Jean Buridan (French: [byʁidɑ̃]; Latin Johannes Buridanus; c. 1295 – 1363) was a French priest who sowed the seeds of the Copernican revolution in Europe. He developed the concept of impetus, the first step toward the modern concept of inertia, and an important development in the history of medieval science. His name is most familiar through the thought experiment known as Buridan's ass (a thought experiment which does not appear in his extant writings).