The Scientific Revolution between 1540s and the 1680s started due to the works of mathematicians, astronomers, and physicists. Copernicus, Galileo, and Descartes, were some of the individuals who changed the traditional view of the universe and the relationship of the earth to the heavenly bodies. Rather than thinking about the nature of the universe, these individuals sought answers about the universe by calculating data to test their hypotheses.
According to King and Dunn, Nicholas Copernicus’s On the Revolutions of the Celestial Spheres started the Scientific Revolution. He was a cleric, canon lawyer, mathematician, and astronomer (King 231). He discovered the sun did not move, but the earth rotated on its axis around the sun. This challenged the widely accepted view of Aristotelian mechanics, Ptolemaic astronomy, and the Church’s view on the heavens. Aristotle concluded heavy objects naturally fell toward to the earth due to earth being the center of the universe. Both Protests and Catholics believed God created earth has the center of corruption and the heavens were pure. Hell was in the center of the core of the earth. In Ptolemaic astronomy, the earth stood still and other objects such as the sun,
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He knew of the “great blast of disapproval” the clergy. He writes that the individuals who refuse his findings based on scripture are ignorant. “Astronomy is written for astronomers.” He was confident other astronomers would agree to his discoveries on the nature of celestial bodies. He also mentions Pope Leo X held the Lateran Council to reform the ecclesiastical calendar. Their efforts did not produce change because the motions of the sun and the moon were not measured accurately. Copernicus’ calculations of the motions of the sun and the moon were satisfactory to their needed