Philosophers

1546-1601 Brahe, Tycho Made detailed observations of planets and stars prior to invention of the telescope.

1561-1626 Bacon, Francis English philosopher and statesman who served as Attorney General and as Lord Chancellor of England. His works are credited with developing the scientific method and remained influential through the scientific revolution. Bacon has been called the father of empiricism.

1564-1642 Galilei, Galileo Made fundamental contributions to the sciences of motion, astronomy, and strength of materials and to development of the scientific method. His formulation of inertia, the law of falling bodies, and parabolic trajectories marked the beginning of a fundamental change in the study of motion. Finally, his discoveries with the telescope revolutionized astronomy

1571-1630 Kepler, Johannes German astronomer who discovered three major laws of planetary motion, having been inspired by Copernicus’ heliocentrism and Brahe’s observations.

1588-1679 Hobbes, Thomas English philosopher, scientist, and historian, best known for his political philosophy, especially as articulated in his masterpiece Leviathan (1651). Hobbes viewed government primarily as a device for ensuring collective security.

1596-1650 Descartes, René French mathematician, scientist, and philosopher. As a mathematician he combined algebra and number theory with geometry through the invention of coordinate geometry. His theory on the dualism of mind and body went on to influence subsequent Western philosophies. In Meditations on First Philosophy, Descartes attempted to demonstrate the existence of God and

1632-1704 Locke, John English philosopher whose works lie at the foundation of modern philosophical empiricism and political liberalism. He was an inspirer of both the European Enlightenment and the Constitution of the United States.

1642-1726 Newton, Isaac English physicist and mathematician, who was the culminating figure of the Scientific Revolution of the 17th century. In optics, his investigations of light laid the foundation for modern physical optics. In mechanics, his three laws of motion resulted in the formulation of the law of universal gravitation. In mathematics, he (with Leibniz)

1646-1716 Leibniz, Gottfried Wilhelm German philosopher, mathematician, and political adviser, important both as a metaphysician and as a logician and distinguished also for his independent invention of the differential and integral calculus.

1685-1753 Berkeley, George Anglo-Irish Anglican bishop, philosopher, and scientist best known for his empiricist and idealist philosophy, which holds that reality consists only of minds and their ideas; everything save the spiritual exists only insofar as it is perceived by the senses.