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1514
Publishing the papers
Copernicus had written and discreetly circulated in manuscript his Commentariolus, the first outline of those arguments eventually substantiated in De revolutionibus orbium coelestium or On the Revolutions of the Heavenly Spheres in 1543. This classic work challenged the geocentric cosmology that had been dogmatically accepted since the time of Aristotle. -
1515
The Beginning
Copernicus was a polish priest that proposed that the earth was a planet like Venus or Saturn and all the planets circled the sun. -
1515
Hypothesis
Copernicus' hypothesis was that all planets revolved around the sun. He reinforced his hypothesis by the unique characteristics of the sun he thought it was plausible that the sun served as the center of the planetary system -
1515
Theory in the making
Copernicus noticed that all the planets besides the sun had the same annual movement and thought that the movement might be explained by the annual movement of the earth around the sun. His hypothesis was that all planets revolved around the sun -
1515
Proving the hypothesis
The way he proved his hypothesis by means of physical experiments and arguments rather than observation proofs. Galileo contributed a great deal to such arguments in refutation of the Ptolemaic theory, but it was Newton who first produced convincing proof supporting the geocentric theory which is what his theory was originally based off of -
1539
How was his theory important?
Protestant leader Martin Luther denounced the new theory. The Catholic Church disregarded Copernicus' book until 1616, when it was included in the "Index" or a list of prohibited books. The Catholic church even used Copernicus' book to correct the calendar.The Church did not object to the theory so long as the book was treated as no more than a mathematical explanation, and due to his theory not proving that the planets circled the sun, it was still able to be used by Protestant astronomers -
Feb 15, 1564
The Middle
Galileo Galilei was an Italian polymath. Known for his work as astronomer, physicist, engineer, philosopher, and mathematician, Galileo has been called the "father of observational astronomy", the "father of modern physics", the "father of the scientific method", and the "father of science". -
People that helped with the theory
Tycho Brahe was a Danish nobleman, astronomer, and writer known for his accurate and comprehensive astronomical and planetary observations. He was born in the then Danish peninsula of Scania. -
How do we use this?
The heliocentric theory has aided science very well. Without the heliocentric theory we most likely wouldn't have NASA. It's the reason that we know so much about space.
