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Period: Jan 1, 1450 to
Scientific Revolution
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Nov 29, 1500
Beginning of Scientific Revolution
Around 1500, the world would start to be bombarded with an incredible amount of scientific breakthroughs and discoveries that has lasted through our present day. In 1500, our view of the Cosmos was much different. Almost everyone thought that the universe was set up with the Earth at the center, with all celestial bodies, including the sun, orbiting around us. Not more than 200 years later, it would be common knowledge that the Aristotelian view of the universe was false. -
Jan 24, 1543
Nicolaus Copernicus
In 1543, Nicolaus Copernicus published his theory that the Earth spun on an axis, and revolved around the sun, along with the other planets, in full detail, in his famous On the Revolutions of Celestial Bodies. This was extremely controvertial, because it went against the established thought that the Earth was the center of the Universe, and further angered people, because it implied that we were not as special as we once thought; that we were just one of many planets in the Solar System. -
Dec 2, 1543
De Humani Corporis Fabrica is Published
Translated to On The Structure of The Human Body, this work was created by Andreas Vesalius, a Flemish physician. Published in 1543 in Italy, the work is extremely significant, as it is credited with the establishment of modern human anatomy, and dissproved many previous misconceptions in the world of medicine. -
Letter to the Grand Duchess Christina of Tuscany
In 1615, one of the most defining moments in science took place, that would put a wedge between science and faith. It was in this year that The Letter to the Grand Duchess Christina of Tuscany was written. It adressed the conflict between the Bible and the thought that the Earth was the center of the Solar System. Galileo put forth that the Bible isn't literal, and that it doesn't teach how the Universe works,angering the Church, and sparking an everlasting feud between him and the Pope. -
Church imprisons Galileo
In 1633, the Christian Church, all powerful, placed Galileo Galilei under house arrest, because of his work in science that was proving the Church to be false in many aspects. Galileo, a native Italian, had observed that moons orbit planets, and that planets orbit the sun, which proved Copernicus to be correct in his findings. -
Rene Descartes: Optics, Meteorology, and Geometry
In 1637, a French mathmatician and philosopher, published Optics, Meteorology, and Geometry, which was a breakthrough in mathmatics. In part due to this piece, Rene Descartes in credited with linking geomery and algebra, by discovering that shapes could be written as an equation, and vice versa. If it were not for this book, we would not have alalytics or many aspects of geometry and algebra. -
Isaac Newton's Opticks is Published
In the 1670s, Newton presented his discoveries on the properties of light.Years later, in 1704, Sir Isaac Newton published his famous Opticks work, in which he stated correctly that white is made up of all of the colors of the rainbow; that they can be combined to make pure light. Newton had experimented with optics since 1666, and his discovery helped pave the way for development in art, as well as later, in the making of television, computer, and any type of electronic screens. -
An Essay Concerning Human Understanding
In 1690, John Locke, an English philospher and physician, wrote his, An Essay Concerning Human Understanding, which states, amongst many things, that you must experience something in order to really gain knowlegde. Locke is credited with establishing Classical Liberalism, and also was regarded as thinking that we must try to obtain happiness, because that is the purpose of human existence.
