Copernican Revolution
The Copernican Revolution was the
Heliocentrism
Before Copernicus
The "Copernican Revolution" is named for Nicolaus Copernicus, whose Commentariolus, written before 1514, was the first explicit presentation of the heliocentric model in Renaissance scholarship. The idea of heliocentrism is much older; it can be traced to Aristarchus of Samos, a Hellenistic author writing in the 3rd century BC, who may in turn have been drawing on even older concepts in Pythagoreanism. Ancient heliocentrism was, however, eclipsed by the geocentric model presented by Ptolemy in the Almagest and accepted in Aristotelianism.
European scholars were well aware of the problems with Ptolemaic astronomy since the 13th century. The debate was precipitated by the reception by Averroes' criticism of Ptolemy, and it was again revived by the recovery of Ptolemy's text and its translation into Latin in the mid-15th century.[a] Otto E. Neugebauer in 1957 argued that the debate in 15th-century Latin scholarship must also have been informed by the criticism of Ptolemy produced after Averroes, by the Ilkhanid-era (13th to 14th centuries) Persian school of astronomy associated with the
The state of the question as received by Copernicus is summarized in the Theoricae novae planetarum by Georg von Peuerbach, compiled from lecture notes by Peuerbach's student Regiomontanus in 1454 but printed only in 1472. Peuerbach attempts to give a new, mathematically more elegant presentation of Ptolemy's system, but he does not arrive at heliocentrism. Regiomontanus himself was the teacher of Domenico Maria Novara da Ferrara, who was in turn the teacher of Copernicus.
There is a possibility that Regiomontanus already arrived at a theory of heliocentrism before his death in 1476, as he paid particular attention to the heliocentric theory of Aristarchus in a later work, and mentions the "motion of the Earth" in a letter.[4]
Nicolaus Copernicus
Copernicus studied at
The Copernican model makes the claim of describing the physical reality of the cosmos, something which the Ptolemaic model was no longer believed to be able to provide. Copernicus removed Earth from the center of the universe, set the heavenly bodies in rotation around the Sun, and introduced Earth's daily rotation on its axis.[5] While Copernicus's work sparked the "Copernican Revolution", it did not mark its end. In fact, Copernicus's own system had multiple shortcomings that would have to be amended by later astronomers.
Copernicus did not only come up with a theory regarding the nature of the Sun in relation to the Earth, but thoroughly worked to debunk some of the minor details within the geocentric theory.[6] In his article about heliocentrism as a model, author Owen Gingerich writes that in order to persuade people of the accuracy of his model, Copernicus created a mechanism in order to return the description of celestial motion to a “pure combination of circles.”[7] Copernicus’s theories made a lot of people uncomfortable and somewhat upset. Even with the scrutiny that he faced regarding his conjecture that the universe was not centered around the Earth, he continued to gain support- other scientists and astrologists even posited that his system allowed a better understanding of astronomy concepts than did the geocentric theory.
Reception
Tycho Brahe
In 1572, Tycho Brahe observed a new star in the constellation Cassiopeia. For eighteen months, it shone brightly in the sky with no visible parallax, indicating it was part of the heavenly region of stars according to Aristotle's model. However, according to that model, no change could take place in the heavens so Tycho's observation was a major discredit to Aristotle's theories. In 1577, Tycho observed a great comet in the sky. Based on his parallax observations, the comet passed through the region of the planets. According to Aristotelian theory, only uniform circular motion on solid spheres existed in this region, making it impossible for a comet to enter this region. Tycho concluded there were no such spheres, raising the question of what kept a planet in orbit.[8]
With the patronage of the King of Denmark, Tycho Brahe established Uraniborg, an observatory in Hven.[9] For 20 years, Tycho and his team of astronomers compiled astronomical observations that were vastly more accurate than those made before. These observations would prove vital in future astronomical breakthroughs.
Johannes Kepler
Kepler found employment as an assistant to Tycho Brahe and, upon Brahe's unexpected death, replaced him as imperial mathematician of
In 1596, Kepler published his first book, the
In 1600, Kepler set to work on the orbit of Mars, the second most eccentric of the six planets known at that time. This work was the basis of his next book, the Astronomia nova, which he published in 1609. The book argued heliocentrism and ellipses for planetary orbits instead of circles modified by epicycles. This book contains the first two of his eponymous three laws of planetary motion. In 1619, Kepler published his third and final law which showed the relationship between two planets instead of single planet movement.[citation needed]
Kepler's work in astronomy was new in part. Unlike those who came before him, he discarded the assumption that planets moved in a uniform circular motion, replacing it with elliptical motion. Also, like Copernicus, he asserted the physical reality of a heliocentric model as opposed to a geocentric one. Yet, despite all of his breakthroughs, Kepler could not explain the physics that would keep a planet in its elliptical orbit.
Kepler's laws of planetary motion
- 1. The Law of Ellipses: All planets move in elliptical orbits, with the Sun at one focus.
- 2. The Law of Equal Areas in Equal Time: A line that connects a planet to the Sun sweeps out equal areas in equal times.
- 3. The Law of Harmony: The time required for a planet to orbit the Sun, called its period, is proportional to long axis of the ellipse raised to the 3/2 power. The constant of proportionality is the same for all the planets.
Galileo Galilei
Galileo Galilei was an Italian scientist who is sometimes referred to as the "father of modern observational astronomy".[12] His improvements to the telescope, astronomical observations, and support for Copernicanism were all integral to the Copernican Revolution.
Based on the designs of
Galileo's next astronomical discovery would prove to be a surprising one. While observing Jupiter over the course of several days, he noticed four stars close to Jupiter whose positions were changing in a way that would be impossible if they were fixed stars. After much observation, he concluded these four stars were orbiting the planet Jupiter and were in fact moons, not stars.[15] This was a radical discovery because, according to Aristotelian cosmology, all heavenly bodies revolve around the Earth and a planet with moons obviously contradicted that popular belief.[16] While contradicting Aristotelian belief, it supported Copernican cosmology which stated that Earth is a planet like all others.[17]
In 1610, Galileo observed that Venus had a full set of phases, similar to the phases of the moon we can observe from Earth. This was explainable by the Copernican or Tychonic systems which said that all phases of Venus would be visible due to the nature of its orbit around the Sun, unlike the Ptolemaic system which stated only some of Venus's phases would be visible. Due to Galileo's observations of Venus, Ptolemy's system became highly suspect and the majority of leading astronomers subsequently converted to various heliocentric models, making his discovery one of the most influential in the transition from geocentrism to heliocentrism.[10]
Sphere of the fixed stars
In the sixteenth century, a number of writers inspired by Copernicus, such as
Isaac Newton
Newton was a well known English
Newton used Kepler's laws of planetary motion to derive his law of universal gravitation. Newton's law of universal gravitation was the first law he developed and proposed in his book Principia. The law states that any two objects exert a
Metaphorical usage
Immanuel Kant
Much has been said on what Kant meant by referring to his philosophy as "proceeding precisely on the lines of Copernicus' primary hypothesis". There has been a long-standing discussion on the appropriateness of Kant's analogy because, as most commentators see it, Kant inverted Copernicus' primary move.[25] According to Tom Rockmore,[26] Kant himself never used the "Copernican revolution" phrase about himself, though it was "routinely" applied to his work by others.
After Kant
Following Kant, the phrase "Copernican Revolution" in the 20th century came to be used for any (supposed)
See also
- History of science in the Renaissance
- Comparison between the systems of Ptolemy, Copernicus, Descartes and Tycho-Bahé,[archives] on the Digital Library of the Paris Observatory
Notes
- ^ "Averroes' criticism of Ptolemaic astronomy precipitated this debate in Europe. [...] The recovery of Ptolemy's texts and their translation from Greek into Latin in the middle of the fifteenth century stimulated further consideration of these issues."[2]
- ^ In an English translation: "Hitherto it has been assumed that all our knowledge must conform to objects. But all attempts to extend our knowledge of objects by establishing something in regard to them a priori, by means of concepts, have, on this assumption, ended in failure. We must therefore make trial whether we may not have more success in the tasks of metaphysics, if we suppose that objects must conform to our knowledge. This would agree better with what is desired, namely, that it should be possible to have knowledge of objects a priori, determining something in regard to them prior to their being given. We should then be proceeding precisely on the lines of Copernicus' primary hypothesis. Failing of satisfactory progress in explaining the movements of the heavenly bodies on the supposition that they all revolved round the spectator, he tried whether he might not have better success if he made the spectator to revolve and the stars to remain at rest. A similar experiment can be tried in metaphysics, as regards the intuition of objects."[24]
References
- ^ Gillies, Donald (2019-04-10), Why did the Copernican revolution take place in Europe rather than China?, retrieved 2019-12-03
- ^ Osler (2010), p. 42
- ^ George Saliba (1979). "The First Non-Ptolemaic Astronomy at the Maraghah School", Isis 70 (4), pp. 571–576.
- ^ Arthur Koestler, The Sleepwalkers, Penguin Books, 1959, p. 212.
- ^ a b Osler (2010), p. 44
- Bibcode:2015arXiv150201967R.
- JSTOR 986462.
- ^ a b c Osler (2010), p. 53
- ^ J J O'Connor and E F Robertson. Tycho Brahe biography. April 2003. Retrieved 2008-09-28
- ^ a b Thoren (1989), p. 8
- ^ ISBN 0-520-08817-4.
- ^ Singer (1941), p. 217
- ^ Drake (1990), pp. 133-134
- ^ Galileo, Helden (1989), p. 40
- ^ Drake (1978), p. 152
- ^ Drake (1978), p. 157
- ^ Osler (2010), p. 63
- ISBN 9780470754771.
The Puritan Thomas Digges (1546–1595?) was the earliest Englishman to offer a defense of the Copernican theory. ... Accompanying Digges's account is a diagram of the universe portraying the heliocentric system surrounded by the orb of fixed stars, described by Digges as infinitely extended in all dimensions.
- ^ Bruno, Giordano. "Third Dialogue". On the infinite universe and worlds. Archived from the original on 27 April 2012.
- ISBN 0-486-26761-X.
- ^ Galileo Galilei, Sidereus Nuncius (Venice, (Italy): Thomas Baglioni, 1610), pages 15 and 16. Archived March 16, 2016, at the Wayback Machine
English translation: Galileo Galilei with Edward Stafford Carlos, trans., The Sidereal Messenger (London: Rivingtons, 1880), pages 42 and 43. Archived December 2, 2012, at the Wayback Machine - ^ See the Principia online at Andrew Motte Translation
- ^ Ermanno Bencivenga (1987), Kant's Copernican Revolution.
- ISBN 1-4039-1194-0. Archived from the originalon 2009-04-16.
- ^ For an overview see Engel, M., Kant’s Copernican Analogy: A Re-examination, Kant-Studien, 54, 1963, p. 243. According to Victor Cousin: "Copernicus, seeing it was impossible to explain the motion of the heavenly bodies on the supposition that these bodies moved around the earth considered as an immovable centre, adopted the alternative, of supposing all to move round the sun. So Kant, instead of supposing man to move around objects, supposed on the contrary, that he himself was the centre, and that all moved round him." Cousin, Victor, The Philosophy of Kant. London: John Chapman, 1854, p. 21
- ^ Tom Rockmore, Marx After Marxism: The Philosophy of Karl Marx (2002), p. 184.
- ^ "By defining hysteria as an illness whose symptoms were produced by a person's unconscious ideas, Freud started what can be called a ‘Copernican Revolution’ in the understanding of mental illness — which put him into opposition both to the Parisian Charcot and to the German and Austrian scientific community." José Brunner, Freud and the Politics of Psychoanalysis (2001), p. 32.
- ^ "Jacques Lacan's formulation that the unconscious, as it reveals itself in analytic phenomena, ‘is structured like a language’, can be seen as a Copernican revolution (of sorts), bringing together Freud and the insights of linguistic philosophers and theorists such as Roman Jakobson." Ben Highmore, Michel de Certeau: Analysing Culture (2006), p. 64.
Works cited
- Bala, Arun (2006). The Dialogue of Civilizations in the Birth of Modern Science. New York: Palgrave Macmillan. OCLC 191662056.
- ISBN 0-226-16226-5.
- Drake, Stillman (1990). Galileo: Pioneer Scientist. Toronto: ISBN 0-8020-2725-3.
- ISBN 9780226279039.
- Gillies, Donald. (2019). Why did the Copernican revolution take place in Europe rather than China?. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/332320835_Why_did_the_Copernican_revolution_take_place_in_Europe_rather_than_China
- Gingerich, Owen. "From Copernicus to Kepler: Heliocentrism as Model and as Reality". Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society 117, no. 6 (December 31, 1973): 513–22.
- Huff, Toby E. (2017). The Rise of Early Modern Science. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 9781316417805.
- Huff, Toby E. (Autumn–Winter 2002). "The Rise of Early Modern Science: A Reply to George Sabila". Bulletin of the Royal Institute of Inter-Faith Studies (BRIIFS). 4, 2.
- ISBN 0-674-17103-9.
- Kuhn, Thomas S. (1970). The Structure of Scientific Revolutions. Chicago: Chicago University Press. ISBN 0226458032.
- Kunitzch, Paul. "The Arabic Translations of Ptolemy's Almagest". Qatar Digital Library, July 31, 2018. https://www.qdl.qa/en/arabic-translations-ptolemys-almagest.
- Koyré, Alexandre (2008). From the Closed World to the Infinite Universe. Charleston, S.C.: Forgotten Books. ISBN 9781606201435.
- Lawson, Russell M. Science in the Ancient World: An Encyclopedia. Santa Barbara, CA: ABC-CLIO, 2004.
- JSTOR 1154499.
- JSTOR 41086443.
- ISBN 978-0-8018-9656-9.
- Redd, Nola (May 2012). "Johannes Kepler Biography". Tech Media Network. Retrieved October 23, 2013.
- Rushkin, Ilia. "Optimizing the Ptolemaic Model of Planetary and Solar Motion". History and Philosophy of Physics 1 (February 6, 2015): 1–13.
- Saliba, George (1979). "The First Non-Ptolemaic Astronomy at the Maraghah School". Isis. 70 (4). ISSN0021-1753.
- Sabila, George (Autumn 1999). "Seeking the Origins of Modern Science?". Bulletin of the Royal Institute for Inter-Faith Studies (BRIIFS). 1, 2.
- Sabila, George (Autumn–Winter 2002). "Flying Goats and Other Obsessions: A Response to Toby Huff's "Reply"". Bulletin of the Royal Institute for Inter-Faith Studies (BRIIFS). 4, 2.
- Singer, Charles (2007). A Short History of Science to the Nineteenth Century. Clarendon Press.
- Swetz, Frank J. "Mathematical Treasure: Ptolemy's Almagest". Mathematical Treasure: Ptolemy's Almagest | Mathematical Association of America, August 2013. https://www.maa.org/press/periodicals/convergence/mathematical-treasure-ptolemy-s-almagest.
- Thoren, Victor E. (1989). Tycho Brahe. In ISBN 0-521-35158-8.
External links
- The dictionary definition of Copernican Revolution at Wiktionary
- Media related to Copernican Revolution at Wikimedia Commons
- The Heliocentric Model and Kepler's Laws of Planetary Motion on YouTube- The development of the Heliocentric model with the contributions of Nicolaus Copernicus, Giordano Bruno, Tycho Brahe, Galileo Galilei and Johannes Kepler