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Jan 1, 1271
Marco Polo
He is one of the first and most famous Europeans to travel to Asia during the Middle Ages. He traveled farther than any of his predecessors during his 24-year journey along the Silk Road. Maps he brought back helped to develope European cartophy, and he introduced Europe to Chinese innovations such as paper, money, coal, eyeglasses, and postal service. -
Jan 1, 1434
Prince Henry (Portugal)
Prince Henry helped begin the Great Age of Discovery that lasted from the 1400's to the early 1500's. His expeditions were sent to create much-needed maps of the West African coast, to defeat Muslims, to spread Christianity, and to establish trade routes. -
Aug 3, 1492
Christopher Columbus
Through his four significant voyages he not only discovered new land masses, but he also initiated Spanish colonization and the establishment of several new society. He changed the perception of the American contients for the European countries. -
Jul 8, 1497
Vasco De Gama
He was the first person to sail directly from Europe to India. His sucess in doing so proved to be one of the more instrumental movements in the history of navigation. -
Jan 1, 1509
John Calvin
Famous for his involvement in Calvinism, a theological system that defines Christian theology. Some of the greatest minds of the early America were Calvinists. -
Jan 1, 1513
Francisco Pizarro
He is famous for helping Vasco Nunez de Balboa discover the Pacific Ocean, and after conquring Peru, founded it's capital city, Lima. If it wasn't for Pizarro we wouldn't know much about South America or Peru. -
Jan 1, 1517
Martin Luther
Luther became one of the most influential figures in Christian history when he began the Protestand Reformation. His "95 Theses," changed the course of religious and cultural history in the West. -
Feb 1, 1519
Hernan Cortes
He was a conquistador who overthrew the Aztec empire and won Mexico for the crown of Spain. Besides conquring empires and increasing his land share, he is also credited for discovering the penninsula of California. -
Aug 10, 1519
Fredinand Magellan
When he attempted to reach the spice-rich South-east Asia, he initiated the circumnavigation of the earth. He eventually proved that there was another way to reach India and the Spice Islands other than the more-poular African route. He is creditied for making the first circumnavigation around the globe. -
Apr 20, 1534
Jacques Cartier
He is known chiefly for exploring the St. Lawrence River and giving Canada it's name. His exploration of the St. Lawrence River allowed France to lay claim to lands that would become Canada. -
Sep 27, 1540
Saint Ignatius of Loyola
Famous for being the founder and first Superior General or the 'Society of Jesus'. The Jesuits travelled to China to attempt to convert the Chinese and had a big impact on the country and also brought back a lot of Chinese technology and learning for Europe. -
Jan 1, 1543
Nicolaus Copernicus
He identified the concept of a heliocentric solar system, in which the sun, rather than the earth, is the center of the solar system. His observation disproved the ptolemic theory, which held the earth to be the center of the universe. His work was extremely important for the advancement of science. -
Jan 1, 1572
Tycho Brahe
He is famous as an astronomer. Even before the invention of the telescope, he devised his own instrument, to observe the heavens. The instrument allowed him to determine the movements of celestial objects and the motion of the solar system more precisely. -
Johannes Kepler
He was know as a famous German mathematician and astronomer who discovered the ovoid movements of the planets around the sun. He was the first astronomer to state the fundamental laws of planetary motion. -
Galileo Galilei
He is most known for his telescope discovery of the four most massive moons of Jupiter: Lo, Ganymede, Europa, and Callisto, now called the Galilean moons. -
Francis Bacon
Best known for his promotion of the scientific method. He took up Aristotellian ideas, argued for an empiriical, inductive approach, known as the scientific method, which is the foundation of modern scientific inquiry. -
Rene Descartes
He is most famous for his legendary experiment of presenting a geometrical point using a pair of ordered numbers (now called coordinate geometry) it almost kickstarted modern mathematics. -
Robert Boyle
Boyle carried out many experiments which helped him in the discovery of the relationship between pressure and volume of gases. This resulted in the "Boyle-Mariotte Law" which implied that if the temperature is constant, the volume of gas is inversely proportional to the pressure. -
Isaac Newton
Most famous for his law of gravitation. He contributed a lot to physics and he also made laws that we still use today.
