Short Answer

FRANCIS BACON:
-Scientific knowledge could advance and this advancement would lead to technology to advance

RENE DESCARTES:
-took Bacon’s theories and established theories that human reason could develop laws that would explain the fundamental workings of nature

NEWTON:
Took Descartes work and published a book using astronomy and physical observations. Newton came up natural laws, which would define the scientific revolution during later times because they caused the ultimate breach between religious and scientific belief. Newton defined natural laws, forces of gravitational pull, and basic scientific methods in terms of hypothesis and experiment. Natural universe was explained in simple natural laws rather than explicit analyzation.

Key People:

I. Copernicus
Key first step
Polish Monk
Planets moved around the sun rather than the earth
Discovery set other scientific advances in motion
Showed new thinking could improve on tradition
Quiet hero of Western science

Johannes Kepler
Important figure in the study of planetary motion
Used Copernicus work
Practiced astrology
Casted horoscopes

Galileo
Publicized Copernicus’s discoveries
Added basic findings of laws of gravity and planetary motion
Rival of church
New pride in scientific achievement

William Harvey
Demonstrated circular movement of blood in animals
Heart was “central pumping station”

Francis Bacon
Urged value of careful empirical research
Scientific knowledge advanced steadily
Scientific improvement leads to technological improvement

René Descartes
Established importance of skeptical review of all received wisdom
Argued human reason could develop laws that would explain the fundamental workings of nature

Isaac Newton
Published Principia Mathematica
Scientific Revolution began
Various astronomical and physical observations, wider theories of natural laws
Basic principles of all motion
Defined forces of gravity
Whole universe responded to these