LESSON 8: THE LEAP OF SCIENCE AND
TECHNOLOGY DURING THE SCIENTIFIC
REVOLUTION (A.D. 1600-A.D. 1700)
The Scientific Revolution was the emergence of
modern science during the early modern period,
when developments in mathematics, physics,
astronomy, biology, and chemistry transformed
the views of society and nature. The scientific
revolution began in Europe towards the end of
the Renaissance period and continued through
the late 18th century, influencing the intellectual
social movement known as the Enlightenment.
Science and Technology Development:
1. Nicolaus Copernicus in 1543, De
revolutionibus orbium coelestium is often
cited as marking the beginning of the
scientific revolution.
2. William Gilbert (1544-1601) published
books on On the Magnet and Magnetic
Bodies, and the Great Magnet the Earth in
1600, which laid foundations of the theory of
magnetism and electricity. Gilbert provided a
hyper-empirical study of magnets,
magnetism, and electricity with speculation
about cosmology
3. Tycho Brahe (1546-1601), a Danish
nobleman. Known for his accurate and
comprehensive astronomical and planetary
observations. He was assisted by Johannes
Kepler, where the latter used the information
to develop his own theories in Astronomy. In
November 1572, He discovered the “Tycho’s
Star” of the “Star of 1572”, a dramatic
supernova believed to appear in Cassiopeia
constellation which became the talk of
Europe and the great Comet of 1577.
Proposed a system in the which the sun and
moon orbited the Earth, while the other
planets orbited the sun. (Geo-Heliocentric
theory or Tychonic theory). The crater Tycho
on the moon is named after him, as in the
crater Tycho Brahe on Mars.
4. Johannes Kepler (1571-1630) first
publication in astronomy, called
Cosmographic Mystery presented a stridently
Copernican worldview dedicated to drawing
together mathematical astronomy, physics,
and a quasi-Pythagorean religious
perspective in hope of a new astronomy; He
published the first two of his three laws of
planetary motion in 1609; published his Ad
vitellioem paralipomena quibus astronomiae
pars optica traditor (The Optical Part of
Astronomy) , where he argues that light rays
are rectilinear, that they diminish in intensity
by the inverse square of their distance as
they travel from the light source; Astronomia
nova (New Astronomy) shows that Mars
moves non-uniformly in an elliptical path and
proposes a quasi-magnetic power or virtue
emanating from the sun as partial
explanation for the planetary motions;
Harmonice mundi (Harmonies of the World)
presents his so-called “Third Law” which
draws attention to the relationship between
the annual periods of the planets and their
mean distances from the sun.
5. Sir Francis Bacon (1561-1626) published
Novum Organum in 1620, which outlined a
new system of logic based on the process of
reduction, which he offered as an
improvement over Aristotle’s philosophical
process of syllogism. He was a pivotal figure
in establishing the scientific method of
investigation.
6. Galileo Galilei (1564-1642) the famous
Italian Astronomer who demonstrated that a
 projectile follows a parabolic path; 1608, he
invented the telescope (“spyglass”) which
employs a convex objective lens and a
concave eyepiece; 1609 he constructed his
first telescope and turns it toward the
heavens and able to discover and argues
there are innumerable stars invisible to the
naked eye; He discovered mountains on the
Moon and four moon circling Jupiter; later
1610, Galileo observes the phases of Venus,
which suggested to him that waning and
waxing planet must circle the Sun;
discovered the sunspots; noted that Saturn
appeared to have “handles” and troubled
over what could give rise to such an
appearance; 1616, the year of the infamous
Injunction against Galileo, was warned by the
Inquisition not to hold or defend the
hypothesis asserted in Copernicus’ On the
Revolutions, though it has been debated
whether he was admonished not to ‘teach in
anyway’ the heliocentric theory. This work
was in turn placed on the Index of Prohibited
Books until corrected.
7. René Descartes (1596-1650) published his
Discourse on the Method in 1637, which
helped to establish the scientific method.
8. Antoine van Leeuwenhoek (1632-1723)
constructed powerful single lens microscopes
and made extensive observations that he
published around 1660, opening up the
micro-world of biology.
9. Isaac Newton (1643-1727) built upon the
work of Kepler and Galileo. He showed that
an inverse square law for gravity explained
the elliptical orbits of the planets, and
advanced the law of universal gravitation; In
his Principia, Newton theorized his axiomatic
three laws of motion.
10. Alexandre Koyré, in the 20th century ,
introduced the term “Scientific Revolution”,
centering his analysis on Galileo, and the
term was popularized by Butterfield in his
Origins of Modern Science.
11. John Locke is recognized founder of
empiricism and proposed in An Essay
Concerning Human Understanding (1689)
that the only true knowledge that could be
accessible to the human minds was that
which was based on experience. He argued
that the human mind was created as a tabula
rasa, a “blank tablet”, upon which sensory
impressions were recorded and built up
knowledge through a process of reflection.
12. Robert Boyle (1627-1691) an English
chemist considered to have refined the
modern scientific method for alchemy and to
have separated chemistry further from
alchemy. Boyle is largely regarded today as
the first modern chemist, and therefore one
of the founders of modern chemistry, and
one of the pioneers of modern experimental
scientific method. Although Boyle was not an
original discover, he is best known for Boyle’s
Law, which he presented in 1662: the law
describes the inversely proportional
relationship between the absolute pressure
and volume of gas, if the temperature is kept
constant within a closed system. He built an
Air pump and many new instruments were
devised in this period, which greatly aided in
the expansion of scientific knowledge.
13. Refracting telescopes first appeared in the
Netherlands in 1608. The spectacle makers
Hans Lippershey, Zacharias Janssen, and
Jacob Metius of Alkmaarall contributed to its
invention.
14. Evangelista Torricelli (1607-1647) was best
known for his invention of the mercury
barometer. The motivation for the invention
was to improve on the suction pumps that
were used to raise water out of the mines.

ISAAC NEWTON
- One of the most important scientists of
all time.
- Formulated the laws of universal
gravitation and motion (laws that explain
how objects move on Earth as well as
through the heavens
- 3 laws of motion (Law of Inertia, Law of
Acceleration, Law of Interaction)