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Andreas Vesalius (1543)

 Spent years dissecting corpses and drawing detailed illustrations of the human body
 Contributed a lot to the study of human anatomy, but eventually got grossed out by all the
dead bodies and just became the personal doctor to Charles V, king of the Holy Roman
Empire
 1543: Andreas Vesalius Publishes On The Fabric Of The Human Body This is
considered to be the first great modern work of science and the foundation of modern
biology. In it, Vesalius makes unprecedented observations about the structure of the
human body.

1. Nicolaus Copernicus (1543)

 The first guy to prove that the earth was not stationary in space and revolved around the
sun
 Was a member of the church and waited until the year of his death to publish his findings,
which started the so-called Copernican Revolution
 1543: Nicolas Copernicus Publishes De Revolutionibus Orbium Coelestium (On The
Revolutions Of Celestial Bodies) Copernicus' masterwork; he sets out the heliocentric
theory.
2. Tycho Brahe (1577)
 Was the one major Scientific Revolution physicist who believed in a geocentric universe,
rejecting Copernicus’ idea that the Earth revolved around the Sun
 Had the king of Denmark build him a really sick laboratory that he used to make 20 years
of detailed observations, proving that the stars in the sky were not fixed
3. Galileo Galilei (1608)
 Promoted experimental physics and observational astronomy by discovering more about
inertia and discovering new moons and planetary laws with his mad telescope skills
 Galileo challenged the church by promoting a heliocentric universe where the sun and
moon had blemished surfaces
 Even though he had his book approved by the church, Galileo was ultimately forced to
renounce his scientific discoveries in the Roman Inquisition
 1610: Galileo Publishes Messenger Of The Heavens Galileo's 24-page booklet describes
his telescopic observations of the moon's surface, and of Jupiter's moons, making the
Church uneasy. The Inquisition soon warns Galileo to desist from spreading his theories.
4. Johannes Kepler (1618)
 Tycho Brahe’s assistant, who used his master’s data to confirm that the earth revolved
around the sun
  Used his master’s data to develop the 3 Laws of Planetary Motion
1. planets rotate in ellipses, not perfectly divine circles, around the sun
2. how fast the planets are moving depends on how far they are from the sun
3. proved that the orbits of planets can be calculated mathematically (more info here)
 1618: Johannes Kepler Reveals His Third And Final Law Of Planetary Motion Kepler's
laws of planetary motion describe the form and operation of planetary orbits, and are the
final step leading to the academic rejection of the Aristotelian system.
5. William Harvey (1628)
 Dissected a bunch of animal bodies and obsesses over the heart as an important physical
and spiritual centerpiece of the body
 Discovers how the heart works like a pump, sending blood throughout the body with
valves and heartbeats
6. René Descartes (1637)
 Mathematician and Philosopher who wrote Discourse on Method (in French, rather than
Latin so that more people could read it), where he promoted the practice of deductive
reasoning
 Descartes thought we shouldn’t assume anything unless it could be proven through a
chain of reasoning and the scientific method
 Famously said, “I think, therefore I am” which meant that because Descartes was able to
think, he knew he existed, but he was hesitant to assume anything else
 1637: Rene Descartes Publishes His Discourse On Method Descartes' work sets forth
the principles of deductive reasoning as used in the modern scientific method.
 1637: Rene Descartes Publishes Geometry In this landmark work, Descartes discusses
how motion may be represented as a curve along a graph, defined by its relation to planes
of reference.
7. Robert Boyle (1637)
 Called the “Father of Modern Chemistry” due to his advanced experiments and use of
experimental method
 Discovers Boyle’s Gas Law about gas pressures and volumes and believes in the
existence of atoms
 1666: Robert Boyle Publishes Origin Of Form And Qualities Boyle's work, though
highly flawed, sets the stage for the study of matter on the atomic level.
8. 1643: Evangelista Torricelli Invents The Barometer
 Torricelli's invention measures air pressure, demonstrating that air does indeed have
weight, and that the pressure caused by that weight differs in different situations.
9. Robert Hooke (1665)
10. Antonie van Leeuwenhoek (1666)
 “Father of Microbiology” who discovers bacteria because he loves playing with microscopes
 Observes bacteria as “little animals or animalcules…This was for me, among all marvels that I
have discovered in nature, the most marvelous of all”

11. Isaac Newton (1676)

 Maybe the smartest British dude of all time
 Discovered calculus and 3 Laws of Physics
1. Inertia (An object in motion will stay in motion unless acted upon by an unbalanced,
outside force)
2. Force = mass x acceleration
3. Action & Reaction: Every action has an equal and opposite reaction
 His vast discoveries in physics, mathematics, and astronomy led to the view of the
Newtonian Universe, where the infinite universe could be described through mathematics
that analyze matter in motion
 1687: Isaac Newton Publishes Philosophia Naturalis Principia Mathematica Perhaps
the most important event in the history of science, the Principia lays out Newton's
comprehensive model of the universe as organized according to the law of universal
gravitation. The Principia represents the integration of the works of all of the great
astronomers who preceded Newton, and remains the basis of modern physics and
astronomy.