GREAT MINDS IN SCIENCE by Vianna Nguyen

NICOLAS COPERNICUS (1473-1543)

6vngu456 — 2025-05-19 21:08:02 UTC

Polish priest and mathematician. He denies the medieval belief, inherited from the 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 Revonltionibus orbium coelestium (On the Revolutions of the Celestial Spheres, completed 1530)

ANDREAS VESALIUS (1514-1564)

6vngu456 — 2025-05-19 21:12:04 UTC

Belgian physician and anatomist. In his De humani corporis fabrica librium septem (Seven Books on the Structure of the Human Body, 1543), he describes human anatomy more accurately than the classical 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 immortality, but he is not executed.

FRANCIS BACON (1561-1626)

6vngu456 — 2025-05-19 21:14:53 UTC

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

GALILEO GALILEI (1564-1642)

6vngu456 — 2025-05-19 21:18:09 UTC

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 establishes 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 Cheif World Systems, 1632).

JOHANNES KEPLER (1571-1630)

6vngu456 — 2025-05-19 21:21:45 UTC

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 Copernicus has suggests.

WILLIAM HARVEY (1578-1657)

6vngu456 — 2025-05-19 21:24:05 UTC

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

RENE DESCARTES (1596-1650)

6vngu456 — 2025-05-19 21:27:19 UTC

French philosopher and mathematician. Develops analytic geometry and other mathematical techniques useful in theoretical science. He believes that mathematical proof is the model for rational scientific inquiry. His best known philosophical work, Mediationes De prima philosophia (Meditations on First Philosophy, 1641), emphasizes he importance of accepting only indubitable evidence.

ROBERT BOYLE (1627-1691)

6vngu456 — 2025-05-19 22:09:01 UTC

Irish physicists and chemists. He investigates the properties of air and develops a theory describing the relationship between the pressure and volume of glasses (known as 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.

CHRISTIAAN HUYGENS (1629-1693)

6vngu456 — 2025-05-19 22:12:15 UTC

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

ANTON VAN LEEUNENHOEK (1632-1723)

6vngu456 — 2025-05-19 22:14:44 UTC

Dutch biologist. He designs a powerful microscope and uses it to describe bacteria, protozoa, spermatozoa, and blood corpuscles.

ISSAC NEWTON (1642-1727)

6vngu456 — 2025-05-19 22:19:34 UTC

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 the 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).

ANTOINE LAVOSIER (1743-1794)

6vngu456 — 2025-05-19 22:23:45 UTC

French chemist. In Traite elementarire de chimie (Elementary Treatise on Chemistry, 1789), he describes the constituent gasses 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 for naming chemical compounds and proposes that matter is never destroyed in chemical reaction (Law of Conservation of Matter).