Nicolaus Copernicus

born February 19, 1473, Toru, Royal Prussia, Poland.

His father, Nicolaus, was a well-to-do merchant, and his mother, Barbara
Watzenrode, also came from a leading merchant family. Nicolaus was the
youngest of four children.

Polish astronomer who proposed that the planets have the sun as the fixed point
to which their motions are to be referred; that Earth is a planet which, besides
orbiting the Sun annually, also turns once daily on its own axis; and that very
slow, long-term changes in the direction of this axis account for the precession of
the equinoxes. This representation of the heavens is usually called the
heliocentric, or Sun-centred, systemderived from the Greek helios, meaning
Sun.

Only 27 recorded observations are known for Copernicuss entire life (he
undoubtedly made more than that), most of them concerning eclipses,
alignments, and conjunctions of planets and stars.

Isaac Newton
born February 19, 1473, Toru, Royal Prussia, Poland.

His father, Nicolaus, was a well-to-do merchant, and his mother, Barbara
Watzenrode, also came from a leading merchant family. Nicolaus was the
youngest of four children.

English physicist and mathematician, who was the culminating figure of the
scientific revolution of the 17th century. In optics, his discovery of the
composition of white light integrated the phenomena of colours into the science
of light and laid the foundation for modern physical optics. In mechanics, his
three laws of motion, the basic principles of modern physics, resulted in the
formulation of the law of universal gravitation. In mathematics, he was the
original discoverer of the infinitesimal calculus. Newtons Philosophiae Naturalis
Principia Mathematica (Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosophy, 1687) was
one of the most important single works in the history of modern science.
Newton discovered the works of the French natural philosopher Ren Descartes
and the other mechanical philosophers, who, in contrast to Aristotle, viewed
physical reality as composed entirely of particles of matter in motion and who
held that all the phenomena of nature result from their mechanical interaction.
The Quaestiones reveal that Newton had discovered the new conception of
nature that provided the framework of the scientific revolution. He had
thoroughly mastered the works of Descartes and had also discovered that the
French philosopher Pierre Gassendi had revived atomism, an alternative
mechanical system to explain nature.

Sir Francis Bacon

born January 22, 1561, York House, London, Englanddied April 9, 1626, London

Bacon stated that he had three goals: to uncover truth, to serve his country, and to serve his
church.

In 1620, around the time that people first began to look through microscopes, an
English politician named Sir Francis Bacon developed a method for philosophers
to use in weighing the truthfulness of knowledge. While Bacon agreed with
medieval thinkers that humans too often erred in interpreting what their five
senses perceived, he also realized that people's sensory experiences provided the
best possible means of making sense of the world. Because humans could
incorrectly interpret anything they saw, heard, smelled, tasted, or felt, Bacon
insisted that they must doubt everything before assuming its truth.

A lawyer, statesman, philosopher, and master of the English tongue, he is

remembered in literary terms for the sharp worldly wisdom of a few dozen
essays; by students of constitutional history for his power as a speaker in
Parliament and in famous trials and as James Is lord chancellor; and intellectually
as a man who claimed all knowledge as his province and, after a magisterial
survey, urgently advocated new ways by which man might establish a legitimate
command over nature for the relief of his estate.

Bacon has been called the father of empiricism.[6] His works argued for the
possibility of scientific knowledge based only upon inductive reasoning and
careful observation of events in nature. Most importantly, he argued this could
be achieved by use of a sceptical and methodical approach whereby scientists
aim to avoid misleading themselves.
 Rene Descartes
La Haye en Touraine (now Descartes, Indre-et-Loire), France, on 31 March 1596

a French philosopher, mathematician, and scientist. Dubbed the father of modern

western philosophy, much of subsequent Western philosophy is a response to his
writings, which are studied closely to this day. He was extensively educated, first
at a Jesuit college at age 8, then earning a law degree at 22, but an influential
teacher set him on a course to apply mathematics and logic to understanding the
natural world.

Descartes's influence in mathematics is equally apparent; the Cartesian

coordinate system (see below) was named after him. He is credited as the father
of analytical geometry, the bridge between algebra and geometry, used in the
discovery of infinitesimal calculus and analysis. Descartes was also one of the key
figures in the scientific revolution.

while stationed in Neuburg an der Donau, Descartes shut himself in a room with
an "oven" (probably a Kachelofen or masonry heater) to escape the cold. While
within, he had three visions and believed that a divine spirit revealed to him a
new philosophy. Upon exiting, he had formulated analytical geometry and the
idea of applying the mathematical method to philosophy. He concluded from
these visions that the pursuit of science would prove to be, for him, the pursuit of
true wisdom and a central part of his life's work.[24][25] In his meditation, he
also saw very clearly that all truths were linked with one another so that finding a
fundamental truth and proceeding with logic would open the way to all science.
Descartes discovered this basic truth quite soon: his famous "I think, therefore I
am".
 Martin Luther
Born in Germany in November 10, 1483.

Martin Luther became one of the most influential figures in Christian history
when he began the Protestant Reformation in the 16th century. He called into
question some of the basic tenets of Roman Catholicism, and his followers soon
split from the Roman Catholic Church to begin the Protestant tradition.

His parents, Hans and Margarette Luther, were of peasant linage, but Hans had
some success as a miner and ore smelter. In 1484, the family moved to nearby
Mansfeld, where Hans held ore deposits.

In 1501, Martin Luther entered the University of Erfurt, where he received a

Master of Arts degree (in grammar, logic, rhetoric and metaphysics). At this time,
it seemed he was on his way to becoming a lawyer. However, in July 1505, Luther
had a life-changing experience that set him on a new course. Caught in a horrific
thunderstorm where he feared for his life, Luther cried out to St. Anne, the
patron saint of miners, Save me, St. Anne, and Ill become a monk! The storm
subsided and he was saved. Most historians believe this was not a spontaneous
act, but an idea already formulated in Luthers mind. The decision to become a
monk was difficult and greatly disappointed his father, but he felt he must keep a
promise. Luther was also driven by fears of hell and Gods wrath, and felt that life
in a monastery would help him find salvation.

The first few years of monastery life were difficult for Martin Luther, as he did not
find the religious enlightenment he was seeking. A mentor told him to focus his
life exclusively on Christ and this would later provide him with the guidance he
sought. At age 27, he was given the opportunity to be a delegate to a church
conference in Rome. He came away more disillusioned, and very discouraged by
the immorality and corruption he witnessed there among the Catholic priests.

Martin Luther is one of the most influential and controversial figures in the
Reformation movement. His actions fractured the Roman Catholic Church into
new sects of Christianity and set in motion reform within the Church. A
prominent theologian, his desire for people to feel closer to God led him to
translate the Bible into the language of the people, radically changing the
relationship between church leaders and their followers.
 Louis Pasteur
Born on December 27, 1822, in Dole, France.

Louis Pasteur discovered that microbes were responsible for souring alcohol and
came up with the process of pasteurization, where bacteria is destroyed by
heating beverages and then allowing them to cool. His work in germ theory also
led him and his team to create vaccinations for anthrax and rabies.

Pasteur then spent several years researching and teaching at Dijon Lyce. In
1848, he became a professor of chemistry at the University of Strasbourg, where
he met Marie Laurent, the daughter of the university's rector. They wed on May
29, 1849, and had five children, though only two survived childhood.

In 1849, Louis Pasteur was attempting to resolve a problem concerning the

nature of tartaric acida chemical found in the sediments of fermenting wine.
Scientists were using the rotation of polarized light as a means for studying
crystals. When polarized light is passed through a solution of dissolved tartaric
acid, the angle of the plane of light is rotated. Pasteur observed that another
compound called paratartaric acid, also found in wine sediments, had the same
composition as tartaric acid. Most scientists assumed the two compounds were
identical. However, Pasteur observed that paratartaric acid did not rotate plane-
polarized light. He deduced that although the two compounds had the same
chemical composition, they must somehow have different structures.

Looking at the partartaric acid under a microscope, Pasteur observed there were
two different types of tiny crystals. Though they looked almost identical, the two
were actually mirror images of each other. He separated the two types of crystals
into two piles and made solutions of each. When polarized light was passed
through each, he discovered that both solutions rotated, but in opposite
directions. When the two crystals were together in the solution the effect of
polarized light was canceled. This experiment established that just studying the
composition is not enough to understand how a chemical behaves. The structure
and shape is also important and led to the field of stereochemistry.
 Emile Durkheim
born April 15, 1858, pinal, Francedied Nov. 15, 1917, Paris.

mile Durkheim was greatly influenced by philospher August Comte, and believed
that ethical and moral structures were endangered by technology and
mechanization. He felt that the division of labor produced alienation among
workers, and feared the greed inspired by increased prosperity. His books include
The Division of Labour in Society, Suicide, and The Elementary Forms of Religious
Life.

French social scientist who developed a vigorous methodology combining

empirical research with sociological theory. He is widely regarded as the founder
of the French school of sociology.

Durkheim left behind him a brilliant school of researchers. He had never been a
tyrannical master; he had encouraged his disciples to go farther than himself and
to contradict him if need be.

Durkheim was also deeply preoccupied with the acceptance of sociology as a

legitimate science. He refined the positivism originally set forth by Auguste
Comte, promoting what could be considered as a form of epistemological realism,
as well as the use of the hypothetico-deductive model in social science.