-
1543
Nicolaus Copernicus
He was the first European scientist to propose that Earth and other planets revolve around the sun, the heliocentric theory of the solar system.
Throughout his lifetime, Copernicus was active in the religious community.
Nicolaus Copernicus was a Polish astronomer who put forth the theory that the Sun is at rest near the center of the Universe and that the Earth, spinning on its axis once daily, revolves annually around the Sun. -
Francis Bacon
If a man will begin with certainties, he shall end in doubts; but if he will be content to begin with doubts he shall end in certainties.
Although Bacon was accused of being a secret atheist, his belief in Christianity, though extremely liberal by the standards of his day, appears to have been sincere.
Francis Bacon created the Scientific Method, also known as the Bacon Method. -
Galileo Galilei
In 1992. the Vatican formally and publicly cleared Galileo of any wrongdoing.
Galileo did recant his heresy, which is a formal apology/backing down.
1633 Galileo is convicted on “vehement suspicion of heresy” and the book is banned. -
Rene Descartes
His most significant achievement was the use of algebraic formulas to describe geometric figures.
Every high school student becomes familiar with Descartes' work as it was the foundation of the Cartesian coordinate
René Descartes is often credited with being the “Father of Modern Philosophy. -
Isaac Newton
He formulated laws of motion and gravitation.
Isaac published his most famous book, Principia, in 1687 while he was a mathematics professor at Trinity College, Cambridge.
While we know that Isaac Newton discovered Gravity, he also made many other scientific discoveries. -
John Locke
In politics, Locke is best known as a proponent of limited government.
Government, he said, was mainly necessary to promote the “public good,” that is to protect property and encourage commerce and little else.
Natural Law and Natural Rights. Perhaps the most central concept in Locke's political philosophy is his theory of natural law and natural rights. -
Montesquieu
French political philosopher Montesquieu was best known for The Spirit of Laws (1748), one of the great works in the history of political theory and jurisprudence.
He believed that uniting these powers, as in the monarchy of Louis XIV, would lead to despotism.
In 1721 Montesquieu published the Persian Letters, which was an instant success and made Montesquieu a literary celebrity -
Denis Diderot
he did not enter the church, and he later became an atheist and embraced rationalism.
Diderot's interests ranged over many disciplinary spheres, from philosophy to mathematics and biology, from literature to aesthetics.
In 1751 Diderot co-created the Encyclopédie with Jean le Rond d'Alembert. -
Jean-Jacques Rousseau-alex
Rousseau's praise of nature is a theme that continues throughout his later works as well.
In 1745 Rousseau met Thérèse Levasseur, who would become his lifelong partner; they eventually married in 1768. Apprenticed to an engraver, Rousseau eventually left Geneva in 1728, fleeing to Annecy. -
Voltaire
His most famous works included the fictitious Lettres philosophiques (1734) and the satirical novel Candide (1759).
Voltaire was a deist who believed God created the world but did not intervene in it.
Voltaire was born on November 21, 1694, in Paris. -
James Watt
Watt was born on January 19, 1736, in Greenock, Scotland. His father ran a ship- and house-building business. James Watt is chiefly known for inventing different types of steam engines that helped start the Industrial Revolution.
He patented several other important inventions including the rotary engine, the double-action engine, and the steam indicator -
Adam Smith
Smith argued that the free-market system along with free trade would produce true national wealth.
In the Wealth of Nations, Smith attacked mercantilist trade practices.
Smith wanted people to practice thrift, hard work, and enlightened self-interest. -
George Washington
He led the Continental Army to victory in the Revolutionary War and helped create the U.S. Constitution.
The youngest person to become U.S. president was Theodore Roosevelt, who, at age 42. -
Thomas Jefferson
Jefferson is credited with inventing a macaroni machine, a revolving chair with a leg rest and writing arm, and new types of iron plows created especially for hillside plowing. We have George Washington on the $1 bill, Thomas Jefferson on the $2 bill, Abraham Lincoln on the $5, Andrew Jackson on the $20, and Ulysses S. Grant on the $50. Alexander Hamilton and Ben Franklin were never presidents, but they are featured on the $10 and $100 bill, respectively. -
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
By the time Mozart was four years old, he could learn a song on the clavier (a stringed keyboard instrument) in just 30 minutes.
Mozart composed music in several genres, including opera and symphony.
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791) was one of the most influential, popular, and prolific composers of the classical period. -
Maximillien Robespierre
Maximilien Robespierre was a radical democrat and key figure in the French Revolution of 1789.
During the Reign of Terror, Robespierre systematically convicted and guillotined members of rival factions in the name of bringing his utopian democratic ideal to life.
He was short (perhaps only 5 feet 3 or so), slim with light-brown hair and a pale, slightly pockmarked face. -
Miguel Hidalgo
Father Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla (1753-1811) was a Mexican priest, teacher, and freethinker.
Father Hidalgo worked as a priest in the town of Dolores. He worked to improve the lives of the people there. He taught them new farming techniques.
Father Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla formally began his rebellion against the Spanish government in 1810. -
Simon Bolivar
Simón Bolívar was a Venezuelan soldier and statesman who played a central role in the South American independence movement.
Tuberculosis was responsible for the death of Simon Bolivar at the age of 47 years in 1830. The results of an autopsy performed by Alexandre Prospère Révérend, the French physician who cared for him during the terminal phase of his illness, have long been regarded as proof of the diagnosis.
SIMON BOLIVAR IS BEST KNOWN AS THE LIBERATOR OF MOST OF SPANISH SOUTH AMERICA.