The Rise Of Science

• Decartes, in a sense was the founder of modern Philosophy & was also one of the creators of 17th century Science.
• Copernicus, Kepler, Galileo and Newton are pre-eminent in the creation of Science.
• Copernicus (1473-1543) was a Polish ecclesiastic. In 1500 he had a lectureship or professorship of mathematics in Rome.
• Copernicus believed that the sun is at the centre of the universe. His chief work, De Revoltionibus Oribium Coelestium, was published in the year of his death (1543). The book I believe, was dedicated to the Pope. 
•  Another Astronomer of importance was Tycho Brathe (1546-1601). He believed that the Sun and Moon go around the Earth, but the planets go around the Sun.
• Kepler (1571-1630) is one of the most notable examples of what can be achieved by patience without much in the way of Genius. He was the 1st important Astronomer after Copernicus to adopt the heliocentric theory.
• Kepler's most noticable achievment was the discovery of his three laws of planetery motion.Two of these he published in 1609, the third in 1619.
• His first law states: The planets describe elliptic orbits, of which the sun occupies one focus.
• His second law states: The line joining a planet to the sun sweeps out equal areas in equal times.
• His third law states: The square of the period of revolution of a planet is proportional to the cube of its average distance from the sun.
• Galileo (1564-1642) is considered to be the greatest of the founders of modern Science.
• He was born on about the day in  which Michelangelo died, and he died in the year in which newton was born.
• Galileo first discovered the importance of acceleration in dynamics. he believed that every body, if left alone, Will continue to move in a straight line with uniform velocity; any change, either in the rapidity or the direction of motion, requires to be explained as due to the action of some 'force'.
• Galileo was also the first to discover the law of falling bodies. He also studied projectiles, Which was a subject of importance to his employer, the duke of Tuscany. Galileo showed that if a projectile was to be fired horizontally, apart from the air, the horizontal velocity would be added, which would grow according to the law of intertia. But a vertical velocity would be added, which would grow according to the law of falling bodies.
• Galileo, having found out that a Dutchman invented a telescope, he then made one himself. He then went on to discover some important things. He found that the Milky way consists of a multitude of separate stars, he also observed the phases of Venus and also discovered the satellites of Jupiter.
• Newton (1642-1727) showed that acceleration towards the earth and sun, following the same formula as the laws of motion, explains the moon's motion, and that the acceleration of falling bodies on the earth's surface is again related to that of the moon according to the inverse square law.
• According to Newton, the planets were originally hurled by the hand of God. But when he had done this, decreed the law of gravitation, everything went on by itself without further need of divine intervention.  
• The compound microscope was invented just before the 17th century, around 1590.

One of the first compound microscopes (I think)

The telescope was invented in 1608, by a Dutchman named Lippershy. Galileo also invented the thermometer. Torricelli invented the barometer. Guericke (1602-86) invented the air pump.

One of the first Telescopes

• Gilbert (1540-1603) published his book on the magnet in 1600. Harvey (1578-1657) discovered the circulation of the blood, he published his discovery in 1628. Leeuwenhoek (1632-1723) discovered spermatozoa, although it was another man, Stephen Hamn, had discovered them a few months earlier; Leeuwenhoek also discovered protozoa or unicellular organisms and even bacteria. 
• As we are able to tell from all these discoveries, the 17th century was really instrumental for Science, and in many respects, was when Science and astronomy really became significant.