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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.
1543
Nicolas Copernicus publishes De Revolutionibus Orbium Coelestium (On the Revolutions of Celestial Bodies)
In his masterwork, Copernicus sets out the heliocentric theory.
1584
Giordano Bruno publishes The Ash-Wednesday Supper, On Cause, Principle, and Unity, And on the Infinite Universe and Its Worlds
The renegade Italian monk unfolds his philosophy, the centerpiece of which is the contention that the universe is infinitely large and that the Earth is by no means at the center of it. For the expression of his thoughts, Bruno is burned at the stake as a heretic.
1591
Francois Viete invents analytical trigonometry
Viete’s invention is essential to the study of physics and astronomy.
1591
Galileo Galilei demonstrates the properties of gravity
Galileo demonstrates, from the top of the leaning tower of Pisa, that a one-pound weight and a 100-pound weight, dropped at the same moment, hit the ground at the same moment, refuting the contention of the Aristotelian system that the rate of fall of an object is dependent upon its weight. He expounds fully on this demonstration years later in his 1638 Discourse on Two New Sciences.
1610
Galileo publishes Messenger of the Heavens
Galileo’s 24-page booklet describes his telescopic observations of the moon’s surface, and of Jupiters moons, making the Church uneasy. The Inquisition soon warns Galileo to desist from spreading his theories.
1614
John Napier publishes Description of the Marvelous Canon Of Logarithms
Napier’s invention and cataloguing of logarithms is an essential step in easing the task of numerical calculation.
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.
1620
Francis Bacon publishes Novum Organum
Bacon attempts to create organization and cooperation within the scientific community by demonstrating how the diverse fields of science relate to one another.
1630
Galileo publishes Dialogue on the Two Chief Systems of the World
Galileo’s magnum opus uses the laws of physics to refute the Aristotelian contention that the Earth is the center of the solar system and supports the heliocentric Copernican view. Galileo presents the doctrine of uniformity, which claims that the laws of terrestrial physics are no different than the laws of celestial physics.
1633
Galileo is forced to recant his theories
The Inquisition forces Galileo to sign a recantation and condemns him to house arrest for the remaining nine years of his life. His Dialogue is ordered burned as heretical, and his sentence to be read at every university.
1637
René Descartes publishes his Discourse on Method
Descartes’s work sets forth the principles of deductive reasoning as used in the modern scientific method.
1637
René 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.
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.
1656
Otto von Guericke invents the air pump
Von Guerick demonstrates the properties of a vacuum by using his air pump to take the air from within his famous “Magdeberg hemispheres,” which, though easily separated in normal conditions, could not be parted by two teams of 16 horses once he had removed the air.
1662
The Royal Society of London is officially organized by Charles II
The Royal Society brings together the greatest minds of the region in efforts to advance science through cooperation. Similar societies subsequently spring up throughout Europe, creating an intellectual network, which produces many of the scientific advances of the later 17th century.
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.
1680
Giovanni Alfonso Borelli publishes On the Motion of Animals
Borelli’s work is the greatest early triumph of the application of mechanical laws to the human organism.
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.
1692
The Salem Witch Trials take place in Massachusetts
Indicative of the maintenance of traditional superstitions even late in the 17th century, 200 people are tried for witchcraft in Salem, Massachusetts. Over 7,000 women were executed for witchcraft in Europe between 1550 and 1700, largely in association with the various theological battles of the Reformation.
