The Scientific Revolution 1600-1770

Much of the progress that emerged during this period came from the Scientific Revolution, a revolution in the Way the world was perceived. It was an intellectual revolution that changed people’s thought process and led many in society to reject traditional authority in favor of the direct observation and experimination of nature.

The revolution was largely based on the new scientific method, in which men of science observed nature, made hypotheses (educated guesses) about relationships, and then tested their hypotheses through experiments. Significant discoveries were also made concerning gravity, the telescope, skeletal and muscular systems of the human body, and the movement of the planets.

Galileo Galilei was an Italian astronomer who developed the scientific method, which emphasized careful observation, measurement, and experimentation while rejecting a reliance on traditional authority. He also proved Copernicus’s theory that the earth rotated around the sun. Galileo's work was a key turning point in the Scientific Revolutions

His book Principia Mathematica connected the speed of falling objects to the movements of planets. Newton reduced all these patterns to a single formula: law of gravity. Newton's discovery raised hopes that all of the universe acted according to certain fixed and fundamental laws. It seemed that all scientists has to do was to apply observation, experimentation and mathematics.