The Seventeenth Century Scientific Revolution. There were three major scientific figures who contributed to the seventeenth century scientific revolution: Johannes Kepler, Galileo Galilei and Isaac Newton.

University Degree Historical and Philosophical studies

Who were the major scientific figures who contributed to the seventeenth century scientific revolution? What were their contributions?

The seventeenth century marked the emergence of the new science. This century changed the way people think in the Western world and marked the opening of the new era with the scientific revolution (Hewitt et al., 1999). There were three major scientific figures who contributed to the seventeenth century scientific revolution: Johannes Kepler, Galileo Galilei and Isaac Newton.

The first major scientific figure of the seventeenth century is Johannes Kepler. Kepler (1571-1630) was a German astronomist and natural philosopher. Kepler was the pupil of the Danish astronomer Tyco Brahe (1546-1601) (Olbrich, n.d.). He formulated laws of planetary motion. His major discovery was that he found out that the planets orbited the sun in an elliptical rather than a circular path. Moreover, he discovered that there was a precise mathematical relationship between the speed with which a planet revolved and its distance from the sun. Kepler deeply believed that the galaxy was heliocentric and that the heavens, like the earth, were made of matter that was subject to physical laws. This believes were completely new and a big breakthrough for the seventeenth because believed that the galaxy was Earth-Centric (Kishlansky et al., 2001). What Kepler demonstrated mathematically, the Italian astronomer Galileo Galilei confirmed by observation.

This is a preview of the whole essay

The second major scientific figure is Galileo Galilei. Galileo (1564-1642) was an Italian scientist who contributed to the new science in many ways. He improved the telescope and was the first to use it to make scientific observations (Kishlansky et al., 2001). He also popularized the work of Copernicus (1473-1543). In 1610, the Italian scientist discovered the four moons of Jupiter and proved that all heavenly bodies did not revolve around the earth. He also observed the surface of the moon and noticed that it was full of cavities and mountains so it wasn’t perfect as they thought at that time. Same observation for the sun. These observations had a big incident on what people thought, it changed everything because they thought that our galaxy was a Earth-Centric system, but with these observations Galileo proved the complete opposite: our galaxy was a heliocentric system. In that way the scientist supported the Copernican theory (Sobel, n.d.). However, in 1633, he was forced by the Church to recant his ideas and spent the rest of his life under house arrest.

The last major scientific figure is Isaac Newton. Newton (1642-1727) was an English scientist who worked in many areas like astronomy, mathematics, physics and more. He was the first to understand the composition of light, the first to develop a calculus and the first to build a reflecting telescope (Kishlansky et al., 2001). His major findings were his three laws of motion which revolutionized the world of physics and astronomy. The first law was that every object in a state of uniform motion tends to remain in that state of motion unless an external force is applied to it. The second law was that changes in motion are proportional to force. The third and last law was that for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction (Kishlansky et al., 2001). According to legend, a breakthrough came at age 24 in an apple orchard in England. Newton never wrote of such an event, yet it is often claimed that the notion of gravity as the cause of all heavenly motion was instigated when he was struck in the head by an apple while lying under a tree in an orchard in England. Whether it is a myth or a reality, the fact is certain that it was Newton's ability to relate the cause for heavenly motion (the orbit of the moon about the earth) to the cause for Earthly motion (the falling of an apple to the Earth) that led him to his notion of universal gravitation (Dolnick, 2011).

Thus there were three major scientific figures who contributed to the seventeenth century scientific revolution which are Johannes Kepler, Galileo Galilei and Isaac Newton. Their impact on the new science was huge because of what they found. Their major findings were the three laws of motion and universal gravitation, the discovery of the heliocentric system and that the planets orbited in an elliptical path. With Galileo, Newton and Kepler the mathematical, materialistic world of the new science was now complete.

REFERENCES

Hewitt, P., Suchocki, J. & Hewitt, L. (1999). Conceptual physical science (2nd ed.).

Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Education.

Kishlansky, Geary, & O’Brian (2001). Civilization in the West, Volume B (4th ed.). Upper

Saddle River, NJ: Addison Wesley Longman.

Dolnick (2011). Clockwork Universe. New York, NY: Harper Collins.

Sobel. (n.d.). Galileo’s place in science. Retrieved April 2011, from

Olbrich, A. (Producer). (n.d.). Tycho Brahe and Johannes Kepler. Milestones in science

and engineering. Accessed via