The Renaissance in Review - (1400 - 1700) In today's society we often take life and the creativeness of the human mind for granted. This is probably so because we live in a time with so much hype. The present declares every new device to be a revolution. It advertises that every idea is a break-through, and that all that is valuable was created in the last hundred years, or so. However, life from around 1400 to 1700 was also an exciting time! It was the time of the Renaissance revival in music, architecture, art, literature, and science. It was also the time of religious Reformation. Let’s take a peek at what happened from 1400 to 1700, at what we often view as commonplace. And don't forget your number 2 pencil and notebook. There will be a quiz tomorrow. If you lived in the 1400s you marveled at the new invention called a wood screw (1405). Inventions could now be protected by patents (1421) so no-one else could steal your ideas. You could now paint pictures using oil paints (1400)! In order to show distances in pictures, perspective was invented (1436). Beautiful buildings and cities were made, such as the Forbidden City (1421) in China, which was built for the emperor. Books could now be copied quickly using Johannes Gutenberg’s new invention called a printing press (1454). Advertisements were first created in England by William Caxton in 1479. Sewing clothes, draperies, and many other things was made easier by the closed-eye needle invented in 1450. If you like adventure, the 1400s was perfect for you! The woolly mammoth was found (1400). You could join Prince Henry the Navigator of Portugal and explore sailing routes around Africa to the riches of India. The Azores, located in the Atlantic Ocean, off the coast of Africa, were discovered (1427). You could visit the Incas who built cities with connecting roads, throughout the continent of South America (1438)! You might help to discover the Cape of Good Hope at the bottom of the African continent (1497), or better yet, hop aboard the Nina, the Pinta, or the Santa Maria, to discover the "New World" with Christopher Columbus (1492). You might travel on three-masted ships with square and triangular sails called carrack ships, invented in 1450. Unfortunately Leonardo da Vinci’s helicopter "airscrew" (1483) was never built for travel. Teenager, Joan of Arc, led the French troops against the British to win many battles until her death in 1431. Before the 1400s many people died from terrible sicknesses called plagues. Well, now quarantines, first introduced in Venice, Italy (1403) helped stop the spread of diseases, such as the famous black plague. Perhaps you need to improve your vision, try using Nicholas of Cusa’s new concave lenses. Another health discovery was made by the explorer Vasco da Gama of Portugal who found that by eating certain (vitamin C rich) foods on long sea voyages the dreaded disease called scurvy was prevented. For those of you who like looking at the sky at night, you would appreciate Regiomontanus’s first plotting of a comet path in 1472. On to the 1500s... Chocolate was introduced to Europe from South America by the explorer, Hernando Cortes, as well as the potato (1519). Seed drills (1566) made planting crops easier and inventions such as the dredger (1589), the Chinese invention of the crank which transfers circular movement to up / down movement (1590) and windmills used to drive mechanical saws (1592) made life easier. The beautifully hidden city of Machu Picchu was built by the Incas on top of a 9,000 foot mountain in the Andes of Peru in South America . No cement was used during the construction of the homes, stores, temples and public buildings, but every stone was so perfectly cut that a knife cannot slip between them. Artists created a new style of printmaking called etching. pictures are made on metal plates and colored ink is rolled on top. Paper is pressed on top of the inked plate, and a beautiful picture is made. Surely you have heard of William Shakespeare? He wrote famous sonnets and plays, such as Romeo and Juliet, Macbeth, Hamlet, and The Taming of the Shrew in the late 1500s. Beginning in the 1500s you could wear the latest creation called the shirt and tell time using Peter Henlein’s new spring-driven clockwork watch. Pocket handkerchiefs were introduced (1503). If you were wealthy you could actually put wallpaper on your walls (1509)! Bottles now had corks (1530), and the use of tobacco was introduced by Jean Nicot (1556). Christoph Clavius invented a new calendar called the Gregorian calendar which is the one that we use today (1582). Suppose you wanted to check the temperature, well, Galileo Galilei’s new invention called a thermometer would be perfect. If you needed to use the powder room try the new "flush toilet". It was more convenient than that little house out in the back. In 1502 the American continents received their names. Ferdinand Magellan was a brave explorer who attempted to circumnavigate or completely sail his ships around the globe in 1523. Although his ship and most of his crew made it, he did not. The Mogul and Ottoman empires in Asia grew and peaked in the mid-1500s. Exploration was occurring everywhere! For example, the Mississippi River on the North American continent was mapped in 1541, and the Amazon River located on the South American continent was mapped in 1542. A war was being fought between England and Spain at this time. In the end the entire Spanish Armada or fleet of ships was destroyed in 1588. Thophrastus von Hohenheim [Paracelsus], discovered that diseases could be caused by outside agents, which were later identified as bacteria. Andreas Vesalius produced the first accurate book of anatomy for doctors and artists (1543), and improved surgery techniques were developed by Ambroise Apre (1545). Compound microscopes were invented and allowed for further scientific research. And the Eustachian Tube in your ears was discovered by Bartolommeo Eustachio (1552). For you mathematicians, cubic equations were designed by Nicolo Tartaglia (1535). Now you could play with negative numbers, thanks to Geronimo Cardano (1545), or deliberate with trigonometric tables designed by Joachim Iserin vonLauchen (1551) and use John Napier’s first logarithms (1594). Do you like decimal fractions, well Simon Stevin discovered how to work with them in 1586. If algebra interests you, Francois Viete introduced algebraic symbols in 1591. What about geometry? The value of pi, the number that gives the relationship between the circumference of a circle and its diameter, was derived by Ludolf van Ceulen (1596). If astronomy is you passion, the first comet drawings were made by Peter Bennewitz (1540), and the heliocentric, or sun-centered universe, was first discussed by Nicolaus Copernicus (1543). Planetary tables from Erasmus Reinhold (1551) are helpful. The first supernova; or birth of new stars, was documented by Tycho Brahe (1572). Megnetic dips were written about by Robert Norman (1576). Galileo Galilei developed the pendulum (1581), and theories on falling bodies (1589). If rocks are your specialty, the science of mineralogy was begun by Georg Bauer [Agricola]. Wan Tu from China tried to develop a flying machine, but was unsuccessful after 47 rockets attempts (1500). Gerhard Kremer produced the first Mercator projection maps for navigation and geography studies (1569). Two-masted land yachts first sailed in 1599. As we continue on the 1600s we are introduced to delicious bagels (1610) ! Tea was introduced to England from China (1650). Cooking was made easier by the use of pressure cookers, designed by Denis Papin (1679). Coke, made from coal is discovered (1640). Have you ever ridden a merry-go-round? Did you know they were invented around 1630? What about the umbrella that you put up when it rains? It was also invented in the 1630s. Pendulum clocks and fountain pens are from the 1650s! Wooden pencils, the square type, were invented in the late 1680s, and the first envelope was made in Scotland in 1696. How about stockings? They were first invented in 1657. Do you need to borrow money? Bank notes were first written in 1661. All scientific research benefits from using the scientific method. Guess what? It was invented by Francis Bacon in 1620! We also know that all matter is made up of atoms. Well, this theory was put forward by Pierre Gasendi in 1649! The refraction theory of light was originated by Willdbrord Snel (1621). Not many women scientists have been recognized in the history of science, however, Maria Grimaldi is credited with her theories on light refraction (1665). Speaking of light, did you know that it can be divided into a rainbow of colors thanks to the discovery of Sir Isaac Newton (1666). Newton also made a new type of telescope, called the reflecting telescope, and he wrote laws of motion, studied the forces of gravity, and he noted that the Earth bulged in the middle by the Equator. Vacuum pumps were invented (1650), and the power of air pressure was discovered by Otto Von Guericke (1654). Effects of altitude on air pressure and theories of fluid pressure were developed by Blaise Pascal. New products and inventions were first seen at trade fairs begun in the Netherlands (1689). You know that there are three states of matter. Well, the gaseous state of matter was first discovered in 1624 by Jan Baptista van Helmont. Did you know that barometers that measure atmospheric pressure were invented by Evangelista Torricelli (1643)? When you walk across a room and then touch a metal object you might get a shock. This is due to static electricity, a fact discovered by Otto von Guericke in 1660. Microscopes were improved by Robert Hooke (1662) who used them to discover cell tissues in 1665. Fossils, which are impressions or remains of plants or animals of ancient times, were correctly analyzed by Nicolaus Steno in 1669 for the first time. Are you a chemistry buff? Chemical elements were discovered by Robert Boyle in 1661. Phosphorus was analyzed by Hennig Brand (1669). William Gilbert said that the Earth was a magnet. Telescopes were now used for astronomy, and not just for sea voyages (1608). Cross hairs precision telescopes were perfected by William Gascoigne in 1641. Galileo Galilei observed the Milky Way Galaxy and the Moon for the first time using a telescope (1609). He later discovered four of the planet Jupiter’s moons (1610) and recorded seeing dark spots on the sun (1610). Planetary orbits were explained by Johannes Kepler (1609). Astronomer Simon Marius discovered the Andromeda Nebula (1612), and double stars were observed for the first time by Gambattista Riccioli (1650) who also mapped the surfaces of moon (1651). Johannes Kepler improved the planetary tables (1627). Saturn’s rings were discovered by Christian Huygens in 1656 and Saturn’s satellites or moons were observed by Gian Domenico Cassini (1671). Robert Hooke was the first person to see the giant red spot on planet Jupiter (1664). Gian Domenico Cassini wrote the first papers on the rotation of planets (1665). Edmond Halley correctly observed a comet and predicted its return in 75 years (1682). That comet was named after him, and called Halley’s Comet, last seen in 1986. Halley also developed meteorological maps. How big is the Earth? Jean Picard found the answer. It is approximately 8,000 miles in diameter, or 25,000 miles in circumference. Many discoveries were made in the medical field. GirolamoFabrici [Fabricius], explained what a vein valve was. Blood circulation was discovered by William Harvey (1628), and red blood corpuscles were observed by Jan Swammerdam in 1658. Capillaries, or very thin blood vessels, were discovered in 1660 by Marcello Malpighi, and the effects of air on the color of blood were recorded by Richard Lower (1669). Metabolism, or the building and repair of cells, was analyzed for the first time by Santorio Santorio [Sanctorius] (1614), Saliva’s role in our digestive system was analyzed by Franz Deleboe [Franciscus Sylvius] (1661). Diabetes was diagnosed as a disease in 1670 by Thomas Willis. Quinine used to cure malaria was discovered (1642). The lymphatic system was explored by Olof Rudbeck ( 1653). Bacteria was analyzed by Antoni van Leeuqenhoek (1683). Plant pollination was discovered by Nehemiah Grew in 1682. Plants (1686)and animals (1691) were classified by John Ray. Math people will appreciate the invention of the first calculating machine by Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz (1693). Logarithm improvements were made by John Napier (1614). Your parents may have used a tool called a slide rule to figure out various types of math problems. Well, it was designed in 1622 by William Oughtred. Geometary fans may know that Rene Descartes worked on analytic geometry in 1637. Users of rulers will appreciate that micrometers were discovered in 1640 and measure thousandths of an inch. Calculus anyone? It was perfected by Sir Isaac Newton and Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz (1669). Artists started experimenting with mezzotint printing that made halftones in graphic arts (1642). The projector, or as the people in the 1600s called it, the "Magic Lantern" was enjoyed (1650). Clarinets were added to orchestras beginning in 1690. Communication improvements include flag signals (1647) and megaphones (1670). Can you think of when they might be used? One of the most beautiful pieces of architecture was built by Shah Jehan in India for his deceased wife. It is called the Taj Mahal. Perhaps you will see it one day!! The 1600s were known for famous explorations! Jamestown, Virginia was founded in 1607, and the next year, Quebec, in Canada was founded. The Pilgrims came to Plymouth, Massachusetts on the Mayflower in 1620. The Manchu dynasty began in China (1644). The Ashanti kingdom was established in Africa (1680), and was famous for its beautiful bronze sculptures. In order to travel in the 1600s you could take a stagecoach (1620), a wheel chair (1650), or an omnibus (1662). Submarines were invented (1624) but were hazardous and needed a lot of improvements yet to be made on it. Drawbridges were invented. Although the discoveries listed above only scratch the surface, you probably never thought about them since we were all born into a world where they were already known. As you can see, though, these were very exciting times! Ready for that quiz?