Nicolaus Copernicus Begins a Revolution in Astronomy with His Heliocentric Model of the Solar System
Overview
The publication of Nicolaus Copernicus's (1473-1543) De Revolutionibus Orbium Celestium in 1543 was attended by no official opposition. The heliocentric system Copernicus presented was initially viewed as a hypothetical model devised merely to facilitate computation. For many, the most attractive feature of the new system was Copernicus's abolition of the equant, which restored uniform circular motion as the basic axiom of astronomy. Most early supporters passed over in silence the question of the system's physical reality. Theoretical improvements made possible by Copernican theory and new observations helped undermine Aristotelian physics and with it geocentrism—the idea thatthe Sun and all other planets in the Solar System revolved around Earth. By the mid-seventeenth century the heliocentric view reigned supreme, though Copernicus's circular orbits had by then been replaced by Johannes Kepler's (1571-1630) elliptical orbits.
Background
The theoretical framework of pre-Copernican astronomy was established in the Almagest of Ptolemy (c. 100-c. 170). Drawing heavily on the work of previous Greek astronomers, especially Hipparchus (c. 170-c. 120 B.C.), this work developed a theory of the universe employing geocentric models to predict planetary motions. Ptolemy appealed to Aristotelian physics to show Earth was at rest.
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