Science revolutionized modern society as a process, not an end point. Whereas, previous social power structures were dependent on religious mythology and dogma--using deductive logic to propose solutions based on past knowledge, science introduced inductive logic where results are based on the measurement of current observations. The scientific revolution introduced several tools of observation and measurement, and The Royal Society in London began peer review to scrutinize results. By the 1900's advance statistics had developed to interpret the validity of results. Its amazing to think that mature science is less than 200 years old.

Galileo Galilei was considered the father of science by both Sir Isaac Newton and Albert Einstein. He lived at the focal point of the scientific revolution inventing several measurement devices and using the telescope to demonstrate the elliptical nature of the planets. He championed heliocentrism against the church's belief that all things revolved around the earth. As a result, he faced the wrath of the church through two inquisitions and spent the remainder of his life under house arrest. Galileo believed in a mathematical basis for nature and evidence based explanations. He used measurable observations to employ inductive reasoning.

After Copernicus, Galileo, and Newton the scientific method went through a couple of hundred years of development. This included improved publication and distribution, the Royal Society promoting the process of peer review, and probabilty theory giving rise to sophisticated statistical analysis at the begining of the twentieth century. Although we now have advanced space telescopes, much of the early mature science focused on biology. Mendel and Darwin were in the mid-1800s. By the late 1950s we understood the structure of DNA, and early in the 21st century we decoded the human genome. These are a few of the Milestones in Biology that have changed the world.