The Scientific Revolution The Scientific Revolution was a new way of looking at the world. The Scientific Revolution was really a revolution in ideas. It marked the beginning of modern science, the overthrow of old theories about how nature worked, and resulted in many new inventions. These inventions would change life in Europe and the world. Some important inventions were the printing press, telescope, and gunpowder’s use in warfare.

Printing Press In 1440, German inventor Johannes Gutenberg invented a printing press process that, with refinements and increased mechanization, remained the principal means of printing until the late 20th century. The inventor's method of printing from movable type, including the use of metal molds and alloys, a special press, and oil-based inks, allowed for the first time the mass production of printed books. 

Telescope Hans Lippershey of Holland is often credited with the invention, but he almost certainly was not the first to make one. Lippershey was, however, the first to make the new device widely known. The telescope was introduced to astronomy in 1609 by the great Italian scientist Galileo Galilei, who became the first man to see the craters of the moon, and who went on to discover sunspots, the four large moons of Jupiter, and the rings of Saturn.

Gunpowder Gunpowder was known to the Chinese by the mid-1st century AD. The major and uniquely European advancement of gunpowder was corning: the addition of liquid to the gunpowder to form regular larger sized grains which greatly increased the reliability and consistency of gunpowder. The Sultani Cannon, a very heavy bronze muzzle-loading cannon of type used by the Ottoman Empire in the siege of Constantinople, 1453 AD.

Mariner’s Astrolabe Allowed overseas exploration. Sailors could know their latitude on the open ocean.

Caravels and Carracks The caravel was developed in the Atlantic under the order of Prince Henry the Navigator and became the preferred vessel for Portuguese explorers. Its name may derive from an earlier Arab boat known as the qārib. Initially, the Portuguese used carracks to explore along the West African coast and into the Atlantic Ocean. The carrack was the state of the art in late medieval shipbuilding. But these larger, full-rigged square-sailed ships could not always be sailed with the precision necessary for inshore surveying in unknown waters. The explorers soon came to prefer the caravel. Being smaller, the caravel could sail upriver in shallow coastal waters. With the lateen sails attached, it could go fast over shallow water and take deep wind, while with the square Atlantic-type sails attached, it was very fast. Its economy, speed, agility, and power made it esteemed as the best sailing vessel of its time. The exploration done with caravels made possible the spice trade of the Portuguese and the Spanish. However for the trade itself, the caravel was later replaced by the larger Carrack which was more profitable for trading.

Portuguese Caravel with Lateen Sails Until the 14th century, the lateen sail was employed primarily on the Mediterranean Sea, while the Atlantic and Baltic (and Indian Ocean) vessels relied on square sails. The Northern European adoption of the lateen in the Late Middle Ages was a specialized sail that was one of the technological developments in shipbuilding that made ships more maneuverable, thus, in the historian's traditional progression, permitting merchants to sail out of the Mediterranean and into the Atlantic Ocean; caravels typically mounted three or more lateens. Ready to set sail!!!

Cartography (Mapmaking) In the Age of Exploration, from the 15th century to the 17th century, European cartographers both copied earlier maps (some of which had been passed down for centuries) and drew their own based on explorers' observations and new surveying techniques. The invention of the magnetic compass, telescope and mariner’s astolabe enabled increasing accuracy. In 1492, Martin Behaim, a German cartographer, made the oldest extant globe of the Earth.