The

Copernican
Revolution
Ptolemaic model
was not seriously
challenged until the
15th century during
the Renaissance.
Nicholas Copernicus
(1473-1543)
rediscovered the
heliocentric model
(Aristarchus).
He found to his
dismay that it better
fit the observed
facts than the
geocentric model.
Seven points
of the
Copernican
system:
1. The celestial
spheres do not have
one common center.
The Earth is not at
the center of
everything.
2. Earth is not the
center of the universe,
only the center of
gravity and the lunar
orbit. Only the Moon
orbits Earth.
3. All the spheres
orbit the Sun.
Spheres means
the planets.
4. Compared to the
distance to the stars, the
Earth to Sun distance is
almost nonexistent.
The stars are very much
farther away than the Sun.
5. The motion of
the stars is due to
the Earth rotating
on its axis.
6. The motion
of the Sun is the
result of the Earth’s
motions. (rotation
and revolution)
7. The retrograde and
forward motions of planets is
caused by the Earth’s motion.

It is caused by the fact that

Earth’s orbit is a different
length than the other planets.
The Copernican model
was not well accepted
by scholars or the
public. It violated the
religious teaching of
the time.
Copernicus’ book
De Revolutionibus
was published in
1543 (the year
Copernicus died).
It included an anonymous
preface that stated that
the new model was
merely an aid to
calculation and suggested
that Copernicus really did
not believe it.
Galileo Galilei (1564-1642)
Italian mathematician and
philosopher. He performed
experiments to test his
ideas (a radical idea then).
He is regarded as the father
of experimental science.
The telescope was
invented in Holland
early in the 17th century.
Galileo heard about it
and, although never
having seen one, made
his own in 1609.
With it he saw the
mountains, valleys, and
craters of the Moon;
spots on the Sun (which
eventually blinded Galileo);
the phases of Venus; and,
perhaps most significant:
he saw 4 moons
orbiting Jupiter
(known as the Galilean moons).
All these observations
suggested that the
Ptolemaic model was
wrong and the
Copernican model
was correct.
Galileo published his
findings in Siderius
Nuncius (The Starry
Messenger) in 1610.
This was a very risky
action for Galileo. In 1600
Giordano Bruno was burned
at the stake in Rome for
(among other things)
teaching that the Earth
orbited the Sun.
In 1616, Copernicus’
works were banned by
the Roman Church and
Galileo was told to stop
researching and stating
such nonsense.
Galileo published a
new book in 1632:
Dialogue Concerning
the Two Chief World
Systems.
Three people debating
the Ptolemaic and
Copernican models.
The Aristotelian wins,
but his arguments are
obviously inferior. His
name? Simplicio.
Also, this book was
written in Italian, not
Latin, so the common
man could read this
book. The church
was not amused.
The Inquisition forced
Galileo, under threat
of torture, to recant
his claim that the
Earth orbited the
Sun.
He was placed under
house arrest in 1633
and remained
imprisoned until his
death in 1642.
Galileo’s crimes
were publicly
forgiven by the
Catholic Church
in 1992.
But, by this time the
damage was done,
and the Copernican
model continued to
gain acceptance as
the years passed.
Earth’s orbit of the
Sun couldn’t be
proven until the
unmanned probes
of the 1960’s, 70’s,
and 80’s.
The fact that the
Earth moves at
all was proven
by parallax in the
19th century.
From Aristarchus
belief until actual
proof took over
2000 years.
Copernican
principle ­-
Earth is not special
in a cosmological
sense.