The Scientific Revolutions and Copernicus' Book Essay

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

Scientists and scholars such as Nicolaus Copernicus, Rene Descartes, and Francis dedicated their lives to scientific progress. Even though much of their careers were spent on improving human understanding of the world, many of their discoveries, due to their aberrative nature, faced challenges from third parties such as the Church. During the period between 1550 and 1750, they, alongside many other scholars, fueled the Scientific Revolution, introduced new perceptions of the universe and mankind to all levels of society, restructured long believed religious views, philosophical ideas, and thus lay the foundation to a new European perspective.

Another important figure in the Scientific Revolution was Galileo Galilei. He was an Italian born professor of mathematics who had a great interest in the workings of the universe. Galileo served as a professor at the University of Padua, and it was during this time that he began to question the accuracy of the Churches representation of the world. Galileo’s approach towards knowledge was much different then the afore mentioned Copernicus. Where as Copernicus presented his finding to the mercy of the church, Galileo wrote his conclusions and left the Roman Catholic Church interpret them as they chose. The very nature of his findings pitted him as an opponent of the 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.

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

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.

The Ptolemaic view of the motions of the stars was earth centric, or geocentric. Ptolemy believed that all the planets revolved around the earth, the earth was the center of the universe. Copernicus on the other hand held the belief that the universe revolved around the sun, or that the universe was heliocentric. Copernicus also only considered there to only be six planets, as he didn’t count the moon like Ptolemy. Kepler held similar beliefs t Copernicus, and believed that the reason why a god-created universe only had six planets instead of seven was based on Plato’s idea of the five Platonic Solids. That just like there are only five forms of matter and five platonic solids, the universe must have been intelligently created in a similar

He was the fourth and youngest child in the Copernicus family. The family wasn't the richest, they were copper merchants in their town of Torun. Copernicus' family was German (Mikolaj Kopernik in German) but by the time he was born they were living in Poland. Must have been a fun trip being pregnant. Therefore under Polish rule, he was Polish although his first language was German. He did speak some Polish as well because he had lived there. At a young ripe age of 10, his father had died. It is not clear what had happened to his mother and siblings although, generally assumed, they hadn't moved. His uncle, Bishop of Varmia Lucas Watzenrode took a paternal role to make sure he had a great education. This was obviously very hard on young Nicolaus so to keep distracted he kept his head in his books which increased his intelligence. In 1491 Copernicus started to attend University of Cracow where he studied Math and painting like a true Renaissance man that he was. From his reading when he was younger, Nicolaus realized he was also into the stars and how they had worked.

Most astronomers thought that the Earth was the center of the universe and stayed motionless.[2] This theory is called The Geocentric Theory. Ptolemy had developed this idea in the A.D. 100’s.[2] According to Ptolemy’s theory, the other heavenly bodies moved around the Earth.[2] But the theory struggled to explain certain irregular motions of the planets across the sky.[2] However, Copernicus saw Ptolemy’s system as a complicated mathematical invention with no basis in physical reality.[2] Aristarchus, a Greek astronomer, had suggested that the Sun was in the center of the universe and that the other planets revolved around it. This is called The Heliocentric Theory. Sadly tho by the time Copernicus was born people believed that the universe was a small place with the Earth in the middle of it.

Nicolaus Copernicus was born February 19, 1543. He was an astronomer that had an idea called Heliocentric. This revolutionary idea that the Earth revolved around the sun. His idea had a huge impact on modern day physics.

Nicolaus Copernicus challenged the view of the universe by proposing a heliocentric view of the universe. Copernicus proposed that the earth revolved around the sun because the sun is the center of the universe. He began to differ from Aristotle’s idea that celestial bodies moved in a fixed circular motion on earth and created his own and created his own planetary model to show his proposal. Copernicus feared repercussions because his discoveries undermined the church’s power making them reject the idea. At this time, the belief was that the earth was the center of the universe, which is what was accepted by the church. They viewed him as going against the church and the bible by proposing the sun was the center of the universe.

The geocentric model, standardized by Ptolemy in the second century AD, exhibited the Earth stationary in the middle of the universe and all the other planets and stars revolving around it. This model went relatively unchallenged until Nicolaus

The heliocentric theory was first proposed by Nicolaus Copernicus. Nicolaus Copernicus wanted to prove to the church that his theory was truth. Galileo Galilei proved that the heliocentric that was proposed by Nicolaus Copernicus was correct. It took more than a century for the world

This soon ended since Copernicus wanted to devote the rest of his life studying science. Since astronomers had to study with nothing but their naked eye, he stared into the night sky looking closely at the stars. Copernicus created his own celestial model of the heliocentric solar system. In 1514 he wrote a manuscripted commentary entitled Commentariolus which provided his theories and a lot evidence to back them up. His theory was considered scientifically revolutionary. Eventually his theory hit controversy. Ancient Greek astronomer Aristarchus of Samos had already theorised his idea eighteen centuries ago. Although Copernicus’ work was invented before, his heliocentric system was more detailed and included more evidence. He concluded that the speed and size of each planets orbit depends strictly on its distance from the sun. In 1543 when De revolutionibus orbium coelestium was published, religious leader Martin Luther, and Lutheran minister Andreas Osiander spoke against the heliocentric solar system model. Osiander claimed that Copernicus wanted to “turn the art of astronomy upside down”

To many, it is basic knowledge that the Earth revolves around the sun, which means that the solar system is heliocentric. However, the solar system was previously believed to be geocentric, with Earth being considered the center of the universe and the solar system. Aristotle, a dominant force in the early days of science and philosophy, was one of the first to propose the idea that the Earth was positioned at the center of the universe. Ptolemy, an Egyptian mathematician, and astronomer, agreed, and expanded on this geocentric model. Although the Aristolean-Ptolemaic model had the support of the Christian and Catholic churches, Nicholas Copernicus, however reluctantly, put forward the idea that the solar system and the universe, were heliocentric. Though completely opposed by Christian and Catholic churches, the heliocentric model prevailed with the additional discoveries made on Italian philosopher and scientist Galileo Galilee and German astronomer Johannes Kepler.