SCIENTISTS

NICOLAUS COPERNICUS

• Polish cleric and astronomer
• Introduced the heliocentric theory
• Made a book, "On the Revolutions of the Heavenly Bodies"

JOHANNES KEPLER

• Brilliant mathematician
• Concluded that certain math laws govern planetary motion
• His laws showed that Copernicus's basic ideas were true

GALILEO GALILEI

• Discovered the law of the pendulum
• Found that a falling object accelerates at a predictable rate
• Built his own telescope

SIR FRANCIS BACON

• English politician and writer
• Proposed a method of developing philosophy
• Separates religion and philosophy

RENE DESCARTES

• French mathematician, writer, and philosopher
• Was the first to describe the physical universe in terms of matter and motion
• Believed science and mathematics could explain everything in nature

PHILOSOPHES

JOHN LOCKE

• English philosopher
• Known as one of the most influential Enlightenment thinkers
• Fathered Classical Liberalism

VOLTAIRE

• François-Marie d'Arouet
• French writer and activist during Enlightenment
• Clarified the distinction between science and philosophy

MONSTESQUIEU

• Leading historian of French Enlightenment
• Him and Voltaire responded in different ways to the scientific impulse
• Preferred form of government was constitutional monarchy

ROUSSEAU

• Jean- Jacques
• Important figure in the history of philosophy
• His work was to find a way of preserving human freedom

WOLLSTONECRAFT

• Mary
• Moral and political theorist
• Argued for women rights
• Her books caused controversy

HOBBES

• Thomas
• Know as one of a handful of great political philosophers
• Famous for early development of "social contract theory"