There were three great revolutions taking place from the 16th to the 18th century: the Scientific Revolution, the Enlightenment Revolution, and the Political Revolution. All these revolutions have shaped Western thought and ideals to the present day and continue to shape Western thoughts and ideals in this era. What made us think today? Which, if any, of the three have been most important in shaping our thoughts about science, politics, and our social structures? Or was each an independent revolution without consequences for the others? The scientific revolution and the change in thought it produced was the foundation of the Enlightenment revolution, and in turn the Enlightenment revolution was the foundation of the political revolution. The scientific revolution began in the 15th century with Copernicus (1473-1543). Copernicus theorized that the earth, stars, and known planets revolved around a fixed sun. He worked on this theory for 24 years before publishing it the year he died for fear of ridicule. His theory was the first real departure from medieval thinking about the universe. Until then the accepted theory was that of Aristotle. Aristotle's theory stated many things and placed the earth at the center of the universe. Copernicus' theory was widely criticized by religious leaders and was slow to penetrate traditionally held belief. Many others contributed to advancing scientific revelation, Kepler (1571-1630) with his three laws of planetary motion, which he understood based on the meticulous data recorded by Tycho Brahe (1546-1601) on stars and planets. Galileo promoted the experimental method; intending instead to guess what might or will happen, he c...... middle of paper ......inst the powers they blindly followed based on the rights believed to have been given to their monarchs by God. The people they began to question the validity of their religious beliefs and consequently began to question the laws and taxes imposed on them by monarchs based on these religious beliefs. The application of reason and experiments to understanding the universe has produced new and rational ideas. It makes sense to apply the same reason and experiments to social and political understanding that has actually produced new and rational ideas, such as more human rights, and a new political ideology, such as a democratic United States and a republican France. , before Napoleon. We continue to fight for democracy, human rights, and further scientific breakthroughs in the United States and around the world today. Works Cited History of World Civilizations