Nicolaus Copernicus was a mathematician and astronomer. He is credited with formulating Heliocentrism, which led to the Copernican Revolution. Although Aristarchus of Samos had formulated Heliocentrism 18 centuries earlier, Copernicus was responsible for popularizing it. Copernicus is also credited with formulating an economic principle, which was later called Gresham's law.
The incumbent president of the Italian Senate, Elisabetta Casellati is the first female to have acquired this position. The Forza Italia member is a qualified matrimonial lawyer and has been a researcher at the University of Padua, too. A self-proclaimed conservative, she supports chemical castration of rapists and is against abortion.
Michele Ferrari is an Italian physician and cycling coach notorious for his role in supplying bicycle racers with performance-enhancing drugs. He received his degree in medicine and surgery at the University of Ferrara and became a specialist in sports medicine at the Sapienza University of Rome. His clients include Lance Armstrong, Michael Rogers, and Alexander Vinokourov.
Ludovico Ariosto was an Italian poet best remembered for authoring the epic poem Orlando Furioso, which describes the adventures of Orlando, Charlemagne, and the Franks. Ariosto is also credited with coining the term humanism, which is among the most commonly used words by modern philosophers.
Sixteenth-century Italian anatomist Gabriele Falloppio was also a Catholic priest. Of his many discoveries, the most well-known are the tubes which link the ovaries to the uterus, named fallopian tubes. He was also the first to offer written description of a condom as a protective measure against syphilis.