Timeline by Angel Rivera

6ariv387 — 2025-05-20 17:56:35 UTC

1473-1534 Nicolas Copernicus, Polish priest and mathematician. He denies the medieval belief inherited from classical greek astronomer ptolemy (c. 90-168) that the earth is the center of the universe, and develops the revolutionary theory that the earth and planets revolve around the sun (heliocentric theory) in his De Revolutionibus orbium coelestium (On the Revolutions of the celestial spheres, completed 1530)

6ariv387 — 2025-05-20 18:12:27 UTC

1514-1564 Andreas Vesalius, Belidain physician and anatomist. In his De humani corporis fabrica libri septem ( Seven books on the Structure of the human body, 1543) he described human anatomy more accurately than the Greek scientist Galen (c. 130-201), whose works have been the standard reference throughout medieval Europe. His work brings a sentence of death from the Inquisition (Catholic Church tribunal) for immorality, but he is not executed.

6ariv387 — 2025-05-20 18:17:59 UTC

1561-1626 Francis Bacon

English philosopher. His Novum Organum (1620) stresses the importance of proper scientific method: theories must be supported by proof acquired my experimentation and observation

6ariv387 — 2025-05-21 22:22:52 UTC

1564-1642 Galileo Galilei Italian mathematician and scientist. The first to use telescopes for astronomy. He describes the surface of the Moon and the rotation of the moons of Jupiter. Also established basic laws of motion from experimentation. He is arrested by the Inquisition and forced to recant the endorsement of the heliocentric theory made in his Dialogo dei due massimi sistemi del mondo (Dialogue Concerning the Two Chief World Systems, 1632)

6ariv387 — 2025-05-21 22:24:57 UTC

1571-1630 Johannes Kepler German mathematician and astronomer. Accepts the heliocentric theory after examining data gathered by the Danish astronomer Tycho Brahe (1546-1601). His Astronomia Nova (New Astronomy, 1609) and De Harmonice mundi (Harmonies of the World, 1619) explain that the orbits of the planets are elliptical and not circular as Coperncus has suggested

6ariv387 — 2025-05-21 22:25:43 UTC

1578-1657 William Harvey English physician and anatomist. He discovered the circulation of the blood and describes the purpose of arteries, veins, and the heart in De motu cordis et sanguinis in animalibus (On the Motion of the Heart and Blood in Animals, 1628)

6ariv387 — 2025-05-21 22:26:30 UTC

1596-1650 Rene Descartes French philosopher and mathematician. Develops analytic geometry and other mathematical techniques useful in theoretical science. He believes that mathematical proof is the best known philosophia work, Meditationes de prima philosophia (Meditations on First Philosophy , 1641), emphasizes the importance of accepting only indubitable evidence

6ariv387 — 2025-05-21 22:27:15 UTC

1627-1691 Robert Boyle Irish physicist and chemist. He investigates the properties of air and develops a theory describing the relationship between the pressure and volume of glasses (known as the Boyle's Law). In The Sceptical Chemist (1661) he questions the accepted belief that the world is made up of just four elements (Earth, Air, Fire, Water) and argues that they can be broken down into more fundamental, chemical elements.

6ariv387 — 2025-05-21 22:27:35 UTC

1629-1693 Christiaan Huygens Dutch physicist and astronomer. He proposed the wave theory of light, discovers the rings of Saturn, and builds the first reliable pendulum clock (originally an idea of Galileo's)

6ariv387 — 2025-05-21 22:27:43 UTC

1632-1723 Anton Van Leeuwenhoek Dutch biologist. He designs a powerful microscope and uses it to describe bacteria, protozoa, spermatozoa, and blood corpuscles

6ariv387 — 2025-05-21 22:27:51 UTC

1642-1727 Issac Newton English physicist and mathematician. One of the greatest theoretical scientists in history. He discovers 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 Newtonian mechanics). Also invents the reflecting telescope (uses a curved mirror to focus light), and develops the mathematical system known as calculus. Best known work is Philosophiae naturalis principia Mathematica (The Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosophy, 1687)

6ariv387 — 2025-05-21 22:29:59 UTC

1743-1794 Antoine Lavoisier French chemist. In Traite elementaire de chime (Elementary Treatise on Chemistry, 1789) he describes the constituent glasses of air (calling the two most significant, oxygen and nitrogen), and shows that combustion can only take place in the presence of oxygen. Develops the modern system of naming chemical compounds and proposes that matter is never destroyed in chemical reactions (Law of Conservation of Matter)