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1543
Copernicus's heliocentric theory
Copernicus's central theory was that the Earth rotates daily on its axis and revolves around the sun. He also argued that the planets circled the Sun. This clashed with the older view that the Earth was stationary at the center of the universe with all the planets, the Moon and the Sun rotating around it. -
1555
Vesalius's Research of Anatomy
Vesalius realized that older observations and his own were different, and that humans do not share the same anatomy as apes. In 1555, Vesalius published a book that was based on human dissection, and transformed observations taken directly from human dissections. -
Kepler's heliocentric theory
Kepler's work improved the heliocentric theory of Nicolaus Copernicus, telling how the planets' speeds varied, and using elliptical orbits rather than circular orbits with epicycle. -
Galileo creates the Telescope
Galileo built his own type of of Dutch device that could make distant things, (mostly planets,) look bigger. For example, when Galileo looked at the moon with his improved telescope, he saw that it was bumpy and uneven, not smooth and polished like everyone thought it was. Also, when he looked at Jupiter, he saw that it was surrounded by three bright stars. -
Bacon's new scientific method
Francis Bacon was an English Renaissance statesman and philosopher, best known for his promotion of the scientific method. It was not until the early 1600s, when he published Novum Organum Scientiarum, speaking about the newly introduced scientific theory, that he established himself as a philosopher of science. -
Harvey's development of the human body
Harvey researched the mechanics of blood flow in the human body. Many people felt that the lungs were responsible for moving the blood around throughout the body. Harvey researched the heart, and found that it was responsible for the movement of blood famous book, commonly referred to as "de Motu Cordis" was published in Latin at Frankfurt, when Harvey was 50 years old. The first English translation did not appear until two decades later. -
Galileo's book on planets is published
While under house arrest in 1632, Galileo published a book that stated, with other things, that the heliocentric theory of Copernicus was correct. Galileo was once again called guilty of heresy. Galileo was sentenced to life imprisonment in 1633. -
Descartes's book of method
Descartes believed in basically starting fresh, and putting back one by one the things that were certain. In his book, "Discourse on Method", he stated that all assumptions could be proven on known facts. He created a method of questioning that followed logical reasoning. -
Boyle's law
Boyle's law states that if the volume of a gas is decreased, the pressure increases proportionally. Understanding that his results could be explained if all gases were made of tiny particles, Boyle tried to construct a theory in chemistry. He also introduced many other standard chemical tests. -
Newton's theory of Gravity
Newton's law of universal gravitation states that every mass attracts every other mass in the universe, and the gravitational force between two bodies is the product of their masses, and is proportional to the square of the distance between them. -
Leeuwenhoek discovers the first single cell organism
Van Leeuwenhoek discovered single-cell organisms and he called them "animalcules". Leeuwenhoek observed water closely and was surprised to see tiny organisms - the first bacteria observed by man. He also improved the microscope and laid foundation for microbiology. -
Liebnitz's study of calculus
Liebnitz was a German philosopher who occupied a prominent place in the history of mathematics and the history of philosophy. Leibniz's notation has been widely used ever since it was published. It was only in the 20th century that his Law of Continuity found put into use. He became one of the most prolific inventors in the field of mechanical calculators. He was the first to describe a pinwheel calculator. He also refined the binary number system, which helped create modern computers. -
Newton's Laws of Motion
Newton presented his three laws of motion in the book "Principia Mathematica Philosophiae Naturalis." Newton's first law says that every object will stay at rest unless forced to change its state by the action of an external force. This is normally taken as the definition of inertia. The second law says how the velocity of an object changes when it is applied to an external force. The third law states that for every action in nature, there is an equal and opposite reaction. -
Priestley's discovery of the oxygen atom
The 19th century scientist Joseph Priestley discovered the atom of oxygen. Priestley isolated oxygen and observed its importance in combustion, but it was left to Lavoisier to appreciate the theoretical significance of his work. He later decided that he could no longer live in England and immigrated to the United States. -
Lavoisier popularizes the oxygen atom
He established the law of conservation of mass, determined that combustion and respiration are caused by chemical reactions with what he named “oxygen”. He proved that by composition and decomposition, water is made up of oxygen and hydrogen.
