"His diagram of arrangement of the planets"
Before Galileo Galilei ever rose to eminence, there was Copernicus. Born of merchant parents in Poland, the polylinguist (that is to say, one who has learned many languages) studied in Krakow, where he studied the arts and first developed his theory of a heliocentric universe. A heliocentric universe is one where the sun is placed at the center of the solar system, and thus at the time the universe, with the Earth and other planets rotating around it. At the time, this was almost (or perhaps not so almost) heretical to suggest, as the popular theory of the time was that the Earth was at the center of the universe, with the Sun and the other planets rotating around it. In 1532 he finished his work and manuscript, but he refused to publish the paper at the time, due to his worry of people deriding his work thanks to it's radical and difficult hypotheses. It wasn't until a year before his death in 1543 from paralysis that he gave the manuscript to his good friend the Bishop of Chelmno to be published in Nuremburg, Germany.
A couple of the hypotheses his statement that the Earth does not just rotate, but also tilt; and that any movement we believe the stars perform is instead merely due to the movement of the Earth around it's axis and the Sun. This also contradicted the beliefs of the time because the Terracentric model believed that the Stars rotate around the Earth, as everything else did. While this was quite an outside-the-box theory for the scholars at the time, it wasn't until 60 years later that the Catholic Church took any major interest, and thus action, against the theory. Perhaps he was justified in his worry then, as while he died of illness, it would be his more famous successor Galileo who would have to deal with the brunt of the Church's scorn.
Image Credits: "Copernicus - the Heliocentric Solar System" (public domain images via Wikimedia Commons
This is interesting to me. I love it when scientist find things that don't make sense in their current belief system, but stick by their results anyway. I love the incompleteness of the knowledge that speaks to a deep faith not only that somehow it all works together, but also that their work is correct. As important as it is to be humble, it's also crucial to know when you know what you're talking about.
ReplyDeleteI think it is interesting that the church originally did not have a problem with it, or had a lack of interest. In the book, The Renaissance in Perspective, the author states that the church gave the early humanists the rank of Cardinal and was a sponsor. It seems like the church did not expect the flourishing ideas to lead to the protestant reformation as it did.
ReplyDeleteIt also makes me wonder what incorrect ideas we maintain in today’s world of science that will soon be debunked for a more innovative theory. Progression is fascinating.
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