Five centuries of progress
Copernicus, Kant, Britain's steam, the Vikings in Newfoundland, and a bastille.
5 questions. Pick an answer to see the explanation. Share your result at the end.
What major scientific work was published in 1543, conventionally marking the start of the Scientific Revolution?
Copernicus's *De Revolutionibus*, published as he was dying in 1543, proposed that the Earth orbited the Sun rather than the reverse. Galileo's *Dialogue* was 1632 (and led to his trial); Kepler's *Astronomia Nova* was 1609 (the first two laws of planetary motion); Newton's *Principia* was 1687 (and ends the Scientific Revolution rather than starting it). 1543 also saw Vesalius's *De Humani Corporis Fabrica*, the foundational text of modern anatomy.
Whose 1784 essay 'What Is Enlightenment?' provided the movement's most famous summary, *Sapere aude* ('Dare to know')?
Kant's 1784 essay *Beantwortung der Frage: Was ist Aufklärung?* offered the standard summary of the movement's self-conception: the application of independent reasoning to all questions, captured by the slogan *Sapere aude* — 'Dare to know.' Voltaire died in 1778; Rousseau in 1778; Hume in 1776 — none of them wrote this essay.
Where did the Industrial Revolution begin?
Britain in the late 18th century combined cheap coal, colonial markets, scientific culture, property rights, and high labour costs — together creating the conditions for industrialisation. The textile, steam, and iron industries transformed first. Germany, the United States, and Japan industrialised in the second half of the 19th century; Italy and Russia followed.
When did the Vikings reach North America?
Leif Erikson sailed from Greenland to the eastern coast of North America around 1000 AD, establishing a short-lived settlement at L'Anse aux Meadows on the northern tip of Newfoundland. The site was rediscovered and confirmed by archaeology in 1960. Norse contact with North America preceded Columbus by approximately five centuries — but did not produce a lasting colony.
On what date was the Bastille stormed, marking the symbolic start of the French Revolution?
The Bastille — a medieval fortress in eastern Paris being used as a state prison — was stormed by a Parisian crowd on 14 July 1789, six weeks after the Estates-General had convened. The date became France's national holiday in 1880. 5 May 1789 was the opening of the Estates-General; 21 January 1793 the execution of Louis XVI; 9 November 1799 Napoleon's coup that ended the Revolution.