Freedom of Speech, Assembly, Petition, Press and Freedom of Religion was granted to us on 1791, but what about the time before that? What were people’s rights, did they even have any? Nicolaus Copernicus was one of the many people who lived through the early Reformation. During that time the Catholic Church controlled the people. Anyone who disobeyed the Catholic Church was either put into prison or even sentenced to death. The major concept that the Catholic Church held was the geocentric theory, that the Earth is the center of the universe. Their argument was that God had not only blessed humans with its nature but also granted humans a special place to live, which was in the center of the universe. However Copernicus was not completely …show more content…
Although Copernicus’ theory was against the Catholic Church, some parts of it were still based on the beliefs of the Catholic Church. Part of his heliocentric model was that the Earth rotated from west to east in a perfect circle. Why from west to east? Copernicus believed this because simply it was commanded by God. Why a perfect circle? Copernicus shared this concept with many other astronomers. Astronomers believed that since God is perfect he made the planets orbit in a perfect shape, circle. This concept was later on corrected by Johannes Kepler, who was also very religious and he stated that the planets orbit in a perfect ellipse.
If Copernicus was sure that the geocentric model was wrong then why did he hesitate to publish his model of heliocentric? The book mentioned that although Copernicus knew that the geocentric model was wrong he still had his doubts about his own model. Doubts concerning whether the heliocentric model was wrong or maybe incomplete. Researchers say that he hesitated because he was afraid that the Catholic Church would disagree with his model. However it might not be that he is afraid of being against the Catholic Church but he had a hard time considering that the Catholic Church had made a mistake.
Copernicus’ had became so widely known for his work that people all around Europe were waiting eagerly for the complete publication of his heliocentric model, and because of him
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,
Ptolemy, a Roman astronomer came up with the theory that the universe revolved around Earth and all the creatures inhabiting it (Doc. C). This theory, The Geocentric Universe of Ptolemy, was adjusted by most of the people during The Middle Ages. However, much later on, Nicolaus Copernicus, a Polish astronomer, disagreed with Ptolemy’s theory. With his use of math and reason, he came up with a new theory called The Heliocentric Universe of Copernicus (Doc. C). He said that the universe & Earth itself revolves around the sun. The Church denied this theory because they did not want to be proven wrong. If the Church was wrong about this part of the universe, this would then cause man to wonder what else they could be wrong about, or even lied to them about. This new theory taught men to think for themselves and not to rely on the Church for
“So far as hypotheses are concerned, let no one expect anything certain from astronomy, which cannot furnish it, lest he accept as the truth ideas conceived for another purpose, and depart from this study a greater fool than when he entered it.” this quote is from Nicolaus Copernicus, the famous astronomer who discovered something remarkable. Copernicus was a part of the German heritage, but at the time, the city of Torun where he was born was a part of Poland so some believed he spoke some Polish as well. The remarkable discovery in which he found, was the heliocentric universe, meaning the Sun was the center of the universe not the Earth. Without him creating this theory and then later on proving it, even though the Catholic Church did
Copernicus was a student of astronomy and astrology. He invented astronomy, as we now know it. Moreover, he was greatly shunned for his theory that the earth moves around the sun. This idea was called hello centric. The common theory was geocentric this was the idea that the earth is the center of the universe and everything moved around it. This idea was widely accepted. It was even taught by the church. However, when the church needed a better calendar they turned to a highly famous astrologer named, Copernicus.
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
The statement acts to justify his finding with the church and connect them to God. Copernicus realized that the church would be quick to judge him, and possibly this is why he didn’t publish his theories until late in his life. His discoveries were not so much as important as were his methods of observation and application of mathematics to explain the world. His methods of discovery helped model the direction of science over the next hundred years.
While the Roman Catholic Church believed that the earth was the center of the universe, Nicolaus Copernicus’s discovered that the Earth actually was one of the planets hat revolved around the sun. “For, in the first place, they are so uncertain about the motion of the sun and moon that they cannot establish and observe a constant length even for the tropical year. (Document 1)” The church belief did not make sense because it was wrong. They were going off wrong information that they could not establish a constant year, which confuses people. Nicolaus said that the earth moved around the sun, which made more sense and
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.
During the time of Galileo, the church was very strict with physicists who believed in the Copernican model. This is exactly the position that Galileo found himself in. In 1600 Galileo began making his own telescope. He became the first person to point one at the night sky. What staggered him the most by doing this was the sheer volume of stars that were not visible with the naked eye. Galileo used his telescope to make many discoveries; one of these is the discovery of Jupiter’s four moons. He even plotted and tracked there rotations around Jupiter. The main thing however, was that Jupiter even had moons, this was proof that the geocentric model was incorrect and that this discovery was in favour of the Copernican model.
Copernicus release his theory of the heliocentric view while he was on his death bed. Primary reason for this was because of the Catholic’s church control on society at the time and the effects it would have on religious society stating that the earth was not the center of the universe. After Copernicus released
Copernicus began to question Ptolemy at a very young age. Copernicus didn’t believe Ptolemy’s view of the universe and that it was geocentric. Copernicus found mathematical errors to help him prove that Earth was not the center of the universe. After some research Copernicus realized that the universe was
In the early medieval period, the masses believed that earth was at the center of the universe and everything revolved around it. “...the judgement of many centuries has approved the view that the Earth remains fixed as center in the midst of the heavens…” Nicolaus Copernicus thought that this idea was absurd and continued to explain that the Earth actually moves. He was afraid to even discuss the idea as anyone during the period would just reject it immediately. The Earth being flat was in part influenced by religion and by writing his theories, he was almost apologetic for suggesting the heavens were different from what almost all people believed. “...that the earth is situated in the third sphere and revolves with great speed around the sun, is a very dangerous thing, not only by irritating all the philosophers and scholastic theologians, but also injuring our holy faith and rendering the Holy Scriptures false.” The change in culture was seen as a danger to religion as the new ideas went against a lot of factors in religion. The strict religious ideas caused almost a cultural revolt for new ideas. But because religion was being changed radically, it left room for new ideas like this to start spreading to the
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/).
Galileo used a telescope and shined the sun’s rays onto a paper to see solar flares emit from off the sun’s surface, through this he proved that the sun was not only spherical but rotated. He found that many other celestial bodies orbiting things other than earth, which destroyed the previously accepted geocentric theory. Galileo wanted to reconcile scripture with his astronomical findings of the time. Galileo wrote a letter to a student to explain how Copernican theory was not going against Biblical passages, but rather that the scripture written was from an earthly perspective and that recommended that science gave an altered, more correct perspective. He faced hatred from the Vatican and was told not to teach of a heliocentric universe even with all of the evidence he had collected at the
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.