AP Euro Scientific Revolution People

Ptolemy

100-170, The Almagest, geocentric theory

Nicolaus Copernicus

Astronomer, mathematician, challenged geocentric theory, heliocentrism, On Revolutions of Heavenly Spheres

Tycho Brahe

Astronomer, mathematician; Mercury and Venus revolved around the sun, other planets revolved around earth; was given an observatory by the King of Denmark which he used to construct scientific observation instruments and compile data

Johannes Kepler

Astronomer, mathematician; inherited Brahe’s data; The New Astronomy

Galileo Galilei

Mathematician, astronomer; Dutch telescope; sunspots; Jupiter’s moons; Starry Messenger; Dialogue on the 2 Chief World Systems

Isaac Newton

Empiricism; The universe was a giant clock that could be explained with math; combined Kepler’s motion of heavenly bodies and Galileo’s motion of things on earth; law of gravity; foundations for calculus

Francis Bacon

Scientific Method

Rene Descartes

Rational deduction; two categories of existing things

Galen

Greek Physician whose writings backed late medieval medicine; dissected animals for anatomy; four bodily humors

Paracelsus

Criticized universities who relied on Galen’s teachings; “chemical philosophy”

Vesalius

On Fabric of the Human Body; hands-on learning; corrected Galen

William Harvey

On the Motion of Heart and Blood; explained blood circulation

Lady Margaret Cavendish

scientific and philosophical debates

Maria Merian

German entomologist; learned illustration; visited Surinam; the Metamorphosis of Insects of Surinam

Maria Winkelmann

Astronomer; married Gottfried Kirch; discovered a comet; applied to Berlin Academy