Part 4/10:
As the Renaissance unfolded, a critical wave of intellectual thought began to take shape—humanism advanced by scholars such as Poggio Bracciolini who searched for lost texts from antiquity including Lucretius's "De rerum natura." This ancient work paved the way for a worldview that separated the natural and divine, challenging the pious doctrines that had dominated the Middle Ages.
With figures like Galileo and Newton, Europe entered a new era of scientific inquiry. Their groundbreaking findings were rooted in observation and mathematics, profoundly shifting the perception of humanity's place in the universe. European universities flourished, fostering a culture of debate and standardized knowledge, which would eventually lay the groundwork for contemporary education.