Development of Science

During the Renaissance, extraordinary accomplishments were made in the field of science. The Renaissance thinkers emphasized more on reason than on blind faith and stressed that knowledge could be gained by observation and experimentation. They rejected blind faith in tradition and established beliefs. This resulted in a scientific inquiry that had almost disappeared. Renaissance also brought about a scientific revolution.

Artists like Leonardo da Vinci made observational drawings of anatomy and nature which were a unique blend of science and art. The period also saw remarkable achievements in medicine and human anatomy. Michael Servetus, a Spanish doctor, discovered the circulation of blood. William Harvey, an Englishman explained the function of the heart in purifying blood and its circulation through veins.

The beginnings that were made by the Renaissance scientists paved the way for observation and experimentation in other fields of knowledge. One of the most remarkable achievements of the Renaissance in science was in the field of astronomy. Copernicus, Kepler and Galileo were great astronomers who formulated and tried to prove that the Earth revolves around the Sun.

Before the Renaissance, it was believed that the Sun revolved around the Earth and whoever questioned this was denounced as a heretic. Copernicus in his book On the Revolution of the Heavenly Sphere argued that the earth and the planets move around the sun in concentric circles. Even though the theory was imperfect, it aroused thinking and reasoning.

Kepler further developed this theory and said that the other planets move in elliptical paths around the sun. He also argued that magnetic attractions between the Sun and the planets kept the heavenly bodies in an orbital motion. Further on this assumption, Isaac Newton developed his Law of Universal Gravitation. With his self manufactured telescope, Galileo discovered the moons of Jupiter, the rings of Saturn and spots in the Sun. He also confirmed the findings of Copernicus.

Renaissance also developed a curiosity in the minds of Europeans about other lands and other peoples.