The Enlightenment was a progression of the cultural and intellectual changes that occurred in Europe following the Scientific Revolution during the 16th and 17th centuries. The scientific revolution and discoveries made about the natural world will eventually challenge the way people perceive the world around them. Scientists have found real answers, challenging the ancient erroneous beliefs that were widely held and maintained by the church. Ultimately, these scientific discoveries and advances will evolve and influence social, cultural and political developments in Europe over time. The scientific revolution had provided certainties about the natural world that had long been questioned. With these new developments came the progression and influence of thought, rationality and individualism. These new ideas would be the hallmark of the Enlightenment movement that would shape most of Europe in the 18th century. Much to the Church's dismay, two astronomers, Galileo and Kepler, had the audacity to challenge authorities by suggesting that the sun, not the sun, the earth was at the center of the universe. The Church had a handle on how the spiritual and physical worlds worked, so these discoveries only increased the Church's resistance to their goals. Their discoveries came only after Kepler and Galileo began to question ancient theories about how the world worked. These ancient truths were widely shared but were not consistent with the new observations they had made. Kepler had discovered the laws of planetary motion which suggested that the planet moved in elliptical orbits, while Galileo followed with the discovery of the principle of inertia. Galileo concluded his discovery in... middle of paper... 19th century intellectuals asserted that morality was independent of religion and that religious authority had no say in an individual's moral dictates. This type of thinking would ultimately influence the public's view on morality and religion and eliminate the church's influence in society and institutions altogether. In conclusion, the Scientific Revolution brought a dramatic change in the way people lived their lives, and it certainly influenced the 18th century. free thought. The scientific method was widely used during the 18th century to study human behavior and societies. It allowed both scientists and scholars to exercise their freedom of rationality so that they could come to their own conclusions about religion and humanity as a whole. They could finally do it without having to submit to the dictates of the established authorities.