Although he could be singled out as the key figure of the Scientific Revolution for his work, his theory is not a new one. Aristarchus, a Greek astronomer back in the third century, created the heliocentric theory. Ptolemy stated that Aristarchus was wrong since Earth is so large and it can not revolve around something else whilst spinning! The most tangible evidence fighting for and with Aristarchus and Copernicus is by the grace of the Moon. Ptolemy concluded that if the Earth was rotating in a circle, constellations must be changing as well. Which did not make sense to those during this time period, they believed if the Earth was so big, the Universe could not be any bigger. Another definitively retrospective investigation into the singular most prominent figure in the Scientific Revolution could only be compressed into the work of many. A single person did not begin the investigation into science and mathematics - it was all of them. From Kepler to Galileo to Brahe to Newton, and of course Copernicus, each one of them founded an ideology that had not been introduced to the common world in the late Middle Ages. Since Ptolemy could not convince themselves of Copernicus’ evidence, they found another disapproving light in Tycho Brahe’s twenty-five year expedition of research that was introduced through Johannes Kepler. Kepler bonded the Church, unlike monk Copernicus did, with the idea of God being the source of the sun. In review, Copernicus and Ptolemy’s theories were both wrong, the Earth moved in an oval/ellipses around the sun. He utilized geometry and actual measurements, much like Galileo, and Newton, to find the source of confusion in ancient astronomers and modern ones. However, all of the credit can not go to every single astronomer, priest, philosopher, or journeying traveller that walked by or in the house-bound Galileo.
The most infamous name in not only astronomy, mathematics, and science itself is Galileo Galilei. Nicholas Copernicus will always have the title of the Copernican theory, but Galileo was the stand-alone astronomer and scientist who dismantled the establishment of the late Middle Ages. Galileo did not only refute Copernicus, but he wrote down how often Copernicus or the Ptolemy was wrong. He creates his own lens within the Ptolemaic telescope and finally brings the universe into view - something that had never been done before. He is the scientist that begins the movement in Calculus and is charged for heresy by the Catholic Church unlike Copernicus who dies before he can face them. Galileo Galilei is unfortunately, not the first person to question Ptolemy (as Copernicus technically does), but he holds a significant spot in
history. There is one individual who can be singled out as the key figure of the Scientific Revolution, if the Scientific Revolution does not expand after 1543. Nicholas Copernicus is the first written man of God who stands up to the Church and Ptolemy. For that, he receives an honorable mention, but Aristarchus had his theory in the third century. Maybe one individual can not be claimed as the key figure in Scientific Revolution due to Kepler’s analysis of Brahe’s research or Galileo’s lens to heresy or even Sir Isaac Newton’s explanation of the workings of the universe that no scientist can prove. The Scientific Revolution was through a group effort of mathematicians, scientists, astronomers, philosophers, and dreamers not a one-man band to Calculus and looking at the stars just a little too long.