Between the 14th and 17th centuries, Europe had experienced a monumental shift in the way they perceived the world. This period, known as the Renaissance, was marked by extraordinary achievements in art and architecture, as well as sweeping advancements in everything from mathematics and science to law and medicine. While this period was influenced by a number of people from other cultures, Italians were at the forefront of directing the shape and overall course of this movement. In particular, their profound impact on science forever changed how Italians viewed themselves within Europe and our understanding of the greater universe.
Galileo Galilei was one of the Renaissance’s most prominent innovators. Known as the “father of modern science,” Galileo made monumental breakthroughs that challenged Classical philosophers like Aristotle, and Middle Age thought leaders within the Catholic Church. His teachings and observations of the natural world led to many scientific achievements and discoveries, including the invention of the telescope; astronomical observations of planets and celestial bodies within our solar system; and the establishment of the founding principles behind the laws of motion. These achievements would propel the study of astronomy, biology, and physics.
Through his invention of the astronomical telescope, Galileo made important observations about our moon and other celestial bodies, which confirmed and strengthened the theory of Polish astronomer Nicolaus Copernicus that Earth and all other planets revolved around the Sun. This would prove controversial for the entirety of Galileo’s life since Italians almost universally subscribed to the belief that the Catholic Church’s teachings, which included a geocentric model of the universe, constituted our entire understanding of the world.
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Like Copernicus, much of Galileo’s work was threatened by Papal Inquisition. The Church saw Galileo and his assumptions about the natural world as a threat to their beliefs and God, such that they thought no human was capable of understanding or obtaining this knowledge. “Galileo’s assumptions in the possibility that a human could obtain such certain knowledge of the world as to essentially possess divine understanding.” (D’Epiro and Pinkowish 244)
Despite the expectation that Galileo would “reinvigorate the intellectual prestige of the Church while clearly demarcating the limits of human knowledge and asserting the omnipotence of the Creator;” (D’Epiro and Pinkowish 245) Galileo was among the few contemporaries in this era to have courage in their convictions to rebut the long-standing beliefs of the Church. As his influence and reputation spread beyond Florence, Galileo risked of being branded a heretic, which would’ve made it difficult for him to share his heliocentric model with the world. In fact, he kept a book describing his model a secret until his death in 1642.
Galileo’s work would inspire Sir Francis Bacon of England, whose work focused on the importance of interpreting data and observations, while Galileo was focused primarily on the actual accumulation of data and observations. Francis Bacon “called for methods of inquiry that required careful data collection and experimentation… authorities like Aristotle, whose veneration, in Bacon’s view, hindered mankind’s ability to discover useful truths about the world.” (D’Epiro and Pinkowish 244) Galileo and Bacon had each shared concepts on the utilization of knowledge and empirical observations that would undermine existing Aristotelian thought and usher in a new age of rational science.
Galileo’s work would also serve as a foundational basis for work by fellow Italian astronomer Giovanni Cassini, who used an elliptical method to make the first successful measurements of longitude, and German astronomer Johannes Kepler, whose advancement in optics enabled Cassini to observe Jupiter’s “Great Spot” and that Saturn had rings in addition to the four moons he previously discovered.
Another prominent figure during the Renaissance was Leonardo da Vinci. Famous in his own right for paintings like “The Last Supper,” Da Vinci was the period’s quintessential jack-of-all-trades for his ability to dabble in many fields including engineering, mathematics and music. In particular, his work in science placed emphasis on anatomy, astronomy, botany and cartography. “[Da Vinci]’s scientific drawings and studies, which occupied an increasing amount of his time, were of little genuine interest to the Florentines. He believed that the intellectual climate in Milan favored men like himself with in-depth interests in science.” (D’Epiro and Pinkowish 166) However, this didn’t deter him from providing in this field.
Following the Black Plague in Milan around 1485, Da Vinci focused on urban planning as a way to promote a more useful, hygienic city, however these plans were never executed. It’s believed that due to his lack of expertise as well as formal education in this area, the significance of his “findings were thought to be either beneficial because it freed him to learn directly from nature, or detrimental because he worked in an intellectual vacuum.” (D’Epiro and Pinkowish 168) In layman’s terms, although Da Vinci was self-educated, he was still able to provide useful data, given his use of general observation of nature. However, such data may be flawed due in part to potential difficulty for fully comprehending what he was observing.
Da Vinci primarily studied anatomy, by dissecting human and animal bodies, as a way to more accurately depict gestures and movements in his drawings. His drawing entitled the “Vitruvian Man” gave an accurate representation of human anatomy. This illustration combined the study of art, science, anatomy, and geometry. In addition to his anatomical studies, Da Vinci also studied botany, geology, hydraulics, aeronautics, and physics. He documented these investigations on loose sheets of papers, later categorizing them into notebooks, with many detailed theoretical explanations, but rarely any experimental evidence to support them.
Besides his passion for human anatomy and physiology, Da Vinci used his study of birds and bats to devise a flying machine, known as the Ornithopter. Where a person would be strapped into a set of wooden wings which could support flight. As well, Da Vinci wrote about the issues of gravity that limited travel for human flight. Leaving behind the designs for several human gliders, which later influenced the study of aerodynamics. Leonardo was truly the definition of a “Renaissance man” since he found mastery across many disciplines and was able to share his findings that would later impact the rest of Europe and the world.
