Copernican Heliocentrism Impact to Modern Science

The Scientific Revolution brought a new way of thinking about the universe, and brought an end to Europe’s medieval past. Many scientists have devoted their lives to creating new ideas about the physical universe. These scientists created the assumption that the universe and nature are governed by mathematical laws. Each of the three scientists, Nicolaus Copernicus, Johannes Kepler, and Isaac Newton contributed to the breakdown of the medieval world view. Nicolaus Copernicus thought past the idea of a geocentric universe, and established the idea of a heliocentric theory, or a sun-centered universe. Johannes Kepler presented the idea of an ellipse, otherwise known as the planets following an oval shaped orbit, and not a perfect circle. Finally,

In concordance with Christian doctrines, this system implies that heaven and the throne of God lie beyond the tenth sphere. On the other hand, during the first half of the 16th century, Polish cleric Copernicus developed an astronomical model which positions the motionless Sun at the center of the universe, with the Earth, the moon, and six other planets revolving at a constant speed around it. He argues that all stars were at rest and that their nightly movements are simply indications of the earth’s rotation. However, members of the Church, especially Protestants, who interpreted the Bible literally, refused to grant Copernicus credit for his theory. Nevertheless, once released among the population, the Copernican theory raised support from various scholars, a few of whom, such as Brahe, Kepler, and Galileo, went on to dedicate their career to solidify its legitimacy. With their use of mathematical reasoning, instead of antic philosophy, the Copernican theory finally became justified among the population. Pertaining to its influence among laypeople, the Copernican theory raised various questions against the

Copernicus's new heliocentric theory caused trouble with the church. The Church believed in geocentrism, the theory that the Earth, Jerusalem specifically, was the center of the universe. Copernicus’s theory contradicted the Church’s teachings, which made him hesitant to publicize his ideas. Copernicus feared the punishments he would receive from the Church and other Christians for his ideas. However, in 1530, he began to share his theory among other scholars. He received positive feedback for his theory, and thirteen years later, he was convinced to publish his ideas in a book called De Revolutionibus Orbium Coelestium (On the Revolutions on the Heavenly Spheres). Many people rejected Copernicus’s ideas; in fact, Martin Luther once stated, “This Fool wants to turn the whole Art of Astronomy upside down.” While his book did convince some people to accept heliocentric theory, the book was not widely published, it was difficult to read, and the book was very expensive, causing the book to gain little attention. Even with the lack of publicly, the Church placed Copernicus’s book on the list of forbidden books. Nonetheless, Copernicus’s choice to publish his theory, although it was not widely accepted, was extremely significant, because without this choice, heliocentric theory may never had been discovered or publicly shared with the

the heliocentric solar system. Johannes Kepler further modified the heliocentric system, by mathematically showing that the planets’ orbits are elliptical. With his invention of the telescope, Galileo made new observations about the solar system and found mathematical laws that described the movement of the planets. Later, Isaac Newton established a universal law of gravity. With the new scientific discoveries, the gap between religion and science increased. Science revolutionized the human though and its understanding of the universe.

Copernicus published "On the Revolutions of the Celestial Spheres" in 1543 , sparking off the scientific revolution and a new era of astronomical thought. This theory explains that the sun, not the Earth, is the center of the solar system and planets move in a circular motion around it. This had many social, intellectual and religious made of huis idea. For instance, this theory brought into question the strict reading of the Bible and philosophies of the Catholic Church.

In “Towards a New Heaven: Revolution in Astronomy,” some of the greatest achievements of the Scientific Revolution of the sixteenth and seventeenth century were dominated by medicine, mechanics, and astronomers. Nicolaus Copernicus, Johannes Kepler, Galileo Galilei, and Isaac Newton were some of the brilliant individuals that magnified the revolutionary astronomy. These astronomers challenged the conception and beliefs through the nature of the external world.

When it comes to theories and law’s concerning the movement of stellar bodies and why the universe is moving the way it is and how it came to be, data is continuously being added and revised. It is through this constant revising of theories and establishing of laws that core ideas are proven, with modern day scientists expanding knowledge for the rest of us. One of the earliest pioneers of spatial theories was the Italian astronomer, Galileo Galilei, who used the theories of those who came before and he learned from to paint a better picture of the way the universe was set. True to form, he dealt with accusations of heresy and resistance to his ideas from others during his life, which today are held as being before his time.

When he presented his idea, the Roman Catholic Church rejected the book that explained his theories and banned all work that supported the idea that the Earth

The Scientific Revolution is the qualitative jump in sciences in the 17th century. New discoveries in natural science, engineering, geography rejected many traditional ideas and a common picture of the world. Aristotle, Claudius Ptolemy, and Christian Theology represented the universe as geocentric conception where the earth was motionless and in the center of concentric spheres. (479) Such representation was supported till Nicolaus Copernicus (1473-1543) argued Ptolemy's conception and suggested heliocentric understanding. His conception opened the Earth as a planet where the moon took place as Earth's satellite and the sun was the center of planets. Also as Copernicus, Tycho Brahe and Johannes Kepler disagreed with Ptolemy's geocentric system. Based on the Brahe's work, Kepler came to conclusions that each planet moves in an ellipse and were able to calculate relations between planets' size and

Nicolaus Copernicus was an astronomer who arose the Heliocentric Theory which caused the scientific revolution. Copernicus discoveries were very important, and impacted science to this day. Copernicus constructed his data from his astronomical observations of sun-centered cosmology. The Heliocentric theory is the belief that the sun is in the center of the universe and all the planets revolve around it. The Heliocentric Theory contradicts The Geocentric. “Copernicus's heliocentric solar system named the sun, rather than the earth, as the center of the solar system”. (http://www.biography.com/).

The Scientific Revolution not only led to countless inventions that changed the way of life, but changed people’s perspectives on many subjects such as the natural world. Copernicus changed the traditional view of the universe from an earth centered theory to a sun centered theory based on data collected from his predecessors in the field of astronomy. The key to proving this new view of the universe was the collaboration of other scientists, such as Galileo, and the usage of new astronomical instruments, particularly the telescope. The telescope allowed systematic observations of the universe, which ultimately supported the heliocentric view of the universe. This new view questioned everything that was fundamental to the Christian faith, which infuriated the Catholic Church (Spielvogel 475-480, 493).

The geocentric model created by Ptolemy, and the heliocentric model created by Copernicus, had greatly differed in which force of being (the sun or the earth,) was the center of the universe. Ptolemy’s Geocentric

The Enlightenment was a period in time where many new ideas and discoveries were being found. Specifically in science, during the age of Enlightenment, there were a lot of changes that changed the history of it. From the 17th century all the way to the 19th, one of the most significant discoveries were the advances in the study of Astronomy. Isaac Newton, Nicolaus Copernicus, and Johannes Kepler were some of the most important astronomers from the enlightenment and they greatly helped with the advancement of science. These astronomers helped create and refine telescopes, described and defined how gravity worked, and created different kinds of star charts.

Most early church officials took it for granted; they really weren’t interested in scientific explanations of the cosmos.

The Catholic Church played an important role at the time when all the works in which the movement of the earth was admitted, Catholics were forbidden to teach, and even read, the Copernican theories. The “Copernican Theory” modeled some problems of enormous importance for Christian’s obviously theological nature. Leaders like Martin Luther and John Calvin told us that Scripture brandished against Nicolaus Copernicus and provoked repression against its followers, but generally abandon the fight Protestantism once the “Theories of Copernicus” were confirmed with indisputable evidence. In this paper, I will first evaluate the history about how “Copernican Theory” and its model of the earth came into existence. I will also analyze the “Copernican Theory” in light of Churches idea of the earth being flat. I will ultimately argue that Nicolaus Copernicus played an important role in the history of Philosophy of Science.