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Ptolmaic Theory

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The ancient astonomer postulated that the Earth is the center of the universe, and that celestial objects, including our sun, revolved around it. The Ptolmaic system made use a various devices to explain the motion of the heavens. Most important of these were the epicycle and deferent. An epicycle, derived from ancient Greek, is roughly translated to circle moving on another circle. Imagine a massive donut with an ill placed train track running around it. Our Earth would be located in the hole in the middle, the tracks would represent the deferent, and the epicycle would be the object moving along it (note that the object of the epicycle itself rotates in uniform motion along it's own track.) This model lables the Earth as the eccentric, …show more content…

It is not just truth that matters, but how we arrive at the truth that matters. Had he had evidence to back his claims, Copernicus' theory would most likely have been adopted, but because he lacked the neccessary proof to his claim it was dismised. Later on Galileo would come along and with better technology, make better observations, and would join Copernicus' corner, but despite this new empirical evidence no one budged. Despite having both Copernicus' speculation and Galileo's empirical observation, the more accurate Helio-centric theory would still not be adopted. Soon Kepler would come along, and with conceptual skill, describe the shape and motion of our solar system. Motion now occured in elipses, like a streched out ring, and as planets get closer to the sun they speed up and slow down as they move away. Finally, Newton came along and came up with a mathematical formula to neatly tie it all in a bow. While Newton was able to "simplify" other planetary laws, it is unable to describe the truth of what is happening from every perspective and it can lead to a weak understanding of what that truth is. Copernicus was very religious minded and came from the position the we are not the center of God's world, inspiring Galileo to see and observe this phenomena, and giving Kepler

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