previous scientists. -
1545
Triumph of the new science
As new discoveries were made, Europe was starting to transform. Scientists were beginning to think that the scientific method would help them figure out anything. This changed the way of the world at that time, schools and societies began to accept Science and study it. The printing press helped spread the knowledge of the scientific discoveries as new societies began to publish journals of their findings. Scientists around the world could read about the discoveries that were being made. -
Gottfried Wilhelm Liebnitz
Liebnitz was a German philosopher and a polymath. He and Newton invented Calculus, a new form of mathematics. Both of them did not work as a group to invent Calculus. They invented these ideas independently. This is very significant because Calculus is studied today and used in creating mathematical models to come to the best solution to a particular problem. This changed the way people thought about the world because it helped them think of things through the mathematical way. -
Johannes Kepler
Kepler was a mathematician who utilized models, observations and mathematics to test Copernicus's heliocentric theory. Proving the heliocentric theory right, took him some time but he did it and eventually published the laws of planters motion in 1609. Kepler's work challenged people to not believe in anything but to test it yourself to see if it is actually right. This is very significant because it helped prove the heliocentric theory. -
William Harvey
Harvey was an English physician who studied the circulation of blood by doing many scientific experiments in the laboratory, he explained how the blood circulated through the veins and arteries. He mostly studied the function of the heart, which is the body's most important muscle. This changed the way people thought about the body and how it worked, this also challenged people to further study the body because it proved not everything had been discovered. -
Francis Bacon
Francis Bacon was an English philosopher and a scientist. He believed any theory could only be proven by observations or the repetition of scientific experiments. In 1620, he published a book called Novum organum that explained this system of finding the truth. This changed the way people thought because it taught people to not believe in anything unless it was proven by scientific experiments or observations. This is very significant because even today, the truth is found using this way. -
Galileo Galilei
He had heard of an instrument that helped view distant objects, so he built a telescope to study the skies, he saw the Moon, Sun, and Saturn. He used these observations to prove that not all planets revolved around the sun, proving the heliocentric theory right. This challenged people to invent and discover through science and proof, his study also formed the base for Physics. This discovery was very significant because the tool called telescope, which is still used today but it is improved. -
Antoni Van Leeuwenhoek
Antoni was a Dutch scientist, who discovered bacteria using the microscope invented in the late 1500s. He called these bacteria animalcules, he further studied and wrote about tiny forms of life never before seen by the human eye. This is very important because if bacteria would not have been discovered, we would not have made medicines or found out the reason behind many diseases. This challenged the way people thought about diseases and their cures. -
René Descartes
Descartes was a French philosopher and a mathematician. He greatly contributed to the fields of math, science, and philosophy. He stated, "I think, therefore I am" meaning ideas that were correct without any doubt could be assumed right. His theories and ideas led to the law of refraction that is studied today in Physics, most of his work went against the church teachings. His ideas helped change the habit of assumption and helped people understand the importance of stating facts. -
Robert Boyle
Robert Boyle was an English-Irish scientist, who contributed to the modern science of Chemistry. Chemistry is the science that studies the composition of matter and how it evolves. In 1662, he discovered and stated that temperature and pressure affect the space that a gas has occupied. This changed and developed people's thinking about the gases and space. This is very significant to the future because Chemistry has been developed with this idea. -
Issac Newton
Scientists Kepler, Galileo, and Copernicus found out that planets move around the sun but they hadn't figured out why they moved. He created the laws of gravitation. He also created the laws of motion and mathematical ways of calculating motion, which is very significant as it is still used today. By creating this system, Newton helped to change people's understanding for the movement of all things in the universe.
