Monday, 3 May 2010
Nicolaus Copernicus
Copernicus was the first astronomer to challenge the Ptolemaic universe. This "universe", was criticized by King Alfonso of Spain where he said "If god had made the universe thus, he should have asked me for advice first." After that their were many versions of this "universe". Copernicus also attempted to find out and solve the problem of precession , he came up with a easy solution. He chose to say that the sun was the center of the universe, any doubt with the planets was gone if the sun was in the center. It explained everything. It also helped make clear the spiritual structure of the universe. He argued that the planets moved in circular orbits, which we now know today to be true.
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People especially during the Scientific Revolution had a whole different outlook on the universe than us. They took the bible more literally than many types of Christianity take it today. The bottom line is that people like Copernicus had to be very bright, determined, and brave in order to follow through with coming up telling people about their views. Copernicus's heliocentric view was accepted because he applied God and religion to it (God being the Sun). This post was very informative about science and religion pre-Scientic Revolution.
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