-
Jan 1, 1400
the roots of modern science
Before 1500, scholars generally decided what was true or false by referring to an ancient Greek or Roman author or to the Bible. -
Jan 1, 1543
The Heliocentric Theory
theory still did not completely explain why the
planets orbited the way they did. He also knew
that most scholars and clergy would reject his theory because it contradicted their religious views. Fearing ridicule or persecution, Copernicus did not publish his find-
ings until 1543, the last year of his life. -
Mar 15, 1550
New ideas
ublished works that challenged the ideas of the ancient thinkers and the church. As these scholars replaced old assumptions with new theories, they launched a change in European thought that historians call the Scientific Revolution. -
Jan 1, 1581
Galileo’s Discoveries
In 1581, a 17-year-old Italian student named Galileo Galilei
sat in a cathedral closely watching a chandelier swing on its chain. -
Jan 1, 1581
Galileo’s Discoveries
Galileo successfully built his own telescope. After making some improvements, Galileo used his telescope to study
the heavens in 1609. -
Galileo’s Discoveries
Then in 1610, he published a series of newsletters called Starry Messenger, which described his astonishing observations. Galileo announced that Jupiter had four moons and that the sun had dark spots. -
Conflict with the Church
In 1616, the Catholic Church warned Galileo not to defend the
ideas of Copernicus. -
Conflict with the Church
Galileo stood before the court in 1633. Under the threat of tor-
ture, he knelt before the cardinals and read aloud a signed confession. In it, he agreed that the ideas of Copernicus were false. -
Newron explains the law of gravity
By the mid-1600s, the accomplishments of Copernicus, Kepler, and Galileo had shat-tered the old views of astronomy and physics. Later, the great English scientist Isaac Newton helped to bring together their breakthroughs under a single theory of motion. -
Newton explains the law of gravity
In 1687, Newton published his ideas in a work called Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosophy—one of the most important scientific books ever written. -
Scientific Instruments
A Swedish astronomer, Anders Celsius (SEHL•see•uhs), created
another scale for the mercury thermometer in 1742.