During the 14th and 15th century, Europe was blessed with some of the greatest minds in history. Original thinkers such as Galileo Galilei, Martin Luther, and Michelangelo di Lodovico Buonarroti Simoni lead inspirational paths forever changing humanity. While their crafts were none like the other, they paralleled one another in many ways while correcting their society's traditional thinking. The ingenious cultural impacts of Michelangelo during the Renaissance are still principal to Italian as well as Western culture today. Additionally, Martin Luther's inspirational journey to disrupt the corruption of the church instilled an entirely new branch in Christianity. Alas, Galileo's studies contributing to the Scientific Revolution aided in creating the most influential movement in Europe. Those intellects with many others alike, worked to create an earth shattering movement. .
The influential figureheads of the Enlightenment period are cast over vastly different areas of expertise. Some studied the heavens surrounding our earth; others created masterpieces not comparable even in this day and age. Their works transformed Europe by challenging ever method of traditional thinking. They broke barriers and did so with passion. Not for seeking personal gain, but for providing the people with the knowledge they posses to better society and help it progress. They head on attacked three of the most fundamental pieces of society and culture. These included the arts, religion, and science. Moreover, individually they sacrificed themselves whether to persecution, excommunication, or segregation.
Regardless, they all addressed and broke down age-old customs and swayed the masses away from conventional notions. This is exemplified by Galileo's bold letter to the Grand Duchess Christina from Sources of The Making of the West Peoples and Cultures, " For the Bible is not chained in every expression to condition as strict as those which govern all physical effects; nor is God any less excellently revealed in Nature's actions than in the sacred statements of the Bible"1 Galileo's motive is to establish a branch of science, completely not factored by the Holy Scriptures.