world civ people

Tycho Brahe

A Danish astronomer who was inspired by a bright object that flew in the sky over Denmark in 1527. Tycho would name this bright light a supernova (this name is still used for distant exploding stars). - Brahe's book impressed King Frederick II who eventually would give Tycho money to build two observatories. That is where he developed his own system to explain the planets movement. - He believed that the sun orbited the earth, but that the other five known planets in the solar system revolved around the Sun. (half geocentric, half heliocentric.)

Antony van Leeuwenhoek

A Dutch scientist who used his love for creating magnifying lenses to invent the microscope. - He was the first person to describe and see bacteria, yeast, red blood cells and other microorganisms.

Ptolemy

A Greek Astronomer who expanded upon Aristotle's ideas in the AD 200s. These ideas by Ptolemy and Aristotle were used by the Church, which taught the people that God placed Earth at the center of the universe and that the moon, sun and the planets orbited around the Earth. (This is the Geocentric Theory!) This belief was used for around one thousand years.

Aristotle

A Greek philosopher of proposed the geocentric theory in the 300s BC.

Galen

A Greek physician who believed that the human anatomy was very like animal's body. He was very inaccurate. - He was proven wrong by Andreas Vesulius.

William Harvey

An English physician who went on to observe and explained the function of the human heart in the early 1600s. He described how blood and the circulatory system worked. - His work was based of Andreas Vesalius, who was a Flemish doctor who was known for his work in anatomy.

Francis Bacon

An English scholar who believed that the only way to gain scientific knowledge was through 5 steps (scientific method): 1. Experimenting 2. Observing 3. Measuring 4. Explaining 5. Verifying

Galileo

An astronomer, mathematician, and physicist; he discovered the law of motion of falling objects and invented the first working telescope; his discoveries put him into conflict with the Roman Catholic Church - Built the first telescope in 1609. - First scientist to observe Saturn, sunspots, moon of Jupiter, and the craters on the moon. - He also discovered the Milky Way was created out of stars. - Wrote Starry Messenger.

Johannes Kepler

As an ex-assistant to the late Tycho Brahe, Kepler published the results to Brahe's measurement of Mars. This measurement led Kepler to solve the main problem of the Copernicus Theory. - He found through the measurements that this assumption was not true. - First astronomer to prove that the planets orbited the un in an oval pattern. - Instead of proving Copernicus wrong like he wanted to originally, his discovery led to helping support Copernicus' theory.

Isaac Newton

English mathematician and natural philosopher; he discovered the law of gravity as well as laws on the physics of objects. - The Principia: his explanation of his law of universal gravitation. Gravity affects objects in the universe and on earth. - Created Calculus (prediction of the effects of gravity.) - Gottfried Von Leibniz also developed calculus at the same time; both accused each other of plagiarism.

Robert Hooke

English physicist and inventor, he used an early microscope to see the appearance of plants at a microscopic level. - He has many achievements when it comes to math and physics. - He is also known for creating the term 'cell'.

Lavoisier

French chemist who developed ways for precise measurements in the mid 1700's. - Discovered the Conservation of Mass, which shows that matter could not be created or destroyed. - Recognized and created oxygen, metric system, first periodic table (33 elements)

Rene Descartes

French philosopher, mathematician, and scientist; his belief that all things should be doubted until reason could prove them became one of the underpinnings of the scientific method. - He is known more due to his emphasis on reason. He believed that everything should be doubted until it could be proven with evidence or reason. - "I think; therefore I am."

Robert Boyle

He is called the father of modern chemistry. - He was the first scientist to define an element. - 1661: The Skeptical Chemist defined matter as a cluster of tiny particles (atoms/molecules) - His law describes how volume, pressure and temperature affect gas

Copernicus

In the early 1500's, the Polish astronomer Nicolaus Copernicus realized that the geocentric theory did not go into the movements of the moon, sun and the planets accurately. He examined the work of Ptolemy and Aristotle and found out that the sun (NOT EARTH) was the center of the universe. This idea is known as the Heliocentric Theory. - Copernicus was the first scientist to create a model of entire solar system that included astronomy, physic, and mathematics. - His most famous book is the Revolution of the Heavenly Spheres. In this book, he waited until last minute to publish his work due to him not wanted to have controversy regarding his beliefs. He was also worried that he did not have enough evidence to support it, making it a weak theory.