Historical Timeline

Leonardo DaVinci was important in a historical sense, as he contributed to many areas as a "renaissance man". These areas included anatomy, though it was mainly used for art rather than biology, it did help move both subjects along. Also, he had many ideas about inventions, such as a flying machine, that were way past his time. This is important because it moved many fields along, and helped boost the culture of the time.

Luther’s contribution to the timeline is testimony against indulgences, which opened up the questioning of the Catholic church, which in turn led to the scientific revolution. Furthermore, Luther translated the Bible to German, rather than in Latin, which gave the common people access to the Bible and stopped them from being reliant on the Church to give God’s word. This was important as it began the process of chipping away at the Catholic church's power, and would eventually let new ideas from the Scientific Revolution be accepted.

When Galileo aimed his telescope at the night sky, and discovered that the moon was not a flat unchanging surface, and that the sun had spots, it was important in continuing to chip away at the church's power. Unfortunately for Galileo, he publicly denounced those who oppose his ideas and called out the church for being wrong. He was put in front of the Inquisition, and spent the remainder of his life in house arrest where he continued to gaze into the sky. This is important because he made the foundations for modern astronomy and led other to look up into the sky, like Kepler and Brahe.

Kepler proved the heliocentric model of the universe, presented by Copernicus, by studying the night sky along with using mathematics. Along with this, he showed that planets not only orbited the sun, but showed that they have elliptical orbits using his equations. This is important as the Church could no longer dispute these ideas: they were proven. Furthermore, it improved sciences such as physics for people that came after him, such as Isaac Newton.

John Locke is important because of his contributions to the Enlightenment and how revolutionary his ideas became. Locke's ideas taken by the Americans during the American revolution led to their revolt because they had the right to in the situation according to Locke. His ideas were also used in the Constitution, which allowed the people living under the Constitution to be protected by some basic rights.

Newton discovered the laws of gravity and proved them using a new form of mathematics: calculus. His discovery of these laws revolutionized the things that scientist sought out to achieve. There were now people trying to figure out other laws that governed our universe, and even our people. It was also important because the Church didn't dispute the discovery, it fit quite well within their beliefs; why wouldn't God create a universe without definite laws that rule everything?

As part of the Enlightenment, Montesquieu had revolutionary ideas about how the government should be run in favour of the people. In his view, which is still practiced today, there are three separate parts of government. The executive, judicial, and legislative. Each is its own part of government to ensure that no one part has too much power, or becomes corrupt. This idea of government was so highly regarded that it was brought back to the 13 Colonies by Benjamin Franklin. Another part of his ideas was the governments should go through checks and balances to ensure they are not corrupt.

Gutenberg was important during the time he was alive because of his invention of the printing press with movable type. This is a major improvement on the times he lived in because it allowed for the rapid spread of knowledge and new ideas. This rapid expansion of ideas aided in the spread of the renaissance. It also has a great effect on other important people of his time and in the near future. For example, without the printing press then Martin Luther's ideas wouldn't have gone to the extent they did.

The Encylopedie was extremely innovative and was essentially a primitive internet. It was important because like the printing press, it allowed for more easy transfer of information and was contained in one source that was relatively accessible to most people of the time. The level of detail in the Encylopedie was immaculate and was the first source to contain everything someone could want to know, and the source of the information was experts on the topics. It ranged from house hold duties, carpentry, to the sciences.

During the Agricultural Revolution in England, all of the power needed for production was flowing water, and this usually meant that the places producing things had to be high up on the side of a mountain. The invention of canals allowed the easy transport of goods to more and more towns without having to use 20+ horses and without having to lose your product along the way. One horse could pull a boat full of supplies and goods along a sturdy path with the boat floating on the water of these canals. This is extremely important because it increased the amount of goods reaching the towns, coal being among them, allowing for more production in factories.