Science’s global revolution

James Poskett introduces some brilliant thinkers who shatter the theory that, when it came to the scientific revolution of the 16th to 18th centuries, Europe was at the centre of the universe 

- James Poskett

When we think of a lone scientific genius, we usually think of someone like the Polish astronomer Nicolaus Copernicus. Working away in isolation amid the grandeur of Frombork Cathedral, Copernicus developed a radical new scientific theory.

In On the Revolutions of the Heavenly Spheres, published in 1543, Copernicus challenged ancient tradition by putting the Sun, rather than the Earth, at the centre of the universe. This marked the beginning of what is often called the “scientific revolution”, the period between around 1500 and 1700 when European thinkers made incredible progress. This was the age of the Italian mathematician Galileo Galilei, who first observed the moons of Jupiter, and the English mathematician Isaac Newton, who first set out the laws of motion. Copernicus, like Galileo and Newton, forged ahead with a bold new scientific theory.

There is, however, a big problem with this account of the origins of modern science. By focusing on a few European geniuses, we miss a much more diverse and global story. We also give the impression that science is separate from history, that it develops independently of wider world events. In fact, science is just as much a part of world history as art, religion, culture, and politics.

Copernicus may have been a genius, but he was far from isolated. He wrote at a time when Europe was forging new connections with Asia, with caravans travelling along the Silk Road and galleons crossing the Indian Ocean.