Looking at the stars
It is important to understand our planet. We must know where we live, we must know in which ways it works. However, it is also important to understand what surrounds our planet. In our case, this is the solar system. Human understanding concerning the solar system was quite basic prior to the Renaissance, it was influenced more by theology and those views of the church, rather than observations and findings. The Renaissance was the ideal epoch to change this, for it was an age of re-evaluating such views.
The field of understanding our solar system is named astronomy, those who practise it are called astronomers. These astronomers are those who are responsible for evaluating our surroundings, however they were made to combat many issues that afflicted Europe in the age of their work.
An example of such an astronomer is Copernicus, who came from Poland. The further Copernicus delved into his work, the more observations he made, the more did he realize that the view of his age on the solar system and the surroundings of Earth were inaccurate. They were heavily influenced by theology, enforced upon by the church. Albeit Copernicus did much work in order to dispute these views, his work was not released to the public until after his death. This is because he feared that if he released it, the church would punish him.
The views that Copernicus found to be inaccurate were those that the Earth was flat, it was the center of the solar system and it did not revolve around its axis. His observations and findings were fundamental to the development of astronomy, however this would not have been if not for those who came subsequent to him and were able to further develop his observations and findings.
Such astronomers include Tycho Brahe and Johannes Kepler. The former, Tycho Brahe, was able to build upon Copernicus's findings and observations by constructing an observatory, allowing him an actual view of the solar system. The latter, Johannes Kepler, both built upon Copernicus’s observations and findings but also countered them in some sense. He provided mathematical evidence for them, but also provided evidence that the planets of the solar system did not revolve around the sun in circles, however in ellipses.
All of these observations and findings may be conjured in order to form a whole idea, the idea that those superstitious ideas of the solar system, the Earth’s surroundings, proposed by the church and heavily influenced by theology, were inaccuracy. Rather, accuracy could only be found in factual information. This theory provided a basis for modern Scientific thought.