JOHANNES 
​GUTENBERG

GERMANY
​(1400-1468)
  • German printer who was the first in Europe to print using movable type and the first to use a printing press

HENRY VIII

ENGLAND
​​(r.1509–1547)
  • ​English king who created the Church of England after the Pope refused to annul his marriage​

GALILEO GALILEI

ITALY
(1564–1642)
  • Italian astronomer and mathematician who made contributions to the sciences of motion, astronomy, and the development of the scientific method
  • insistence that the universe was bound to mathematical laws & experimentation was the method for discovering the facts of nature

FRANCIS BACON

ENGLAND
(1561–1626)
  • English philosopher who formalized the empirical method of inductive reasoning, i.e the scientific method

VOLTAIRE

FRANCE
(1694–1778)
  • French philosopher and writer who was the embodiment of the Age of Enlightenment, often attacking injustice and intolerance.

JOHN LOCKE

ENGLAND
(1632–1704)
  • English philosopher who saw men as inherently good, advancing the ideas of a "social contract" in which government's job is to protect the peoples' rights
  • ​advocated that all men are created equal with natural rights to life, liberty and property
  • advocated that if government didn't uphold its duty, the people have the right to alter or change it

ADAM SMITH

SCOTLAND
(1723–1790)
  • economist who wrote the Wealth of Nations detailing that economics was governed by natural laws such as supply and demand
  • seen as the founder of capitalism

MARTIN LUTHER

HOLY ROMAN EMPIRE
​​(1483–1546)
  • German monk who became one of the most famous critics of the Roman Catholic Church helping start the Protestant Reformation
  • wrote 95 theses attacking the church practices such as the selling of indulgences
  • translated the Bible into German

NICOLAS 
​COPERNICUS

ENGLAND
(1473–1543)
  • believed that the Sun is at the center of the universe, and all the planets revolve around the Sun in a circular pattern

ISAAC NEWTON

ENGLAND
(1643–1727)
  • ​​English mathematician and scientist who invented calculus and formulated the theory of universal gravitation, a theory about the nature of light, and three laws of motion

RENÉ DESCARTES

FRANCE
​(1596–1650)
  • French philosopher who formalized rational method of deductive reasoning, i.e rationalism

THOMAS HOBBES

ENGLAND
(1588–1679)
  • ​English philosopher who saw men as inherently bad, needing law & order enforced by absolute monarch
  • ​advanced the concept of the "social contract" in which people give up some liberty in exchange for security

BARON DE 
​MONTESQUIEU

FRANCE
(1689–1755)
  • French aristocrat who urged that governmental power be separated between executive, legislative, and judicial branches, each balancing out and checking the others power, thus preventing despotism
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