Compare/Contrast” response

The scientific revolution of the 17th century is an integral turning point in modern history. It was the birthplace of many principles that helped define our understanding of science and the world around us, such as the scientific method and Napier’s Bones. Chief among these are the deeper dive into astronomy and the Microscope that opened up the doors to the human body. Astronomy was a mysterious science leading up until the 17th century. Sailors and soldiers used the stars to chart their locations, but scientists like Galileo were eager to understand exactly what we were looking at. He invented a telescope with a 30x magnification, one of the highest at the time. He chatted out Jupiter, Venus, Saturn and other celestial bodies. Many of his early charts focused on Jupiter and its 4 nearby moons, and how closely they resembled the rotation of our own moon. This led to the development of a heliocentric model of space which put the sun squarely at the center of the universe. Galileo was widely mocked when he published this, and was actually called in front of the papal conclave in Rome and forced-under torture- to recant his theory. In a smaller scale the microscope, reborn into the compound microscope in 1624, helped open the door to whole new fields of science. Marcello Malpighi an Italian doctor helped to discover various fields including anatomy, physiology, and entomology. He saw the potential of the microscope and used it often in his studies into bodies of humans and animals alike. When he had the opportunity to examine human blood in a sterile environment, he saw small particles within the blood, moving around and interacting with each other. This is the first recorded instance of a human examining red blood cells, and would open the door to every single major medical find until today.

In this floating post option thread, I would like you to think about the other important events of the 17th century. (For example, you could think about the impact of the Peace of Westphalia.) Choose one and discuss how it played an important role in the spread of scientific ideas in Europe.