Great Minds in Science Biography by Jian Wei Huang

1473-1543 Nicolas Copernicus

6jhua531 — 2025-05-20 16:06:29 UTC

He was a Polish priest and mathematician. He denied that the medieval belief, inherited from the Greek astronomer Ptolemy, that Earth is the center (also known as Geocentric Theory). He proposes that the Earth and other planets orbited the Sun (Heliocentric theory) in his On the Revolutions of the Celestial Spheres, completed 1530.

1514-1564 Andreas Vesalius

6jhua531 — 2025-05-20 16:14:42 UTC

Vesalius was a Belgian physician and anatomist. In his Seven Books on the Structure of the Human Body, 1543 he describes human anatomy more accurately than the classical Greek Scientist Galen, whose works have been a standard reference across medieval Europe. He was brought a death sentence from the Inquisition for immorality, but he wasn't executed.

1561-1626 Francis Bacon

6jhua531 — 2025-05-20 16:17:15 UTC

He was an English Philosopher. His Novum Organum, published in 1620, stresses the importance of proper scientific methods, stating that theories must be supported by proof from experimentation and observation.

1564-1642 Galileo Galilei

6jhua531 — 2025-05-20 16:22:14 UTC

Galileo, an Italian mathematician and scientist, was the first to use telescopes for astronomy. He describes the surface of the Moon and rotation of the moons of Jupiter while also establishing basic laws of motion from experimentation. He was arrested by Inquisition and forced to recant the endorsement of the heliocentric theory made in his Dialogue Concerning the Two Chief World Systems, 1632.

1578-1657 William Harvey

6jhua531 — 2025-05-20 16:24:27 UTC

He was an English physician and anatomist. He discovers the circulation of blood and describes the purpose of arteries, veins, and the heart in On the Motion of the Heart and Blood in Animals, in 1628.

1571-1630 Johannes Kepler

6jhua531 — 2025-05-20 16:27:01 UTC

He was a German mathematician and astronomer, accepting the heliocentric theory after examining data gathered by Danish astronomer Tycho Brahe. His New Astronomy, 1609 and Harmonies of the World, 1619 explain that orbits of the planets are elliptical and not circular as Copernicus had suggested.

1596-1650 Rene Descartes

6jhua531 — 2025-05-20 16:31:29 UTC

He was a French Philosopher and mathematician.

He developed the analytic geometry and other mathematical techniques useful in science

Believes that mathematical proof is the model for rational scientific inquiry

His best known work, Meditations on First Philosophy, emphasizes the importance of accepting only indubitable evidence.

1629-1693 Christiaan Huygens

6jhua531 — 2025-05-20 16:34:00 UTC

He was a Dutch physicists and astronomer

Proposes that the wave theory of light, discovers the rings of Saturn, and builds the first reliable pendulum clock (originally an idea of Galileo's)

1627-1691 Robert Boyle

6jhua531 — 2025-05-20 16:36:45 UTC

An Irish Physicist and astronomer

Investigates the properties of air and develops a theory describing the relationship between the pressure and volume of gasses (Boyle's Law.)

In The Sceptical Chemist, he questions the accepted belief that the world is made up of four elements and argues they can be broken down into more fundamental, chemical elements.

1632-1723 Anton Van Leeuwenhoek

6jhua531 — 2025-05-20 16:38:28 UTC

A Dutch biologist

Designs a powerful microscope and uses it to describe bacteria, protozoa, spermatozoa, and blood corpuscles

1642-1727 Issac Newton

6jhua531 — 2025-05-20 16:38:49 UTC

English physicists and mathematician

Discovered the law of gravitation after studying Kepler's laws of planetary motion, and formulates three laws of motion which form the basis of physics until the 20th century (called Newton mechanics)

Invents the reflecting telescope

Develops the mathematical system known as calculus

Best work is The Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosophy

1743-1794 Antoine Lavoisier

6jhua531 — 2025-05-20 22:42:51 UTC

French Chemist

In his work Elementary Treatise on Chemistry, describes the constituent gasses of air calling the two most significant oxygen and nitrogen

Shows combustion can only take place in the presence of oxygen

Develops modern system of naming chemical compounds and proposes that matter is never destroyed in chemical reactions (Law of Conservation of Matter