revolution timeline

Humanism

1301

Humanism also known as Renaissance Humanism, was an intellectual movement embraced by scholars, writers, and civic leaders in 14th- and early-15th-century Italy. Humanism was an optimistic philosophy that saw man as a rational and sentient being, with the ability to decide and think for himself.

petrarch

1341

Petrarch was an enthusiastic Latin scholar and did most of his writing in this language. His Latin writings include scholarly works, introspective essays, letters, and more poetry

perpective

1377

The first known picture to make use of linear perspective was created by the Florentine architect Fillipo Brunelleshi 1377-1446. Painted in 1415, it depicted the Baptistery in Florence from the front gate of the unfinished cathedral.

printing revolution

1440

Typically used for texts, the invention and global spread of the printing press was one of the most influential events in the second millennium. In Germany, around 1440, goldsmith Johannes Gutenberg invented the printing press, which started a printing revolution.

council of trent

1445

The Council of Trent held between 1545 and 1563 in Trent was the 19th ecumenical council of the Catholic Church. Prompted by the Protestant Reformation, it has been described as the embodiment of the Counter-Reformation

Lorenzo de Medici

1470

He was a magnate, diplomat, politician and patron of scholars, artists and poets. As a patron, he is best known for his sponsorship of artists such as Botticelli and Michelangelo.

Machiavelli

May 3, 1498

Machiavelli is best known for writing The Prince, a handbook for unscrupulous politicians that inspired the term "Machiavellian" and established its author as the "father of modern political theory.

Martin luther

1500

Martin Luther is one of the most influential figures in Western history. His writings were responsible for fractionalizing the Catholic Church and sparking the Protestant Reformation.

William Shakespeare

1500

William Shakespeare is the best British writer of all time. His many works are about life, love, death, revenge, grief, jealousy, murder, magic and mystery. He wrote many books including Macbeth, Romeo and Juliet, and Hamlet.

michelangelo

1501

Michelangelo is regarded as one of the most famous artists of all time. Michelangelo was responsible for much of the design of Florence, Italy.

Leonardo da vinci

1503

Leonardo da Vinci is considered one of the world's greatest minds. The Italian polymath from the Renaissance era, best known for his works of art like the "Mona Lisa" and "The Last Supper,"

Henry viii

1509

Henry VIII was born at Greenwich Palace on 28 June 1491 the second son of Henry Tudor (Henry VII). ... Henry married his first wife, Catherine of Aragon on 11 June 1509. Henry VIII was a clever and active young man. He spoke Latin, Spanish and French fluently.

raphael

1520

Raphael is best known for his Madonnas and for his large figure compositions in the Vatican.

John Calvin

1536

John Calvin was a famous French theologian and a major leader of the Protestant Reformation. He helped popularize the belief in the sovereignty of God in all areas of life, as well as the doctrine of predestination. The theological approach advanced by Calvin has come to be known as 'Calvinism.

Elizabeth I

1540

Elizabeth I was born on September 7, 1533, in Greenwich, England. Elizabeth was raised much like any other royal child. She received tutoring and excelled at languages and music. After her father's death in 1547, Elizabeth spent some time under the care of her stepmother Catherine Parr.

heliocentric theory

1543

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. This is called the heliocentric, or Sun-centered, system.

Francis Bacon

1561

Bacon served as attorney general and Lord Chancellor of England, resigning amid charges of corruption. His more valuable work was philosophical. Bacon took up Aristotelian ideas, arguing for an empirical, inductive approach, known as the scientific method, which is the foundation of modern scientific inquiry.

Science Method

1564

The Scientific Method was further developed during the Renaissance. Galileo used controlled experiments and analyzed data to prove, or disprove, his theories. The process was later refined by scientists such as Francis Bacon and Isaac Newton.

Rene Descartes

1596

Descartes has been heralded as the first modern philosopher. He is famous for having made an important connection between geometry and algebra, which allowed for the solving of geometrical problems by way of algebraic equations.

Isaac Newton

1642

Isaac Newton was born in Woolsthorpe, England on January 4, 1643. During his lifetime Newton developed the theory of gravity, the laws of motion which became the basis for physics a new type of mathematics called calculus, and made breakthroughs in the area of optics such as the reflecting telescope.