-
Jan 22, 1561
Francis Bacon
Francis Bacon was a lead proponent in the scientific revolution which has shaped our world for the last four centuries. In 1621 he was accused of accepting bribes and impeached by Parliament for corruption. He died on April 9, 1626. He popularized the scientific method as a means to study all aspects of our natural world. Through men like Bacon, science moved to the forefront of society and has been changing it ever since. -
Feb 15, 1564
Galileo Galilei
He was an Italian scientist and scholar Galileo made pioneering observations that laid the foundation for modern physics and astronomy. He died in Arcetri, Italy, on January 8, 1642, but not before becoming well know for his works and accomplishments in science. .He was able to prove that the Earth was not the center of the universe but it revolved around the sun by use of the telescope and observations of the planetary movements. -
Dec 27, 1571
Johannes Kepler
Johannes Kepler, (born December 27, 1571, Weil der Stadt, Württemberg [Germany]—died November 15, 1630, Regensburg). He was a German astronomer who discovered three major laws of planetary motion. Kepler was one of the most important scientists of his age and his theories would provide Newton a base from which to build. Kepler was able to describe how planets moved in elliptical orbits. His ideas were a key piece in putting together the puzzle of what our universe looks like -
Apr 1, 1578
William Harvey
William was a Medical Professional, Doctor, Physiologist, Scientist, Journalist that was born in 1578 and died in 1657. He was a 17th-century British physician who became the first to document an understanding of blood circulation. Harvey's monumental work De Motu Cordis was published in 1628 and was dedicated to King Charles I. Harvey used experiments on a snake, to demonstrate that the blood passed from the veins to the right side of the heart (the right ventricle). In 1651, Harvey’s second -
Rene Descartes
French philosopher and mathematician, he promoted the importance of using human reason to deduct truth. This principle of reason was an important aspect of the Enlightenment and the development of modern thought. In 1637, Descartes published some of his most important works, including Discours de la méthode. This stated, with Descartes’ characteristic clarity, the importance of methodically never accepting as true – anything which had not been properly examined. Descartes methodology of philosop -
Charles I of England
Charles I was a king of England, Scotland and Ireland, whose conflicts with parliament and his subjects led to civil war and his execution. At the age of 25, he took the throne, his reign was marked by religious and political strife that led to civil war. Charles dissolved parliament three times in the first four years of his rule.Oliver Cromwell, defeated Charles's royalist forces and the king was beheaded in London in 1649. -
John Locke
He was an English philosopher, one of the greatest thinker of the Enlightenment, Locke essentially laid the foundation for the democratic movement. He influenced many of the philosophers to follow with his ideas of self concept and identity. These ideas were also well ingrained with the American independence movement. Exiled from England, he composed "An Essay Concerning Human Understanding," A hero to the Whig party, Locke remained connected to governmental affairs in his advanced years. -
Louis XIV- The Sun King
Louis XIV, France's Sun King, had the longest reign in European history (1643-1715).On May 14, 1643, when Louis XIV was just 4 and a half years old, his father passed away. Not much more than a toddler, Louis XIV succeeded his father to the throne, becoming the leader of 19 million French subjects and a highly unstable government.It wasn't until Mazarin died in 1661, when Louis XIV was in his 20s, that the young king finally took control of the French government. During this time he brought abso -
Isaac Newton
He was an English physicist and mathematician Sir Isaac Newton, most famous for his law of gravitation, was instrumental in the scientific revolution of the 17th century. He explained to the world how gravity works and how the laws of motion control mostly everything. Part of Newton's study of optics was aided with the use of a reflecting telescope that he designed and constructed in 1668—his first major public scientific achievement. in the universe. He invented calculus, opening a whole to doo -
Peter the Great
Born in Moscow, Russia on June 9, 1672, Peter the Great was a Russian czar in the late 17th century who is best known for his extensive reforms in an attempt to establish Russia as a great nation. Having ruled jointly with his brother Ivan V from 1682, when Ivan died in 1696, Peter was officially declared Sovereign of all Russia. Mirroring Western culture, he modernized the Russian alphabet, introduced the Julian calendar, and established the first Russian newspaper. In 1709, he defeated the Swe -
Christian Wollf
Christian Freiherr von Wolff was a German philosopher, mathematician, and scientist who is best known as a leading spokesman of German rationalism. He wrote numerous works in theology, psychology, botany, and physics but is best known as a leading spokesman of German rationalism. -
Hermann Samuel Reimarus
He was German philosopher and man of letters of the Enlightenment who is remembered for his Deism. Reimarus’ major work, Apologie oder Schutzschrift für die vernünftigen Verehrer Gottes (“Apologia or Defense for the Rational Reverers of God”), took 20 years to complete and was deliberately left unpublished until after his death. According to Reimarus, Jesus, he claimed, was a mere human afflicted by messianic illusions; after his death his body was stolen and hidden by his disciples to maintain -
Benjamin Franklin
Benjamin Franklin is best known as one of the Founding Fathers who drafted the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution of the United States. He conducted the famous kite-and-key experiment in 1752 after some of his theories on electricity were published in England the previous year. 1766 supported the repeal of the Stamp Act. Also in 1776, he was one of five men to draft the Declaration of Independence. Franklin was also one of the 13 men who drafted the Articles of Confederation. -
Julien Offray de La Mettrie
He was a French physician and philosopher, the earliest of the materialist writers of the Enlightenment. He made a study of his own hallucinations during a fever and published Histoire naturelle de l'âme (Natural History of the Soul, 1745), concluding that psychical phenomena could be explained by organic changes in the body and brain. -
Thomas Paine
Thomas Paine was an English American writer and pamphleteer whose "Common Sense" and other writings influenced the American Revolution, and helped pave the way for the Declaration of Independence.
His great contribution to the patriot cause was the 16 “Crisis” papers issued between 1776 and 1783, each one signed Common Sense. “The American Crisis. Number I,” published on Dec. 19, 1776, when George Washington’s army was on the verge of disintegration, opened with the flaming words: “These are the -
Thomas Jefferson
Thomas Jefferson, a spokesman for democracy, was an American Founding Father, the principal author of the Declaration of Independence (1776), and the third President of the United States (1801–1809). As the "silent member" of the Congress, Jefferson, at 33, drafted the Declaration of Independence. Most notably, he wrote a bill establishing religious freedom, enacted in 1786.Jefferson suppressed his qualms over constitutionality when he had the opportunity to acquire the Louisiana Territory from -
Maximilien de Robespierre
He was an Government Official, Philosopher, Scholar, Lawyer, Judge, Activist, Journalist that was born in 1758and was executed in 1794. On July 27, 1793,he was elected to the Committee of Public Safety. Faced with pressure he allowed the Revolutionary government instituted the Reign of Terror in September of 1973, that lasted for 11 months until his people turned on him and had him arrested followed by the execution of him and 21 members of his group. -
Napoleon Bonaparte
Napoleon I, was a French military leader and emperor who conquered much of Europe in the early 19th century. In he crowned himself emperor in 1804 to protect himself.After a disastrous French invasion of Russia in 1812, Napoleon abdicated the throne two years later and was exiled to the island of Elba.Napoleon I was a major part of this Era and playd a vital role in the French Revolution. -
Frederick William III
He was the King of Prussia from 1797,and the son of Frederick William II. He sanctioned the reforms proposed by Prussian statesmen such as Karl Stein and Karl von Hardenberg, and never lost his fear that reform might lead to “Jacobinism,” The the last 25 years of Frederick William’s reign show a downward trend of Prussia’s fortunes, to which his personal limitations largely contributed. -
Alexander I
Czar Alexander II, the ruler of Russia since 1855, is killed in the streets of St. Petersburg by a bomb thrown by a member of the revolutionary “People’s Will” group. He was succeeded by his 36-year-old son, Alexander III, who rejected the Loris-Melikov constitution. -
Congress of Vienna
One of the most important international conferences in European history, called to remake Europe after the downfall of Napoleon I. Among the many monarchs to attend the congress the most important were Czar Alexander I of Russia and King Frederick William III of Prussia. The French Revolution and the Napoleonic Wars had swept away the entire structure of Europe. The congress opened with a round of magnificent balls and entertainments, while its serious business was stalled by intrigues and rival
