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500 BCE
Natural Philosophers
Near the time of 500 BC, the closest thing people had to science were natural philosophers. They believed in religious reasoning and Greek and Roman ideas to explain things about human nature and science. This is important because it was the start of science and people trying to find things about humanity and the universe. -
100
Ptolemy
He was a n astronomer that came of with the idea that the Earth was the center of the universe. This theory, geocentric theory, states that all of the other planets and the sun move around the Earth. This was important because it was the original theory of how the universe worked. -
1200
Roger Bacon
Roger Bacon was an English philosopher and scientist during the 1200's. Roger Bacon was one of the first scientist to steer away from the traditional scientific method of his time. He conducted experiments instead relying on religious reasoning. He was an important person because he was the start of the Scientific Revolution and influenced many other scientists after him. After Bacon, the study of nature and humanity became more organized and efficient. -
1500
New Study of Nature
Conducting experiments shaped the how scientists found out information and was a vital part of of learning. New tools and concepts were created in order to help conduct experiments. For example, special instruments and mathematics. Some scientific tools included microscopes, barometer, the telescope and the thermometer. These tools were important because the enhanced the scientific experiments and improved the manner of study called Scientific Study. -
Period: 1500 to
The Scientific Revolution
By the late 1700's, new scientific discoveries and approaches had spread across Europe. There was a great amount of knowledge that was gained in a very short amount of time. The speed of this revolution played was an important characteristic and helped to shape the world of science for years to come. -
1543
Nicolaus Copernicus
Copernicus was a Polish scientist who created his own ideas on the universe and how it worked. He developed a theory that said that the Sun was he center of the universe. Many people ignored his theory because their senses told them that the Earth didn't move and that they could see the sun. Copernicus was important because he took a big step Astronomy and had the first almost true idea of what the universe really was like. -
1543
Andreas Vesalius
Vesalius was a scientist who did a lot of work on the ideas of Leonardo da Vinci. He pioneered the study of anatomy by refusing to accept the previous descriptions of the human body. He later published a book on the human body with very detailed illustrations that were incredible for the time. This was important because it influenced illustrations in the future. -
Johannes Kepler
Kepler was a mathematician "who used models, observation. and mathematics" to support his ideas. He used this process to test Copernicus's theory about the universe. After pushing through Copernicus's mistakes, Kepler proved the heliocentric theory correct. This as important because it influenced the studies of Galileo and set a good ground for Astronomy in the future. -
Francis Bacon
Francis Bacon,an English philosopher and scientist believed that scientific theories could be developed only though observations. He didn't trust any assumptions and though every thing had to be proven with experiments. He published a book that talked about his system of knowledge. He was very similar to Descartes and lived around the same time as him. -
Galileo Galilei
Galileo was a pioneer in Astronomy and made a lot of incredible discoveries. He built his own telescope and used it to study the planets in space that no one had ever seen. He concluded that not "every heavenly body revolves around Earth". His work created a lot of commotion and people still wanted to believe the theories of Ptolemy and the Bible. -
Rene Descartes
Rene Descartes was a French mathematician and philosopher. He had many ideas that led to improvements in math, science, and philosophy. He didn't accept any theories without question. He thought that all ideas had to be proven with scientific evidence and with known facts. He also believed that all fields of scientific knowledge were connected. One of his discoveries was the law of refraction. Descartes pioneered many fields of science and challenged traditional teachings. -
Robert Boyle
A pioneer to chemistry, Robert Boyle studied the composition of matter and how it changes. He did a lot of work with gas and showed how temperature and pressure affected the space it occupied. His findings greatly impacted the future of chemistry. -
Isaac Newton
Isaac Newton was also a big contributor to the ideas of the universe. He published a book that built off of past scientists ideas. He used experiments and measurements to prove their theories. After studying the universe and how planets move, he eventually developed the law of universal gravitation. This was a big step in scientific studies and provided us with information we still use today. -
Antoine Lavoisier
Lavoisier showed people that fire resulted when a substance rapidly combined with oxygen, and that it was not an element. He also proved that matter can change form but can not be destroyed by mixing steam with the air and observing how it turns invisible. Lavoisier. Lavoisier was a very important scientists because he cleared up many misunderstandings and paved the way for chemistry. -
Joseph Priestley
In 1774, Joseph Priestley discovered the element oxygen. This was a very important discovery because oxygen is one of the most important elements that we have because it is what we breathe. It is also important because oxygen is also in many other elements. This shows that without oxygen, we might have not discovered other elements.
