Scientific Revolution
| Scientific Revolution | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| 1543 or 1572 – 1687 | |||
| |||
 Portrait of Isaac Newton by Godfrey Kneller, 1689 | |||
| Location | Early modern Europe | ||
| Leaders |
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| Key events | 1572 supernova Invention of telescope astronomy Discovery of Kepler's laws Publication of Principia Mathematica | ||
The Scientific Revolution of the 16th and 17th centuries in Europe was an irreversible break with the natural philosophy that had preceded it, fundamentally changing how the natural world was investigated and understood. The New Science that emerged departed from previous Greek conceptions and traditions, was more mechanistic in its worldview and more integrated with mathematics, and was focused on the acquisition and interpretation of new evidence.
The Scientific Revolution is a convenient boundary between ancient thought and modern science. While the period is frequently said to have begun in 1543 with the printings of De humani corporis fabrica (On the Workings of the Human Body) by Andreas Vesalius and De Revolutionibus (On the Revolutions of the Heavenly Spheres) by Nicolaus Copernicus, the SN 1572 supernova has also been suggested as its beginning. The period culminated with the publication of the Philosophiæ Naturalis Principia Mathematica in 1687 by Isaac Newton.