Philosophy
Thanks mainly to Aristotle's teleological metaphysics and the ancient idea that the heavens are a realm of perfection, it was believed for millennia that the celestial bodies moved along a perfect sphere around the Earth. Then some odd observations of retrograde motion were discovered among the planets, or "wandering stars" (as shown in the picture to the right), and the ancient astronomer/astrologer Ptolemy explained that this was actually better than we thought: it's circles upon circles! How much more perfection can you ask for of a divine geometer?
One of the problems with this fix, however, was that it only worked in hindsight: Ptolemy could explain previous instances of retrograde motion, but not make predictions about when or where we should expect to see them again. And of course, there was no suggestion of a mechanism that would be responsible for such odd behavior... until a chap by the name of Copernicus, you might have heard of him, came up with a revolutionary new way to understand the problem: the apparent retrograde motion of the planets can be understood as an illusion if we simply assume that we are not the center of the universe. If we, along with the planets, are rotating around the sun, we can go right back to the simplicity of one perfect sphere, and retrograde motion could then simply be understood as a function of the change in our position along our orbit relative to the change of the position of other planets along their own orbits. Problem solved!
Or if that seems needlessly difficult to grasp (and remember we haven't gotten into the math Copernicus used!), Brian Cox has a nice little demonstration of this revolutionary new vision that seems blindingly obvious in retrospect, but which took the genius of someone like Copernicus to think it for the first time:
- It's A Round, Round World
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You may find this hard to believe, but we've known about the true size of the universe for only about 100 years. When Copernicus proposed his revolutionary heliocentric model, for instance, he still believed in the existence of a perfect celestial...
- Nicholas Of Kues..."ahead Of His Time In The Field Of Science"
Nicholas of Kues 1401 to August 11th, 1464 Cardinal Nicholas of Cusa was a "German theologian, influential philosopher, mathematician, and scientist. His scientific ideas, shrouded in theological language, were his personal speculations. Before Copernicus...
- Better Late Than Never...copernicus Reburied
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- Galileo's Discovery Of Neptune
Wikipedia: Galileo's drawings show that he first observed Neptune on December 28, 1612, and again on January 27, 1613. On both occasions, Galileo mistook Neptune for a fixed star when it appeared very close—in conjunction—to Jupiter in the night...
Philosophy
Brian Cox - Mars Loops the Loop
One of the problems with this fix, however, was that it only worked in hindsight: Ptolemy could explain previous instances of retrograde motion, but not make predictions about when or where we should expect to see them again. And of course, there was no suggestion of a mechanism that would be responsible for such odd behavior... until a chap by the name of Copernicus, you might have heard of him, came up with a revolutionary new way to understand the problem: the apparent retrograde motion of the planets can be understood as an illusion if we simply assume that we are not the center of the universe. If we, along with the planets, are rotating around the sun, we can go right back to the simplicity of one perfect sphere, and retrograde motion could then simply be understood as a function of the change in our position along our orbit relative to the change of the position of other planets along their own orbits. Problem solved!
Or if that seems needlessly difficult to grasp (and remember we haven't gotten into the math Copernicus used!), Brian Cox has a nice little demonstration of this revolutionary new vision that seems blindingly obvious in retrospect, but which took the genius of someone like Copernicus to think it for the first time:
- It's A Round, Round World
On Columbus Day, it is probably worth discussing the fact that contrary to the storybook version of history that is part of our contemporary mythology, it was well-known in classical times that the world was, in fact, round. We should start with the...
- Everything And Nothing - Everything
You may find this hard to believe, but we've known about the true size of the universe for only about 100 years. When Copernicus proposed his revolutionary heliocentric model, for instance, he still believed in the existence of a perfect celestial...
- Nicholas Of Kues..."ahead Of His Time In The Field Of Science"
Nicholas of Kues 1401 to August 11th, 1464 Cardinal Nicholas of Cusa was a "German theologian, influential philosopher, mathematician, and scientist. His scientific ideas, shrouded in theological language, were his personal speculations. Before Copernicus...
- Better Late Than Never...copernicus Reburied
"Copernicus reburied with full Catholic honours" 'Science and faith can be reconciled' by Lester Haines May 24th, 2010 The Register The remains of Nicolaus Copernicus were reburied on Saturday, with the Polish Catholic church out in force to...
- Galileo's Discovery Of Neptune
Wikipedia: Galileo's drawings show that he first observed Neptune on December 28, 1612, and again on January 27, 1613. On both occasions, Galileo mistook Neptune for a fixed star when it appeared very close—in conjunction—to Jupiter in the night...