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350 BCE
Aristotle
Aristotle was a Greek philosopher and scientist who came up with the first explanations of magic and beliefs. Because of Aristotle many people believed his methods for up to thousands. He kept people from being shown the truth of science. He lead people to think the way Alchemist and Astrologers believed for up 2, 000 years until people like Roger Bacon came along to change the worlds thinking of science. He proved that it was not magic, it was indeed science. -
Period: 350 BCE to 1500
Alchemist's and Astrologers
An alchemist used spells and magic to to try and change one substance to another - for example, lead into gold. Astrologers believed that the position of the stars in the sky influenced human life. But people still believed the theories by Aristotle that relied on the religious teachings of the work of classical Greek and Roman thinkers. -
1200
Roger Bacon
Roger Bacon was a philosopher and scientist who helped start the scientific revolution. Roger Bacon was one of the earliest to favor a system scientific experimentation, rather than accepting the religious idea and beliefs that everyone had previously accepted. He did this as a way of trying to truth. His methods were mainly used in alchemy. He would be famed as a teacher, under the name Doctor Mirabilis, which means amazing or wonderful. -
Period: 1300 to
Renaissance
The Renaissance was the "Re-Birth" of Europe after the middle ages. This was one of the most important times of all time, as it helped shape the advancements in our society. Without these, we would not be able to live as well as we do today. -
1490
Leonardo da Vinci
Leonardo da Vinci was a big part of the renaissance because he was a great artist. He was a great artist of the human body, and showed people what the inside of the body looked like with drawings, instead of using words. When asked about how to describe the human body, he would be quoted of saying "I advise you not to trouble with words unless you are speaking to blind men." Without Leonard, we would be much less advance in science, and may not know what the inside of the human body looks like. -
Period: 1500 to
The Scientific Method
The Scientific Method was a method of procedure that has characterized natural science since the 17th century, consisting in systematic observation, measurement, and experiment, and the formulation, testing, and modification of hypotheses. This is important because it helped advance science. -
1543
Nicolaus Copernicus
Copernicus was a Polish scientist who came up with the heliocentric theory, which stated that the solar system rotated around the sun. In the A.D 100's, the astronomer Ptolemy stated that the Earth was the center of the universe, considered as the geocentric theory. Copernicus abandoned the idea, finding that the sun was the center of the universe. When he published his theory, no one paid attention. Anyone could see planets moving, but couldn't feel Earth move. Without him, we would know this. -
1543
Andreas Vesalius
Andreas Vesalius was a Flemish scientist who took note of da Vinci's words and pioneered the study of anatomy. He refused to accept the descriptions of human muscles and tissues by Galen 400 years earlier. Vesalius conducted his own studies. In 1543 he published a seven volume book, where he included diagrams that were very detailed for the time. Without Vesalius along with da Vinci, we would not know what the inside of the human body looks like. -
William Harvey
William Harvey was an English physician who, by using laboratory experiments, studied the circulation of blood. He described how blood moved through the veins and arteries. He would also observed the working of the study's most important muscle, the heart. Without Harvey, we would not be as advanced in the medical world. -
Johannes Kepler
Johannes Kepler was a very smart mathematician who used models, observation, and mathematics to test Copernicus's heliocentric theory. He would publish the laws of planetary motion in 1609. Without Kepler, we would not be able to have been sure if Copernicus's idea was indeed correct. -
Francis Bacon
Francis Bacon was an English philosopher and scientist who lived at the same time as Descartes. Bacon believed that scientific theories could be developed only through observation. He relied on truths that could be demonstrated physically. In 1620 he would publish Novum Organum, a book that outlined this new system of knowledge. Without him, we would conduct experiments differently. -
Galileo Galilei
Galileo would add on to the ideas of Copernicus and Kepler's theory, by making a telescope to see planets. He would be able to argue his findings by watching the moons circling planet Jupiter. When he would publish his findings in 1632, he would cause an uproar. People would become convinced that the telescope was an invention of the devil. Never less, without him we would not be as advanced in our sciences. -
René Descartes
Descartes was a French philosopher and mathematician who's ideas lead to advancements in mathematics, the sciences, and philosophy. He would state that all assumptions had to be proven on the basis of known facts, in Discourse on Method (1637). In his view, all fields of scientific knowledge were all connected. Without Descartes, we would not be as advanced as we are now in the world. -
Robert Boyle
Robert Boyle helped pioneer the modern science of chemistry. In 1662, he would show that temperature and pressure affect the space that a gas occupies. Without Boyle, we would be not as advanced in chemistry. -
Isaac Newton
Isaac Newton would tie together why planets move around the sun. He realized that the same force that holds planets in orbit and the force that causes objects to fall on Earth were the same. Newton also explained the laws of motion and developed the mathematical means of measuring motion. Without him, we would be less advanced in science. -
Antoine Lavoisier
Antoine Lavoisier was a French scientist who would be the person who named the element oxygen. Before, people believed that fire was an element. Lavoisier would find that fire would only happen in a substance would rapidly mix with oxygen. Without Antoine we would not know what oxygen is.
