| Term | Definition |
| Copernicus | Heliocentric theory; Doesn't put it out until he dies |
| Galileo | Craters on moon not perfect;objects of different weight hit ground at the same time; house arrested by church because he supported Corpernicus |
| Brahe | Sun revolves around earth;planets revolve around the sun |
| Kepler | everything revolves around the sun (proven mathematically) |
| Newton | Gravity,Inertia,three laws of motion |
| Vesalius | dissected the first human, found out about human body |
| Harvey | blood circulates through heart pumped by vessels |
| Leewenhoek | built microscope and found organisms |
| Linneas | Taxonomy and classification |
| Hobbes | self interest;social contract between a man and government - people have to give away their rights for power and order |
| Locke | People are not born good or evil;Natural Rights-Life,liberty,property |
| Voltaire | Free speech;"i may not agree with what you say..." |
| Montesquieu | checks and balances;seperation of powers;legislative makes laws,judicial interprets them,executive enforces them |
| Rousseau | civilized society corrupts, majority rules,direct democracy |
| Bacon | writer that believed knowledge would improve people's lives |
| empiricism | the experimental method |
| Descartes | developed analytical geometry (linked algebra and geometry) |
| Janssen | made eyeglasses |
| Beccaria | Wanted to abolish capital punishment,believe justice system was abused,speedy trial |
| Wollstonecraft | disagreed with Rousseau,urged women to take male jobs |