Galileo Galilei (February 15, 1564 - January 8, 1642)

Galileo Galilei, an Italian Renaissance man, is considered to be the father of modern

science. One of his largest contributions to the science world was his support and study
of the heliocentric view of the universe, which placed the Sun at the center. He made his
views on the universe public in 1610. Before this, astronomers and philosophers still
believed in the geocentric view, with the Earth at the center of the universe. In 1616, he
was condemned to life under house arrest for supporting views that contradicted those
of the Catholic Church. He eventually died in 1642 of heart problems. Galileo’s other
contributions include the study of motion (kinematics), observation of sunspots, and
invention of the Galilean telescope, which allowed him to explore the universe in ways
that had never been possible before. Galileo’s impact on modern science has been
huge. Important figures such as Stephen Hawking and Albert Einstein have named him
the most influential figure responsible for the birth of modern science. His astronomical
discoveries, such as the four moons of Jupiter, still have hold in the scientific community
to this day.

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Galileo_Galilei
Picture: http://images.livescience.com/images/gm_Galileo_Galilei_03_10.jpg

Thomas Hobbes (April 5, 1588 - December 4, 1679)

Thomas Hobbes was an English philosopher, known mainly for his work on political
philosophy. His most famous work, the 1651 book Leviathan, expressed the view that all
humans were naturally evil, and that there should be an absolute monarchy (all power to
a monarch). He believed that without someone to rule them, humans would act on evil
impulses, and that governments were a necessity to protect the people from their own
selfishness and evil. He also believed that democracy would not work, because people
only wanted to promote their own interests. However, despite all this, he decided that
businesses had the power to influence the actions of the governments. In addition to his
work on politics, he also made contributions to fields such as physics and history. While
many of Hobbes’ ideas are not supported in modern politics today, his principles of
having a ruling government still stand, and have had a lasting impact on politics for
centuries.

Sources: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Hobbes
http://www.rjgeib.com/thoughts/nature/hobbes-bio.html
Picture: http://withfriendship.com/images/b/7915/Thomas-Hobbes-picture.jpg
Denis Diderot (October 5, 1713 - July 31, 1784)

Denis Diderot was a French philosopher and writer whose main contribution to society
was the Encyclopédie, of which he was the co-founder and chief editor. It was a general
encyclopedia published in France from 1751 to 1772, and it represented the thought of
the Enlightenment. Contributions to the Encyclopédie were made by several notable
Enlightenment figures, including Montesquieu, Voltaire, and Jean-Jacques Rousseau. It
contained over 75,000 entries, spanning across 18,000 pages of text. The Encyclopédie
played a large part during the time that led up to the French Revolution. The spread of
ideas it created (including ideas that went against the teachings of the Catholic Church)
shaped the social issues that the French Revolution would later address. In addition, he
also wrote several plays. As a philosopher, Diderot believed that all human behaviour
was determined by birth (heredity) and that progressing through the development of
technology was doomed to fail. The Encyclopédie is the only known work that was the
result of a collaboration of nearly all the important philosophers, and therefore serves as
a testament to the ideas and beliefs of the Enlightenment. This in turn influences
modern society because many of the ideas that were spread by the Enlightenment
figures have shaped modern politics into what it is today.

Sources: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Denis_Diderot
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Encyclop%C3%A9die
Picture: http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3328/3654345023_8e0c250f03.jpg