The Scientific Revolution

We expect science to be a realm of constant innovation and change, sometimes benevolent and sometimes terrifying. Yet it was not always so. In European and other civilizations, theoretical science was a marginal activity before the 17th century, practiced by few and possessing little cultural authority.Many are familiar with the ideas of Copernicus, Descartes, and Galileo. But here the reader is also introduced to lesser known ideas and contributors to the Scientific Revolution, such as the mathematical Bernoulli Family and Andreas Vesalius, whose anatomical charts revolutionized the study of the human body. More marginal characters include the magician Robert Fludd. The encyclopedia also discusses subjects like Arabic science and the bizarre history of blood transfusions, and institutions like the Universities of Padua and Leiden, which were dominant forces in academic medicine and science.