Pseudoscience/Heliocentricism: Difference between revisions

(Greek) The only other astronomer from antiquity known by name who is known to have '''supported''' Aristarchus' heliocentric model was Seleucus of Seleucia, a Hellenistic astronomer who flourished a century after Aristarchus in the Seleucid Empire. Seleucus was a proponent of the heliocentric system of Aristarchus. Seleucus may have proved the heliocentric theory by determining the '''constants of a geometric model''' for the heliocentric theory and developing methods to '''compute''' planetary positions using this model. He may have used early trigonometric methods that were available in his time, as he was a contemporary of Hipparchus.

(Jewish) Already in the Talmud, Greek philosophy and science under the general name "Greek wisdom" were considered dangerous and put under ban. The first Jewish scholar to describe the Copernican system, albeit without mentioning Copernicus (a [[Agencies/Jesuits|'''Jesuit''']]) by name, was Maharal of Prague, in his book "Be'er ha-Golah" (1593). Maharal makes an argument of radical skepticism, arguing that '''no scientific theory can be reliable''', which he illustrates by the new-fangled theory of heliocentrism upsetting even the most fundamental views on the cosmos.

Picard was the first person to provide an '''assumption''' of the size of the Earth through a survey conducted 1669-1670. His continued progress in instruments proved essential in the drafting of Isaac Newton’s theory of universal gravitation. Picard also worked and corresponded with a vast number of scientists of the time, including Isaac Newton, Christian Huygens, and a great rival, Giovanni Cassini.

(Belgian) Georges Lemaître (1894-1966), a [[Agencies/Jesuits|'''Jesuit''']], ''''priest'''", physicist, and mathematician, first '''proposed''' the Big Bang Theory for the birth of the universe. Born in Charleroi, Belgium, he studied math and science at Cambridge University after ordination in 1923 and specialized in the then-most-current studies in astronomy and cosmology, especially Einstein’s general theory of relativity.

The '''accepted idea''' in physics at the time was that the universe was essentially in a changeless state-a “Steady State.” where Einstein saw that the universe was actually moving (either shrinking or expanding) and devised the cosmological constant that maintained the stability of universe, Lemaître concluded that the universe was expanding. Not only that, Lemaître '''proposed''' that from this it could be '''concluded''' that all matter and energy were concentrated at one point. Hence: The universe had a beginning. This theory, at first met with great skepticism, was termed rather sarcastically the “Big Bang.”

For his part, Lemaître described this beginning as “a day without yesterday”. He presented his theory in January 1933 to a gathering of scientists in California, and at the end of his presentation, Einstein applauded and '''declared''', “This is the most beautiful and satisfactory explanation of creation to which I have ever listened”. Lemaître’s '''ideas''' subsequently gained ground. Today, astrophysicists readily '''accept''' the Big Bang and the continuing expansion of the universe. For his labors, Lemaître was made a member of the Royal Academy of Belgium and a canon of the cathedral of Malines. In 1936, Pope Pius XI inducted him into the Pontifical Academy of Science.