Pseudoscience/Heliocentricism: Difference between revisions
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(Poland) Nicolaus Copernicus (a [[Agencies/Jesuits|'''Jesuit''']]) (1473-1543) astronomer, physician, '''priest''', famous for the heliocentric planetary '''theory'''. He '''formulated''' a model of the universe that placed the Sun rather than Earth at its center. |
(Poland) Nicolaus Copernicus (a [[Agencies/Jesuits|'''Jesuit''']]) (1473-1543) astronomer, physician, '''priest''', famous for the heliocentric planetary '''theory'''. He '''formulated''' a model of the universe that placed the Sun rather than Earth at its center. |
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In his model, Copernicus maintained that Earth was not the center of the universe. Instead, Copernicus '''believed''' that Earth and the other planets revolved around the Sun. Copernicus' system offered a simple explanation for many of the observed phenomena that could not be easily explained within the old system. Retrograde motion was one such phenomenon. |
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Retrograde motion is the apparent change in direction that is observed in a planet's motion as it travels across the sky. The Ptolemaic system '''attempted to account for''' retrograde motion with epicycles. According to the Ptolemaic system the planet moves on a circle (called the epicycle) while this circle revolves around Earth on a larger circle. With the Sun at the center of the universe, however, retrograde motion is easily explained. The apparent change in direction of the planet is a direct result of its orbit around the Sun. |
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The publication of Copernicus's model in his book De revolutionibus orbium coelestium (On the Revolutions of the Celestial Spheres), just before his death in 1543, was a major event in the history of science, triggering the "Copernican Revolution" and making a pioneering contribution to the Scientific Revolution (A takeover of the sciences by Jesuits). |
The publication of Copernicus's model in his book De revolutionibus orbium coelestium (On the Revolutions of the Celestial Spheres), just before his death in 1543, was a major event in the history of science, triggering the "Copernican Revolution" and making a pioneering contribution to the Scientific Revolution (A takeover of the sciences by Jesuits). |