Geography Topics

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

Johannes Kepler (1571-1630) was a German astronomer who believed in the heliocentric theory. Kepler is a clear example of the narrow line that separated science and religion. Nonetheless, his ideas would show that things could be solved through reason alone. He believed that the harmony of the human soul could be found through numerical relationships that existed between planets. He found that the planets: Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Uranus, Jupiter, and Saturn all revolved at different times. For example, the earth revolved around the sun in a year while Saturn revolved around the sun in fifty years. From this, Kepler found a mathematical ratio, nine to the two-thirds power, to explain this phenomenon. This was revolutionary to humanity’s place in the universe. People were shocked that the universe could be explained by math alone rather than religion. This went strongly

Anybody can tell just by looking at the diagrams of the solar system from the two different time periods that there was a big gap in between the thoughts of the two men who made them. Ptolemy, the man who made it in the medieval period, made people believe that the earth was in the center of our solar system, and the sun was the third planet from the earth. He also made people believe that, “the outer sphere… the Empire of Heaven and Home of God and the Elect” (DBQ Online Document C). These facts were not only untrue, but they also caused everyone to believe that this was correct.

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.

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.

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

The first theory of the placement of the planets and stars to disprove the theocentric theory, God centered, was the geocentric theory. This idea began with the philosopher Aristotle in fourth century B.C. Greece, and was expanded and better explained in second century A.D. by Greek Astronomer Ptolemy. The main point of this theory was that the Earth was the center of the universe. This was “proven” by the observation of the sun moving around the earth every day, as seen in the

physisist. He attended the University of Pisa to study medicine in 1583. He was fascinated with

Nicholas Copernicus was the first to question the universal truths and teachings of the church. He devised a theory that the earth along with the other planets revolved around the sun. This theory disagreed with Aristotle and the old teachings that the universe revolved around the earth, and that man was the center of the universe.

With Brahe’s observations and his own skills, he published Astonomia Nova, translated from French to mean New Astronomy, in 1609, this was the rebirth of the heliocentric view of the universe (Barecca, 2011). Johannes Kepler’s work produced several lasting laws that supported his heliocentric viewpoint: the Law of Ellipses, the Law of Equal Areas, and the Law of Harmonies, which is commonly referred to as Kepler’s Law of Planetary

In 1543 Nicholas Copernicus, a Polish Canon, published “On the Revolution of the Celestial Orbs”. The popular view is that Copernicus discovered that the earth revolves

In summer of 1609, Galileo Galilei (1564-1642) pointed his revolutionary astronomical telescope to the heavens under the starry Venetian sky; his greatly important observations unveiled the mysteries of universe and would end up changing the course of scientific thought forever. Galileo lived in an age where there was much status quo, when scientists and philosophers would accept scientific and religious doctrine that had stood for hundreds, if not thousands, of years instead of challenging the accepted knowledge in favor of intellectual progress. Galileo’s scientific methods lead to significant discoveries explaining key scientific laws, such as the

Johannes Kepler was a German astronomer and mathematician who lived between 1671-1630. Kepler was a Copernican and initially believed that planets should follow perfectly circular orbits (“Johan Kepler” 1). During this time period, Ptolemy’s geocentric theory of the solar system was accepted. Ptolemy’s theory stated that Earth is at the center of the universe and stationary; closest to Earth is the Moon, and beyond it, expanding towards the outside, are Mercury, Venus, and the Sun in a straight line, followed by Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, and the “fixed stars”. The Ptolemaic system explained the numerous observed motions of the planets as having small spherical orbits called epicycles (“Astronomy” 2). Kepler is best known for introducing three

The Copernican Revolution involves the exchange of a “geocentric” worldview to a “heliocentric” view and is inseparably linked to the “scientific revolution” of the seventeenth century movement that represents a renewal of all scientific knowledge of the time. Contrary to popular belief, the “idea that the Earth was round” was written by many ancient Greek texts, and was supported by many philosophers such as Aristotle, Plato, Pythagoras, Archimedes, Eratosthenes and Ptolemy, among others. (Cohen, 30) During the