Beginning in Italy during the 14th–16th centuries, the Renaissance called for the "rediscovery of humanity" and brought remarkable advances in art, literature, and science.
The Renaissance (14th–16th Centuries)
- Background: Islamic and ancient Greek culture entered Europe through the Crusades, while Italian city-states prospered
- Dante: "The Divine Comedy" (written in Italian, a pioneer of humanism)
- Leonardo da Vinci: "Mona Lisa" and "The Last Supper" (the Renaissance man)
- Michelangelo: "David" and the ceiling frescoes of the Sistine Chapel
- Erasmus: "The Praise of Folly" (Northern European humanism)
The Scientific Revolution
The great scientific revolution of the 16th and 17th centuries:
・Copernicus: heliocentric theory (the Sun-centered theory)
・Galileo: supported the heliocentric theory through astronomical observations with a telescope
・Kepler: laws of the elliptical orbits of planets
・Newton: law of universal gravitation (late 17th century)
The invention of movable-type printing by Gutenberg rapidly spread this knowledge.
The great scientific revolution of the 16th and 17th centuries:
・Copernicus: heliocentric theory (the Sun-centered theory)
・Galileo: supported the heliocentric theory through astronomical observations with a telescope
・Kepler: laws of the elliptical orbits of planets
・Newton: law of universal gravitation (late 17th century)
The invention of movable-type printing by Gutenberg rapidly spread this knowledge.
Key Points
- Renaissance = the "rebirth" of ancient Greek and Roman culture and human-centered thinking
- Italy (Florence and Venice) → spread to Northern Europe
- Movable-type printing accelerated the spread of knowledge
Practice Questions
- Who was the Renaissance artist who painted the "Mona Lisa"?
- Who was the Polish astronomer who proposed the heliocentric theory?
- Who was the German who invented movable-type printing?
Answers
- Leonardo da Vinci
- Copernicus
- Gutenberg