Science and Technology 1450 to 1750

When most people think about the Scientific Revolution, Isaac Newton and his famed affinity for apples springs immediately to mind. This is definitely warranted – Newton was one of the most prolific and successful scientists of his day. Newton lived towards the end of the Scientific Revolution; so naturally, he was very much immersed in the past findings of the many scientists who had lived and worked before him. In particular, he was inspired by the work of Johannes Kepler and his theory of elliptical planetary motion. Over the course of his career, Newton made numerous new discoveries in the field of astronomy while also pioneering the beginnings of physics. He is best known for his discovery of gravity, which he uncovered during his investigation into Kepler’s past planetary research. As Newton realized, every single object in the entire universe, including the planets, were all affected by gravity, a powerful force which pulled and pushed things together in mathematically perfect order.

Native groups domesticated many different animal species, such as llama in the Andean region, centuries before the contact with Columbus and his crew in 1492. Technologies like domesticated horses and steel armor gave Europeans advantage in battle with Native groups, even when the Europeans were outnumbered. It should be noted, however, that historians believe that the most important cause for the massive number of fatalities among Native peoples after contact with Europeans was due to exposure to European diseases like small pox. Native peoples had never been exposed to these diseases and, consequently, had no natural resistance to them.

The feudal system, in both Europe and Japan, was built on the premise that certain individuals are more skilled and have better training in weapons than others. Archery and swordsmanship were both difficult skills, which had to be mastered over a period of years. Those skilled individuals were able to gain power for themselves by agreeing to fight on behalf of landowners and in defense of serfs living on the land. However, the introduction of firearms changed this arrangement. Suddenly anyone with access to a gun could shoot and kill with very little training. This contributed to the decline of the feudal system in Europe, and, when guns were introduced to Japanese society, threatened to disrupt the feudal system in Japan.

Gerardus Mercator was a “cartographer” (mapmaker) in the sixteenth century. He made several adjustments to the way maps are made that continue to persist to this day and which made navigation much easier during his own time period.

The Scientific Revolution was a slow, gradual accumulation of new discoveries, different schools of thought, and changed approaches to the universe. Despite its name, it did not actually take place at a fast rate; instead, it transformed Western Europe slowly but steadily over the course of two centuries, from the sixteenth century through the seventeenth century. The individuals who took part in this Revolution were not actually called scientists; at the time, the word “scientist” hadn’t yet been invented. Instead, they were known as “natural philosophers,” or men who studied and thought about the universe, Nature, and everything in between. Contrary to popular belief, the Scientific Revolution didn’t reject the teachings of antiquity and the Middle Ages at all. In fact, the Revolution’s natural philosophers were inspired by the concepts created by those (such as Aristotle and Ptolemy) who had come before them. These new natural philosophers embraced the work done by their predecessors and worked to update, reform, or fix any errors in these ideas. They married old information with new knowledge and discoveries, combining and investigating them both to expand their understanding of the universe. The many new discoveries and changes made in the field of astronomy generated the most excitement and drama among the Revolution’s contemporary researchers and academics. But many other fields, including medicine, biology, chemistry, and natural history, produced fascinating achievements as well.

Antonie van Leeuwenhoek is most often remembered for his pioneering work in microbiology. He made dramatic refinements to the technology of microscopes, allowing them to magnify to much greater extremes. He made many of the first human observations of different types of cells.

Caravels are sailing ships that were invented by the Portuguese in the fifteenth century. Caravels had the advantage of being able to sail both with and against the wind, were small and extremely maneuverable, and could make accurate voyages over vast distances. The invention of the caravel paved the way for the age of European exploration.

The printing press was invented, in Europe, by Johannes Gutenberg in the fifteenth century. The invention of the printing press allowed for pamphlets and essays to be widely produced for the first time in European history. This facilitated the spread of ideas in Europe and allowed for the rapid spread of the Protestant Reformation in the early sixteenth century.

The invention of the printing press in the fifteenth century changed a great deal about European society. For the first time ideas could be spread quickly around the continent. It also led to a marked rise in European literacy rates as more reading material begat more consumers.

The Three Laws of Motion were first proposed by Isaac Newton. The Three Laws of Motion (which Newton published in the late seventeenth century) revolutionized, some might say invented, the area of science known as physics, and established Newton as one of the leading scientific figures in human history.