Scientist Who Changed the World

Known today as the father of astronomy, Nicolaus Copernicus was a Polish astronomer and mathematician. He was interested in planets and astronomy during his studies, and he even collected books on the subject. When Copernicus was alive, most people believed that the earth stood still, and the sun orbited around it. Great thinkers and astronomers like Aristotle and Ptolemy wrote about this earth-centric view of the universe. Copernicus spent many years deeply studying the planets and their motions.

He was convinced that the sun stood still and that the earth and other planets moved around the sun. This view that the sun was at the center of the solar system is called the heliocentric theory. Copernicus was afraid that people would make fun of him for his discovery and only shared it with a few other astronomers.

His research was finally published in a book as he was dying, so Copernicus never lived to see how his great discovery changed the world and science forever. (It still took quite some time for people to accept that the earth moved around the sun.) Copernicus understood the importance of “careful and expert study” in science, as he wrote in his important book on the orbit of the earth. This attitude exemplified the Renaissance mentality that one should turn to first-hand observation and experimentation to learn about the world.

Best known for discovering the laws of gravity, Isaac Newton was an important Renaissance mathematician and scientist. He had a hard and lonely life, and his father died before Newton’s premature birth. As he was born early, most people did not think that he would survive into childhood. When Newton was three, his mother remarried and left him with his grandparents. At his grandparent’s house as a boy, Newton spent most of his time reading, doing experiments, and drawing (often on walls and ceilings).

He did not have many friends and preferred to spend time alone. As a young man, Newton headed to college, but the Great Plague in Europe forced him to abandon his education for two years. During this time, he was isolated on his family’s farm, working on his theories of gravity, motion, and calculus. Legend has it that while at the farm, Newton saw an apple fall from a tree. This experience prompted him to begin work on his theory of gravity. By watching the apple drop, Newton began to think of gravity as a pulling force that kept things from floating off. Newton also invented the reflecting telescope, a device that used mirrors to get a clearer image of the object being observed. This scientist was at his happiest thinking and experimenting in solitude. His observations, experiments, and inventions revolutionized scientific study.

Francis Bacon was an English philosopher and writer. He is known today as the father of empiricism, a theory that states that knowledge can only come through first-hand observation and experimentation. His writing led to the development of the scientific method and modern scientific experimentation. Bacon began his studies at the age of 12, but felt even then, that the material was behind the times and education could be improved. After his father died, he had to pursue a career in law to make ends meet, and later turned to politics. He was very successful in his political career until he was accused of accepting bribes by opposing politicians. Though he was eventually pardoned, his career in politics was over.

Bacon then turned his attention fully to writing and study. Throughout his life, Bacon believed that traditional methods of learning were flawed. At the time, they were based on the work of Aristotle, whose theories Bacon thought were outdated. They also did not separate religion and magic, like alchemy, from science. He felt that a scientific method was needed to investigate things in a new way instead of relying on older information. He came up with rules for collecting and analyzing data to discover new knowledge. Some of these rules became the basis for how people conduct scientific experiments today. Like Galileo, Bacon thought it was important that anyone could repeat experiments and help prove the results. He also believed that science should be available to everyone and that knowledge was not just for the rich and powerful. This idea that people should have equal access to useful information was a critical change during the Renaissance. Thinkers of the time encouraged people to learn for themselves rather than just accepting what they read in books or what others told them.

Maria Sibylla Merian was a German botanist and artist who began drawing and painting at a young age. As a teenager, she kept a journal where she recorded her observations about nature, particularly insects. She also collected butterflies and moths, searching for them in gardens and throughout the countryside. Using her studies, Merian published books with images she drew based on her first-hand observation of insects in nature. She traveled from Europe to Suriname, a small country on the coast of South America, to study insects and was accompanied only by her daughter. This type of trip was uncommon for women and was especially rare for women who were not traveling as a part of a larger expedition.

Merian spent two years in the wilderness of tropical Suriname searching for caterpillars and observing their transformation into butterflies. Her illustrations showed not just the insects themselves, but their life cycles and habits as well. This was a very different approach to naturalism than was common for the time, and the scientist was interested in much more than just the insects’ form. She wanted to draw all that she had learned, including how insects reproduced, grew, changed, ate, and died. By studying and drawing these tiny creatures in their natural habitats, Merian made many discoveries. She documented the metamorphosis of a butterfly, which was one of her most important contributions to the study of insects. Her focus on first-hand observation and careful study contributed to the Renaissance tradition of personally seeking knowledge and examining the wonders of the natural world.

Often called the father of modern science, Galileo Galilei was an Italian astronomer and physicist. Galileo believed and promoted Copernicus’ idea of a heliocentric model of the solar system, even though it was very
controversial. He felt that experiments were very important for the progress of science and needed to be easy to repeat so that the results were reliable. This idea forms the basis of scientific theory today. The scientist also made great contributions to the field of astronomy.
He significantly improved the telescope and learned a lot about the planets through first-hand observation using this device. He made many discoveries with it, learning more about Jupiter, Venus, Saturn, and Neptune.

He even observed that the moon had craters and
mountains and reflected light from the sun. Before seeing the moon through his telescope, people thought it was smooth and glowed by itself. Galileo rebelled against popular belief and was very outspoken even when people made fun of his ideas or criticized them. He stood firm in his beliefs, as he had evidence from his observations to support his views. Galileo’s enemies claimed that his support of the heliocentric model went against the Catholic Church’s beliefs. He was a devout Catholic, and he tried to convince the Church that the earth was truly orbiting the sun. However, the Church soon banned Copernicus’ theory and told Galileo he could not teach or defend this point of view. Galileo never gave up, and when a new pope was elected, he tried once more to champion heliocentrism. This new pope told Galileo that he could write a book about Copernicus’ idea, but that it should be presented as one of many theories so that it could be used for debate. Galileo was ecstatic and worked hard to put his ideas into writing. When he finally published the book, the pope turned against him. Galileo was summoned to Rome to stand trial for heresy. The scientist was found guilty but was promised a lesser punishment if he publicly renounced Copernicus’ ideas. Galileo admitted that he might have supported the theory in his book and was sentenced to house arrest for the rest of his life. Despite being locked in his home, Galileo continued his scientific experiments and even wrote a book that would later inspire Isaac Newton’s work on gravity. Even 100 years after Copernicus’ theory was published and years after Galileo’s death, the idea that the earth orbited the sun was still not widely believed. This determined scientist embodied the Renaissance ideal of challenging old ideas and seeking knowledge.

SCIENTISTS WHO CHANGED THE WORLD