Nicolaus Copernicus

Nicolaus Copernicus demonstrated mathematically that Earth was not static at the center of the universe, but rather revolved around the Sun, which was called the Heliocentric Model; years later Galileo Galilei built the first telescope and provided the empirical evidence to Copernicus theory, which was not politically correct for the time being.  Catholic Church forced him to recant his theory, and it is said he whispered very low "Eppur si muove", "And yet it moves".

Stephen Hawking says, "Galileo, perhaps more than any other single person, was responsible for the birth of modern science."   http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Galileo_Galilei


"Nicolaus Copernicus was a Renaissance astronomer and the first person to formulate a comprehensive heliocentric cosmology, which displaced the Earth from the center of the universe.^[2]

Copernicus' epochal book, De revolutionibus orbium coelestium (On the Revolutions of the Celestial Spheres), published just before his death in 1543, is often regarded as the starting point of modern astronomy and the defining epiphany that began the scientific revolution. His heliocentric model, with the Sun at the center of the universe, demonstrated that the observed motions of celestial objects can be explained without putting Earth at rest in the center of the universe. His work stimulated further scientific investigations, becoming a landmark in the history of science that is often referred to as theCopernican Revolution."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nicolaus_Copernicus

So, these two Renaissance men, Polish Copernicus and Italian Galilei, carried out the beginning of modern science and scientific revolution.