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Feb 19, 1473
Nicolas Copernicus
Nicolas Copernicus was born in Torun, Poland on February 19, 1473. He was an astronomer and a mathematician which led to the pulication of his book,"On the Revolutions of the Heavenly Spheres". He believed that the movement of the Sun around Earth was caused by the rotation of Earth on its axis. -
Jan 1, 1494
Giovanni Pico della Mirandola
Giovanni Pico della Mirandola performed practical magic, but mostly with astrology. This caused people to ask questions about their free will, which undermined the authority of Aristotle. -
Jan 1, 1522
Ferdinand Magellan
Ferdinand Megellan was a Portuguese explorer that makes his first circumnavigation of the world. He was a soldier that participated in many wars and battles. -
Jan 1, 1532
Peter Apian
Peter Apian was an asstronomer that observed the tail of the comet, later known as Halley's Comet. He established that Halley's Comet was pointing away from the Sun. -
Jan 1, 1543
Andreas Vesalius
Andreas Vesalius was the author of the book, "On the Fabric of the Human Body", His book was known as the most important anatomical text of the century. He discovered that the lower jaw was one bone instead of two. -
Jan 1, 1545
Girolamo Cardano
Girolamo Cardano wrote more than 200 books on medicine, math, physics, philosophy, religion, and music. -
Jan 1, 1551
Erasmus Reinhold
Erasmus Reinhold was a German astronomer and mathematician. He was educated and later became the dean at the University of Wittenberg. He calculated the distance from Earth to the Sun. -
Jan 1, 1553
Michael Servetus
Michael Servetus was a writer that published religious books. He started a medical practice. He was the first Eurpoean to correctly describe the function of pulmonary circulation. -
Jan 1, 1556
Georgius Agricola
Georgius Agricola was a German scholar and scientist. He devoted himself to the study of medicine, phyiscs, and chemistrry. He threw himself into the pursuit of new learning and new ideas. -
Jan 1, 1556
Pedro Nunez
Pedro Nunez was the greatest Portuguese mathematician of his time. He helped contribute to the field of navigation, later inventing measuring tools. -
Jan 1, 1559
Realdo Colombo
Realdo Colombo was the greatest anatomists and teachers of the Renaissance time period. He created a lasting reputation by both challenging incorrect medical convention and influcing the great artwork of the century. He discovered that the main action of the heart was contraction, not dilation. -
Jan 1, 1564
Galileo Galilei
He improved the telescope. He helped develop the four largest satilites of Jupiter. His teleoscope was called the Starry Messenger. -
Jan 1, 1569
Gerard Mercator
Gerard Mercator was the best known map maker of his time. Three of his famous maps were destroyed in a fire. Many paper productions of all four have been made and saved. -
Jan 1, 1572
Tycho Star
This star was first noted by Wolfgang Schuler. Tycho Brahe was not the first to observe the star. He became known as a well liked astronomer after he published some of his observations of the star. It was named after him. -
Jan 1, 1577
Comet of 1577
Comet of 1577 was the comet that passed by Earth in the year of 1577 hence the name. It was viewed by people all over Europe. Tycho discovered that comets travel above the Earth. -
Jan 1, 1582
Pope Gregory XIII
He is best known for the Gregorian calendar being named after him.This calendar is still the calendar internationally accepted today. He is also known for having built the Gregorian chapel. -
Joost Brugi
He was a very talented clockmaker. Joost invented the escapement clock that helped increase accuracy.He also invented logarithms. This was a mathematical term used to describe a power of a number. -
Simon Stevin
He was a mathematician and engineer. Many people were impressed with his invention of the land yacht. In additon to this, he also helped with discoveries that would hlep against flooding. Simon Stevin helped make the Dutch language one of the languages spoken in Western Europe. -
Conrad Gessner
Conrad was a bibliographer. He also did work in the science field such as with botany and zoology. One thing he was best known for was his love of mountains and how he would explore them. -
Isaac Newton
Isaac was a physicist and mathematician. He was the one who came up with the Laws of Motion. Isaac built the first reflecting telescope. He also devleoped a theory of color based on a prism turning white light into many colors. -
Women Astronomers
Women were not allowed to attend universities so they had to get their education in other ways. During this time women made up 14% of the German astronomers. There were many obstacles that women had to overcome to be invovled in the scientific world.
