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800 BCE
People Before Us
The scientist and citizens used to believe that everything religious teachings, classical Greeks, or Roman thinkers said was true. Believing in false and incorrect information. The way it was before the revolution is important to notice and look at. I gives people the opportunity to look at the way they used to do things and how much that has changed to become what we are today. -
Period: 1500 to 1524
Copernicus's Theory
In the A.D. 100s, astronomer Ptolemy stated that Earth was the center of the universe, meaning that the sun and planets moved around Earth. This idea then created the geocentric theory. Scientist Nicholas Copernicus began to abandon the Ptolemy's geocentric theory in the early 1500s where it is said that the Earth is the center of the universe. Instead he argued that the sun was the center of the universe. He realized that this theory explained many of the well-known facts about astronomy. -
1543
The Publishing of Copernicus's Theory
Copernicus's theory was published in 1543, causing people to pay attention. This theory seemed to deny what people's senses told them. Everyone could "see" that the sun and planets orbited around the Earth and people could tell that the Earth wasn't moving. -
1543
Andreas Vesalius
Andreas Vesalius was a Flemish scientist that studied anatomy. He refused to use the descriptions of human muscles and tissues done by Galen 400 years earlier and he created his own studies on the human body to find out how it was constructed. In 1543, he published a seven-volume book called 'On the Fabric of the Human Body'. The illustrations done were very detailed for the time and it helped readers to gain visual understanding of the complicated components of the body. -
Johannes Kepler
Since Copernicus didn't have the mathematics or instruments, Kepler, a German astronomer, and Galileo, a Italian scientist, each helped confirm his theory. Kepler used models, observation, and mathematics to text Copernicus's theory. Some of Copernicus's ideas were wrong but, Kepler eventually proved the heliocentric theory correct. He then published his laws of planetary motion in 1609. -
Francis Bacon
Francis lived around the same time as Descartes. He believed that scientific theories could be developed through observation. He said that no assumption could be trusted unless it could be proven by repeatable experiments. In 1620, Francis published 'Noveum Organum'. This book outlined this new system of knowledge that was created. -
William Harvey
William Harvey was fascinated with anatomy. He recognized that the veins in the human body had one-way valves, but was puzzled as to their function. To solve his puzzle he became a physician and researched through the dissection of animals. He relished his findings in 1616, and in 1628 he published his findings in a book titled 'An Anatomical Study of the Motion of the Heart and of the Blood in Animals'. He described how blood moved through the veins and arteries. -
Galileo Galilei
Galileo read about and decided to build his own device, a Dutch device that made distant objects appear larger (the telescope). He noticed that the moons were circling Jupiter and used these observations to argue that not every planet or heavenly body revolves around earth, further proving Copernicus's theory. When he published his findings in 1632. -
Galileo's Findings
When Galileo published his findings in 1632, his work created an uproar. Many scholars who stilled believed in Ptolemy's old theory refused to accept his findings. Church scholars disapproved of Galileo's ideas because his theory seemed to go against the Bible. Galileo once tried to demonstrate the use of the telescope and he was then later called by the Inquisition. They forced him to renounce his discoveries, spending the rest of his life under house arrest. -
Leader of the Revolution
René Descartes's was known as the leader of the Scientific Revolution. His ideas lead to great advances in mathematics, the sciences, and philosophy. He felt that no assumptions should be accepted without question and he created a philosophy based on this reasoning. In 'Discourse on Method' (1637) he states that 'all assumptions had to be proven on the basis of known facts.'He then wrote a mathematical description of the way light reflects from a smooth surface, leading to the law of refraction. -
Robert Boyle
Boyle helped pioneer the modern science of chemistry. These studies helped people study the composition of matter and how it changes. In 1662, Boyle showed that temperature and pressure affected the space that a gas occupies. -
Issac Newton
Scientist Issac Newton published a book in 1687 building on the work of Copernicus, Kepler, and Galileo. Newton made many experiments and measurements, realized that the force that holds the planets in orbit also causes objects to fall to Earth. He proposed a law, the law of universal gravitation, that states that all bodies attract one another. Newton explained the laws of motion and with mathematical means of measuring motion. These laws of motion and gravitation are still used to this day. -
Effect of the Scientific Revolution
The findings many scientist found changed what people believed in and the way people thought. People used to believe that the world was controlled by God and His Angels, believing that God created the world. But, that had changed. The creation of the world is now seen as a giant mechanical clock. Proving that the mindset of the people in the past has changed compared to now. -
Antoine Lavoisier
Before Lavoisier discovered that fire was found when a substance rabidly combined with oxygen, people believed that fire was an element. He also showed that steam mixes with the air and becomes invisible. By doing the experiments to find these findings, Lavoisier proved that matter can change form, but that it can be neither created nor destroyed. This idea is now known as the law of conservation of matter. Making it one of the most important principles in the study of chemistry. -
The Beginning of the End of the Scientific Revolution
In the late 1700s, the scientific approach had spread across Europe. The amount of human knowledge and understanding had increased beyond measure and in a very short time span. These speedy discoveries and the rapid spread and exchange of knowledge were important characteristics of the Scientific Revolution.
