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Period: Jan 1, 1540 to
Scientific Revolution
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Jan 1, 1543
Nicolaus Copernicus Publishes De Revolutionibus Orbium Coelestium
Nicolas Copernicus Publishes De Revolutionibus Orbium Coelestium (On the Revolutions of Celestial Bodies) Copernicus' masterwork; he sets out the heliocentric theory. It offered an alternative model of the universe to Ptolemy's geocentric system, which had been widely accepted in ancient times. -
Jan 1, 1573
De Nova Stella
He destoryed the theory of celestial spheres with precision measurements that showed the celestial heavens were not immutable as previously assumed by Aristotle and Ptolemy,but by lack of parallaxnew stars (now known as novae or supernovae), in particular that of 1572, were not "atmospheric" tail-less comets but occurred above the atmosphere and moon. -
Galileo Galilei Demonstrates the Properties of Gravity
Galileo demonstrates, from the top of the leaning tower of Pisa, that a one- pound weight and a one hundred-pound weight, dropped at the same moment, hit the ground at the same moment, refuting the contention of the Aristotelian system that the rate of fall of an object is dependent upon its weight. -
Astronomia Nova
This is Kepler's most important work in astronomy. Focussing on the orbit of Mars, Kepler in this work abandoned the circle which had dominated accounts of planetary motions from the time of Aristotle and Ptolemy. Through the use of Tycho Brah's superior planetary tables, Kepler realised that the orbit of Mars fitted the shape of an ellipse. He went on in this work to formulate two of his three laws of planetary motions, including the law that all planets move in elliptical orbits. The Astronom -
Letters on Sunspots
In his Letters, and unlike Scheiner, Galileo correctly identifies sunspots as markings on the solar surface, as opposed to small intramercurial planets. By studying the position of sunspots on successive days Galileo also inferred that the Sun rotates, and established its rotation period as close to one lunar month. -
Dialogue on the Two Chief Systems of the World
Galileo's magnum opus uses the laws of physics to refute the Aristotelian contention that the Earth is the center of the solar system and supports the heliocentric Copernican view. Galileo presents the doctrine of uniformity, which claims that the laws of terrestrial physics are no different than the laws of celestial physics. -
Rene Descartes Publishes Geometry
In this landmark work, Descartes discusses how motion may be represented as a curve along a graph, defined by its relation to planes of reference. -
The Royal Society of London
The Royal Society brings together the greatest minds of the region in efforts to advance science through cooperation. Similar societies subsequently spring up throughout Europe, creating an intellectual network, which produces many of the scientific advances of the later seventeenth century. -
Boyle's Law
It describes the inversely proportional relationship between the absolute pressure and volume of a gas, if the temperature is kept constant within a closed system. The law was named after chemist and physicist Robert Boyle, who published the original law in 1662. -
Philosophia Naturalis Principia Mathematica
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.
