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When the Scientific Revolution began to disprove past ideals and new ideas were shown to the masses, many Europeans experienced trepidation. Despite the advances in science and the efforts of the scientists of the sixteenth and seventeenth century to demonstrate that the world and universe were governed by discernible laws, the Scientific Revolution had little impact on the everyday lives and thoughts of the mass of European citizens.

Despite the breakthroughs made in astronomy and physics, most Europeans retained a belief in astrology, mystical processes, ghosts, and magic. German princes often relied on court astrologers as their closest advisers. Indeed, even Johannes Kepler sought to confirm the power of astrology with the results of his work, though he proved unable to do so.

Advances in medical theory that proved that there were serious misconceptions about the human body, however many Europeans widely adhered to previous beliefs set forth by Galen. Galen's theory that the human body contained four major fluids--blood, yellow bile, black bile, and phlegm - and that if one of the four fluids were present in too little or too great an amount, predictable illness would result. The most widely experienced materialization of this theory was the use of leeches in the act of bloodletting,

Galen's hypothesis that the body had two blood systems and diseases could be cured by looking deeper into the four humors in the body proved to be grossly erroneous, however the Galen principles were still strictly adhered to in medical schools.

Europeans had often turned to the church for guidance, and so it seems, the church was able to tell people what to belief. When the discoveries of the Scientific Revolution overturned the tenets of traditional belief systems were only gradually accepted by the general population, and were often rejected by those who found their traditional beliefs easier to comprehend. To put it plainly, Europeans did not want to complicate their lives by thinking outside the realm of what they had been taught in the church. The common people had traditions of thinking and a belief system that that made their living situation stable and their quality of life was almost commonplace. The Scientific Revolution would single-handed prove that their goals or traditions were no longer valid, and this was not something they took lightly.

When Europeans experienced the events of the Scientific Revolution they looked upon it as a changing world, although not always open to the origins of the scientific changes. The Revolution became part of society without many even noticing, however for those that did, it was a time of enlightenment.

Galileo

Galileo Galilei was an Italian that changed the way people saw the Earth and outer space. He discovered that we orbited the sun and not the other way around. He also discovered several moons of Jupiter and the rings of Saturn. He might be one of the most important astronomers in the 17th century. Because of his findings, he was in danger because of the Spanish Inquisition because of the book he wrote arguing against the Copernican theory hypothetically.

Galileo learned of new devices in the Netherlands and improved their ability to see distant bodies in space, the telescope.

There was a huge discourse between Martin Luther and the Lutheran Church and the Catholic Church at the time, and Galileo was placed under house arrest for his publishing of his book.

Johannes Kepler

Johannes Kepler is another important astronomer and scientist of the 17th century. Kepler believed that the planets orbited the sun also, and was widely criticized at first. He also discovered and believed that the orbits of the planets were not a perfect circle. He discovered that Mars did not orbit as Copernicus had thought, but in a retrograde motion. The fact that planets travel on elliptical paths is known as Kepler's First Law.

This was known as the Martian problem that no one at the time could account for. Kepler was the first to discover that not all planets orbited the sun in the same way, circular or elliptical. Kepler discovered that not all planets moved around the sun at the same speed, this was known as Kepler’s second law.

A decade later, Kepler would discover his third law. This law recognized the relationship between planets, the different times it takes planets to orbit the sun.

Kepler also calculated the birth year of Christ, another amazing discovery of Johannes Kepler.

Today, amateur radio operators, astronomers and satellite watchers all use what is known as Keplerian Data to figure out the exact track of satellites.

More Kepler Discoveries

Johannes kepler went beyond astronomy and math with his discoveries, he also discovered many other valuable tools that we all use today. He was the first to determine that refraction drives vision in the eye, and that using two eyes enables depth perception. He created eyeglasses for both near and farsightedness, and explained how a telescope worked. He described images and magnification, and understood the properties of reflection. All in all, these scientists were very amazing during the 17th century.