Renaissance

Eyeglasses

Feb 23, 1306

The eyeglasses were invented in 1306 by Dominican friar Giordano da Pisa. This is very important to us today, because eyeglasses are used for many things, including sharpening our vision, protecting our eyes from chemicals and when we’re doing moderately dangerous things.

Black Death

Jan 1, 1348

In 1348, the Black Death started, also known as the Bubonic Plague. This plague killed between 1/3 and 3/5 of Europe’s population, approximately 100 million people. This plague is very important because it helped start the Renaissance and the transition between the medieval times and the Modern Ages.

Portable Clocks

Jan 1, 1410

For the portable clocks driven by springs that we use today, you can thank Filippo Brunelleschi. Before these clocks were invented, clocks were extremely large structures which had to remain stationary. With the invention of these clocks, we can now tell the time, wherever we're at.

Tripartite Periodization

Jan 1, 1442

In the year of 1442, the method of tripartite periodization was invented by Leonardo Bruni. This invention is important because it is important to differentiate between historical periods; as many major events happened which are related to each other in these different periods. This means that it is best to categorize these periods accordingly.

Printing Press

Jan 1, 1453

The printing press, a very important invention
was created this year by Johannes Gutenberg, who
was a goldsmith. Although the original printing
press was very inefficient compared to the mass
printers we have today, it definitely beat copying
books and pages by hand. The printing press helped
immensely in the spreading of literature around Europe.

Parachute

Jan 1, 1478

1478 In this year, Leonardo da Vinci came up with a blueprint for a contraption which would supposedly slow down a person’s fall when they’re going at dangerous speeds; now known as the parachute. Although this idea was only tested in the year 2000, the original plans were made in the Renaissance.

Vitruvian Man

Jan 1, 1490

1490 During this year, the Vitruvian Man by Leonardo da Vinci was finished. This drawing is extremely important to how we view the people in the Renaissance. This also important because it shows how the human body was extremely reveled upon. The Vitruvian Man is a drawing based on Vitruvius’ De Architectura, which shows the symmetry and perfect aspects of the human body.

Americas

Jan 1, 1492

In this year, Christopher Columbus “discovered” the Americas. Christopher Columbus was an Italian man, but the Spanish funded his journey. This started the fur trade, the modernization and the expansion of the Americas/Europe.

Mona Lisa

Jan 1, 1504

The Mona Lisa is an extremely famous painting by Leonardo da Vinci. It is very famous because of the intricacy and the fact that no one has been able to duplicate some of the unique features of it; such as the fact that her eyes seem to follow you around as you walk.

The Prince

Jan 1, 1513

This was the year in which Niccolo Machiavelli published and distributed The Prince, which is a political handbook which essentially instructs people of high power what the right things are to do and how you should rule your subjects. It also provides instructions on what to do in some bad events.

Utopia

Jan 1, 1516

This is the approximate year in which the humanism revolution started. This is thought to be the beginning because this is the year in which Thomas More published his book Utopia, which made many people think about how they currently live their lives and why the church is so wealthy, if they give all to God.

Reformation

Jan 1, 1517

This is the year when the reformation officially started, nudged on by Martin Luther. He confronted the Church, saying that one does not simply get into heaven by buying passes which allow you to supposedly get good grace from God, you get into heaven by doing good deeds and being an overall good person.

Protestants

Jan 1, 1533

In this year, King Henry VIII created a new branch of Christianity, the Protestants. He created this because he wanted to remarry. King Henry wanted to remarry because he wanted to continue the Tudors' reign in England. This means that Henry desperately wanted to marry a woman who would bear him male children.

Anatomy

Jan 1, 1543

Andreas Vesalius started to study the human’s anatomy. Without Vesalius’s contributions to the medical society, we would most likely be very much far behind on our human anatomy, as he studied most of the human body’s bone, muscle, organs, nervous systems, etc.

Galileo Galilei

Jan 1, 1564

This is the year in which Galileo Galilei was born. Galileo was a very famous astronomer who invented the first telescope, and observed some of the planets. He also worked with Copernicus to prove to everyone that the Earth was round. Galileo is important today because without him, we would most likely be behind in our astronomical research.

Graphite Pencil

Jan 1, 1564

This is the in which Conrad Gesner invented the graphite pencil. These pencils were created when an extremely large graphite mine was found in England. The graphite was then cut into sheets, and compressed into rods. The pencils were accidentally called lead, because it looked and acted like lead. This invention/discovery is important because we now use graphite pencils in our everyday work.

Microscope

Jan 1, 1590

Zacharias Janssen created the first microscope in this year. Janssen worked for a while in his life as a spectacle-maker, and as of some messing around with spectacles, he managed to create the world’s first microscope, although a simple optical one. Without this invention, we probably wouldn’t be able to see extremely close up on many things.

Flushable Toilet

Jan 1, 1596

The first flushable toilet was invented in 1596 by Sir John Harington. Since there weren’t all that many toilets in the Medieval Ages and the Renaissance, this was a big invention. With the flush toilet, people were now able to dispose of their waste in a more efficient and cleaner way. With this new technology, hygiene was taken into more consideration.

Submarine

Jan 1, 1624

In this year, Cornelis von Drebbel created the first navigable submarine; although the plans for the first submarine was made by Leonardo da Vinci. The submarine is very important because it allows for underwater stealth travel, making stealth missions easier for everyone who wishes to forego one. Also, submarines can be a travelling device and a leisure device, used for sightseeing.

Sir Issac Newton

Jan 1, 1642

In this year, Sir Issac Newton was born. Issac Newton is one of the most famous physicists in our history. He discovered many laws of physics and is most famous for the apple incident. The apple incident is an incident in which Newton was sitting under an apple tree, thinking about life, when an apple fell on his head. Due to this, he discovered the Law of Universal Gravitation.