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The 17th Century Scientific Revolution: The Copernican System

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Some of the key discoveries and the innovators of the 17th century Scientific Revolution would be the Copernican System by Nicolas Copernicus. The system introduced three celestial motions which are the Diurnal rotation of the earth on its axis, the earth and the planets, revolve around the sun, and a conical axial motion of the earth to explain the fixed orientation of earth in space. Copernicus was a mathematical, not an observational, astronomer, and the mathematical apparatus of his system was as complex as Ptolemy 's, employing the same geometrical devices. Copernicus sought to purify ancient astronomy, not to overthrow Ptolemy; not a 'revolution ' in the technical sense, in that either system would 'save the phenomena ' to some degree; the Copernican system only altered the geostatic and geocentric premise of ancient astronomy. The main disadvantage of the Copernican system was its violation of Aristotelian physics the physical problems involved with the heliocentric system called for a new, as yet …show more content…

Galileo Galilei also was in Astronomy and was known for Projectile Motion, Galileo was a confirmed Copernican and given to the concept of circular motion. Galileo 's 'facts ' differed from the traditional data of astronomy in that they were derived from qualitative telescopic observations. Some of the observation data that he collected from the telescope was that the phases of Venus were inexplicable in terms of Ptolemaic cosmology; Ptolemaic scheme no longer viable and the satellites of Jupiter, moving with, and approximately in the same plane as the planet, suggested more than one center of rotation in the solar system and, by analogy, the earth 's rotation around the sun. In his later theory (1632), no force is necessary to keep a body moving on a level (frictionless) plane; a body, as such, has no inclination to move or remain at rest, it is indifferent. Thus, if a body is indifferent to motion, no mover is required to sustain movement once a

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Analysis of Galileo’s Letter to Grand-Duchess Christina During the time that Galileo wrote the letter to Grand-Duchess Christina, there was much debate about the orientation of the universe. There were two different theories of thought at this time. One was the Heliocentric Universe, which believed the sun was the center of the universe and the Earth orbits it.

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In the 1500s and 1600s, the scientific revolution changes the way Europeans looked at the world, they began to make conclusion based on experimentation and observation instead of accepting traditional ideas. ‘’Although new knowledge emerged in many areas during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, including medicine, chemistry, and natural history, the scientific achievements that most captured the learned imagination and persuaded people of the cultural power of natural knowledge were those that occurred in astronomy.” (348) Nicolaus Copernicus was a polish astronomer who published On the Revolutions of the Heavenly Spheres, were he made two main conclusions, the universe is heliocentric not geocentric and the earth is one part of many

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Galileo Galilei was an Italian astronomer who disagreed with the Roman Catholic theory of geocentrism. He was not a heretic because he was a Christian and had similar beliefs to the Roman Catholics, but he did not agree with the Church’s theory of the position and movement of Earth in the Solar System. Document A is an excerpt of a letter to Duchess Christina of Tuscany written by Galilei, counter-arguing the heresy claims. In the letter, Galileo wrote, “Can an opinion be heretical and yet have no concern with the salvation of souls?” Although he did not believe in the astronomical theory of the Church, he believed that his scientific thoughts should not interfere with his religious beliefs.

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The Scientific Revolution in the seventeenth century brought about significant changes in how people understood and approached scientific knowledge. Two specific examples of scientific discoveries that support Bernard Cohen's argument about the shift in scientific inquiry are: One example is the discovery of heliocentrism by Nicolaus Copernicus. In the late Middle Ages, the prevailing belief was in the geocentric model of the universe, where Earth was considered the center of the solar system. However, Copernicus's heliocentric model proposed that the Sun, not the Earth, was the center of the solar system. This discovery challenged the traditional knowledge based on faith and insight, as it was backed by critical observation and mathematical

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During the sixteenth and seventeenth century, many scientists had developed a new perspective on the world around them. Scientists such as Galileo and Copernicus envisioned a world where natural phenomenons could be proved through experimentation. Furthermore, the work of scientists during this time period were affected by the approval of political figures, the support from influential members of the church, and social factors that influenced the development and acceptance of new theories. To powerful political figures, scientific theories were regarded as an opportunity to gain power and money.

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In 1540 to 1700, the Scientific Revolution occured, events and tools created during this time period would change life forever. First, the astrolabe and the compass were both technological advances created to help navigate and explore the world. Also, at this time Asian spices were huge, but Italy and Egypt controlled the trade routes to Asia. Then, explorers started to sail the world, finding new routes and lands. Lastly, Christopher Columbus tried to sail to Asia in late 1492, but messed up on his way there and discovered the New World.

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Galileo's Principle of Relativity states that all of the laws of motion operate the same within an inertial reference frame. What this means is that if a set of objects shares the same state of motion, whether in a field of grass situated on a planet rotating and revolving around the sun or inside the cabin of a boat sailing in the ocean, the laws of motion will act the same between those

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Galileo continued to study the heliocentric and in 1932, he even published a book called Dialogue Concerning the Two Chief World System supporting Copernicus’s theory. ( The Scientific Revolution) . Galileo publishing the Dialogue Concerning the Two Chief World System supporting Copernicus’s showed that Galileo supported the Heliocentric theory. Galileo teaching the opposite of what the church had to say makes Galileo a

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Autumn Stern Galileo Trial Summary + Copernicus Write Up In the early 17th century, there was no doubt that the Catholic church held extreme power throughout Europe. They also held to the geocentric theory (all planets, heavenly bodies and the sun revolving around the earth) put forth by Ptolemy and Aristotle because of how neatly it could fit into the current teachings. Unlike this theory, however, Galileo enforced Copernicus’ heliocentric theory with inductive reasoning rather than deductive. Galileo made observations about the moons of Jupiter and their orbit around Jupiter, which he likened to a smaller version of their solar system.

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It has taught the next astronomers about the movement of the celestial objects and how to make accurate predictions on their positions. For example, the Islamic astronomers welcomed the Ptolemaic chart into their work. Nicolaus Copernicus (1473-1543) switched the positions of the Earth and the Sun and then created the heliocentric model. In this system, the speed and motions of celestial bodies were modified. In the next few years, Johannes Kepler (1571-1630), took inspiration from the heliocentric model to formulate Kepler’s laws of planetary motion.

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During the Middle Ages a Roman Astronomer named Ptolemy came up with the theory that all surrounding planets orbited around the Earth. Advancement in telescopes and technology helped Copernicus during the renaissance create a more logical and accurate theory which stated how the sun is in the middle of our universe and all planets orbited the sun. This changed the way man thought because it realized how small Earth is compared to the rest of the solar system and how we may not be

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Between the Ptolemaic and Copernicus systems there were two different ideas at the time. The opinion of the church and the opinion of Copernicus. The Church's idea was that everything revolves around the earth because God created man. While in the Copernican system, which is actually the beginning of the model we use today, everything revolves around the sun. The progress of science, as seen by Koyre a French philosopher of Russian origin who wrote on the history and philosophy of science, Is not achieved "by renouncing the apparent im?

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In Steven Shapin’s book, The Scientific Revolution, he described the massive scientific changes that occurred from the late 16th to the early 18th centuries. Shapin utilizes the scientists and their findings to demonstrate the changes that affected Western civilization. He describes his theory of the Scientific Revolution as he proves that the world has always had scientific advances. Steven Shapin states his thesis which influenced the modern world, that the Scientific Revolution did not happen during a single time period through the use of the three essential questions: What was known, How was it known, and What was the Knowledge for.

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The Scientific Revolution created several theories about the universe. The two major ones were heliocentric and geocentric. Heliocentric means the solar system is sun centered. Geocentric means the solar system is earth centered.

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Copernicus developed the heliocentric theory which claimed that the earth revolved around the sun. This immediately challenged the authorities who believed the opposite. Galileo furthered Copernicus’ argument and promoted that the Bible, that God

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