Changing opinions and obtaining new viewpoints is a fundamental part of anyone’s life, but little thought is given to why these changes occur. Anyone who has been in an argument or a debate knows just how difficult it is to persuade someone to change their mind about even the most inconsequential matters. The model of the universe is a great example of how people and influenced to change, or not change, their views. When Ptolemy developed and published his theory that the universe is geocentric and geostatic in 150 CE it became the accepted view for over 1,500 years. Then two astronomers, Copernicus and Galileo, discovered the truth and struggled to convince others. How they came to change their minds and why others did were not persuaded is …show more content…
When Galileo invented a powerful telescope which he used to discover some natural phenomena that couldn’t be explained by Ptolemy’s model of the universe. “He saw that the Moon was not smooth, observed sunspots and a supernova, and discovered the four moons of Jupiter.” (Text 6) These observations deviated significantly from the ideas put forth by Ptolemy. The supernova proved that the universe did change and the rough surface of the moon proved that it was not a perfect sphere. However the most direct contradiction to a geocentric universe was the discovery of Jupiter’s moons which disproved the idea that all heavenly bodies, apart from fixed stars, orbited earth. Ultimately Galileo finding these contradictions forced him to accept that what he was being taught about the universe was incorrect. Copernicus found a similar contradiction about one-hundred years earlier when, as Cynthia Stokes Brown put it, “Copernicus found mathematical errors in Ptolemy’s use of epicycles that did not allow accurate predictions about the movement of the planets.” (Text 4) When an individual finds is presented with evidence that definitively disproves something they thought was true, such as gocentrism, they are left with no choice, but to either change their views or adamantly deny or ignore the
The Bible was one of the most important pieces of text during Galileo’s lifetime. If you went against what the Bible stated then you were considered to be a heretic. The Bible indicated that the earth was in the center of the universe and the sun and the other planets revolve around it. a theory known as the geocentric model. Many scientists argued against this theory by stating that actually the sun was in the center of the universe and the earth and the other planets revolved around the sun, this theory was known as the heliocentric model. Nicolas Copernicus was one of the first out of many scientists who publically shared this theory. Later Giordano Bruno also supported this theory and because of this the Church ordered him to be burned
In his book, Repcheck recounts how a Catholic Church cleric invented a highly complicated theory of the heavens’ architecture. Copernicus made a breakthrough by solving a significant astronomical problem. Everybody except the astronomers had earlier accepted Aristotle’s concept that heavenly objects revolved around the earth in perfectly circular orbits. The astronomers were opposed to this notion since their calculations could not work according to it. Repcheck introduces Ptolemy who described a cosmos in which the earth positioned itself somewhat off-center and other heavenly bodies revolved in one circular orbit inside a second ideal circle at changeable speeds. Even though Ptolemy’s model was rather complicated, astronomers found it to be reasonable in their calculations. Astronomers were still using this new concept even 1500 years later. In this regard, the author starts to bring Copernicus into the picture.
Throughout the book you learn the different approaches of scientific belief. There was of course the Aristotelian way of the universe, and there was also the Ptolemaic way. The differences between these two were not too major, they both believed the Earth did not move. There was a new system in the works the Copernican theory, which believed that the Earth was not the center and was mobile, but the sun was the center. Copernicus did not get to back his theory the way he would have wanted but Galileo assumed the ropes and brought it to the full front.
Galileo even as a boy seemed destined to challenge the scientific thought of the day. He has often been characterized as a pioneer of rebellion against authority. If that was true then he was only following in his father’s footsteps. His Father, a revolutionary man in the world of music who spoke out against the music theories of his day, was quoted as saying, "It appears to me that those who try to prove an assertion by relying simply on the weight of authority act very absurdly" (White, 196). Galileo continued in his father’s rebellion against contemporary views with his support of a helio-centric-universe, a view previously argued by Copernicus, but for the most part ignored by scientists for its contradiction with the established, church-endorsed system of Ptolemy.
The main argument which Galileo’s opponents used against his theory was that in many places in the Bible it is mentioned that the Earth stands still and that the Sun revolves around it. Galileo himself was a devout Christian and did not mean to question God’s power or the Holy Writ with his work. As a result, to support his claim, he developed three logical arguments in his letter, which he backed with the opinions of leading Christian authorities, in order to prove that science can reinforce religion rather than discredit it.
Personally, I believe that sometimes people aren't willing to accept a new viewpoint because it would go against everything they've learned. To a certain extent that is true, before Viney's lecture I had thought that the reason Copernicus and Galileo were challenging the church was because of there ideals. But it turns out that the reason they disagreed with the church was because of authority and power that the church had over the people. The same can be seen in David Freedman article "When Is a Planet Not a Planet", in which he discusses the reason why people want pluto to stay as a planet was because it has sentimental feeling for those that have learned it is a planet. This can take
he stood up for his belief in Copernicus's theory that the earth was not, as the Church insisted, the
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 around the sun. The notion is as old as the ancient Greeks however. This work was entrusted by Copernicus to Osiander, a staunch Protestant who though the book would most likely be condemned and, as a result, the book would be condemned. Osiander therefore wrote a preface to the book, in which heliocentrism was presented only as a theory which would account for the movements of the planets more simply than geocentrism did, one that was not meant to be a definitive description of the heavens--something Copernicus did not intend. The preface was unsigned, and everyone took it to be the author’s. That Copernicus believed the helioocentric theory to be a true description of reality went largely unnoticed. In addition to the preface, this was partly because he still made reassuring use of Ptolemy's cycles and epicycles; he also borrowed from Aristotle the notion that the planets must move in circles because that is the only perfect form of motion.
The team of Tycho Brahe and John Keppler were the next to study Copernicus’ theory. Brahe tried to disprove Copernicus’ theory and tried to prove the idea of the earth-centered universe. Although Keppler was Brahe’s assistant, he argued for Copernicus and analyzed Brahe’s data to conclude that the sun was the center of the universe. Keppler also used Brahe’s data to discover the movement of the planet Mars. This was the key to explaining all planetary motion. ii He also discovered the planets move in elliptical orbits, which also went against the beliefs of the church. Kepp...
Galileo Galilei was an Italian philosopher born in 1564. As an adult, he didn’t believe the universal geocentric theory of the planets and heavens which was established by the Catholic Church. The church taught that the Earth was the center of the universe and everything revolved around our planet. Another theory that the Church supported was that the Earth stood still while the sun rose and set every day. Society in the 1500’s believed that the Pope spoke for God through a divine connection and to against the church was to go against God. To speak out against the church in this time was strictly taboo. If one was to speak against the church was considered to be heresy, which is exactly what happened to Galileo. Galileo invented the telescope and began studying the heavens above and noticed that changes within the stars and planets. He noticed that the “stars” that surrounded Jupiter moved. He came to the conclusion through rational thinking, that the Copernicus’ heliocentric theory was correct. Copernicus was a scientist and philosopher whose theory proposed that the sun was stationary and the heavens orbit around the sun. Galileo tried to convince the church not to aboli...
After Galileo found out the moon wasn't flat, he began mounting a body of evidence that supported Copernican theory and contradicted Aristotle and Church doctrine. In 1612, he published his Discourse on Bodies in Water, refuting the Aristotelian explanation of why objects float in water, saying that it wasn’t because of their flat shape, but instead the weight of the object in relation to the water it displaced.
In 1513, Nicholas Copernicus, composed a brief theory that stated that the sun is at rest and the earth is in rotation around the sun. In 1543, just days before his death, Copernicus published this theory in On the Revolutions of the Heavenly Spheres. This theory was meant to dissolve the long lived belief in Ptolemyís theory which stated, "The earth was at the center because it was the heaviest of objects(Kagan331)." This was a common belief at that time, which supported the religious beliefs that the earth was the center of the universe and God in the heavens were surrounding the earth. Copernicusís theory was shocking, but he published such a controversial theory without sufficient evidence, it had to be considered invalid.
Eventually, after all of the bias against the heliocentric model subsided, it was looked at in a new light. The Roman Catholic Church even eventually accepted it. Scientists began to discover that the Sun was and still is at the center of the solar system and that all the planets, including Earth, orbit it. Even though Copernicus had to fight to get his theory published and even though it had a misleading preface, Copernicus’ theory was eventually given the thought and consideration that it deserved. It has helped scientists propose the modern model of the solar system which is incredibly accurate. Copernicus’ theory also forced the Roman Catholic Church to change their view of the solar system in the light of science. These positive changes are still clearly visible today in many of the schools and churches across the globe.
The Copernican Revolution Planetary Astronomy in the Development of Western Thought by Thomas S. Kuhn, is a book that illustrates the importance between man and the natural world from antiquity to the current date. Thomas Kuhn vividly shows us that the Copernican revolution was not only a revolution of scientific theory, but of religious, and conceptual thought as well. Kuhn states in the opening lines of his book that "The Copernican Revolution was a revolution of ideas, a transformation in man's conception of the universe and his own relation to it." Kuhn aims to show us that the transformation of Aristotle's unique, and immobile centre of the universe, to Copernicus' third rock from the sun, had an enormous effect on what we believe and value today.
Much to the dismay of the Church, two astronomers Galileo and Kepler had the audacity to challenge the authorities by suggesting that the sun-not the earth-was at the center of the universe. The church had a stronghold on the way the spiritual and physical world worked, so these discoveries only added to the Church’s resistance to their aims. Their discoveries came only after Kepler and Galileo began to question ancient theories about how the world functioned. These ancient truths were widely held but were inconsistent with the new observations that they had made. Kepler had discovered the laws of planetary motion which suggested that the planet would move in elliptical orbits, while Galileo followed with his discovery of the principle of inertia. Galileo concluded his finding b...