Enlightenment and Scientific Revolution Figures

Vocabulary flashcards based on lecture notes about Enlightenment and Scientific Revolution figures.

Voltaire

Criticized French government, laws, and Christianity; fought for tolerance, reason, freedom of religion, and speech using satire.

Copernicus

First to believe that the sun was the center of the universe; this idea was rejected by the Church.

Janssen

Dutch maker of eyeglasses who invented the first microscope.

Beccaria

Believed laws should preserve social order, criticized abuses of justice, and advocated for speedy trials and punishments fitting the crime; against torture.

Fahrenheit

German physicist who invented the first mercury thermometer in glass, showing freezing at 32.

Galileo

Built a telescope to study the heavens, discovering sunspots and the rough surface of the moon; put on trial by the church for his ideas.

Hobbes

Believed people have no right to rebel against their government, humans are wicked and selfish, and absolute monarchs are necessary for control.

Geoffrin

A 'patron' to Enlightenment thinkers; held meetings called salons in her house where they discussed ideas.

Wollstonecraft

Believed in equal education for women and men, leading to increased rights for women.

Leeuwenhoek

Used the microscope to observe bacteria in tooth scrapings and was the first to examine red blood cells.

Kepler

Developed the laws of planetary motion, stating planets move in elliptical orbits and revolve around the sun.

Locke

Believed people oppressed by their government have the right to rebel and humans are reasonable enough to govern themselves.

Torricelli

One of Galileo’s students who developed the first mercury barometer to measure atmospheric pressure and predict weather.

Vesalius

Proved past assumptions about anatomy were wrong through dissecting human corpses and publishing detailed drawings of the human body.

Diderot

Created the 28-volume Encyclopedia, gathering articles on human knowledge from major thinkers of the day.

Rousseau

Believed in individual freedom and that the best government is formed by the people through a Social Contract.

Newton

Proved all objects are affected equally by the law of gravity and the law of inertia.

Montesquieu

Fought for freedom in government, believing in a politically balanced government with separation of powers and checks and balances.

Smith

• “invisible hand”

• Economic progress