Thomas Lowbridge

Why did it take so long for the heliocentric

model of the universe to be accepted?

Let me start by first of all explaining, what exactly is meant by a heliocentric model of
the solar system, well simply it is a model of the solar systems where the sun is the
centre and planets (including the earth) orbit it. This is the current theory that people
believe.

The question is why we all believe this. Well to get an understanding behind this we
will have to delve some thousand years in the past. Starting with a Greek astronomer
and mathematician called Aristarchus of Samos, who lived around 300B.C, who first
proposed the idea of a heliocentric model of the solar system.

During this period, scientists like Aristarchus of Samos were given a back seat
compared to philosophers such as Aristotle. Who also had a theory stating that the
sun revolved around the earth and that the earth was the centre of the solar system.
This theory of Aristotle’s was accepted due to his class of philosopher over
Aristarchus’s theory. This is because in these times philosophers had more power
over people and more people trusted them compared to the few scientists that
existed. Therefore Aristotle’s theory of a solar system (including the sun) that
revolved around the earth was thought to be the general model of the universe. This
is not to say no one believed Aristarchus it is just that there were a lot more that
believed Aristotle

Later on in 1543, some 1800 years later, a scientist called Copernicus revived
Aristarchus of Samos’s model of our solar system stating that he was right and that
he also believed that earth orbited the sun, with the other planets also orbiting the
sun. In the same respect Copernicus was also able to say that the moon orbited the
earth. But rather than basing his model on evidence, he used arguments and that of
a complex system to try to prove this heliocentric model of the solar system.

Though he even published a book stating his heliocentric model in 1566 (second
edition), his model was still not accepted. This may have been because of the
religious views at the time, as his model contradicted the bible, in saying that the
earth is the not the centre of everything, but the sun is. Also because people had for
‘always’ believed that the sun orbited the earth it was hard to suddenly believe the
reverse without any clear proof.

Then roughly 150 years later, a man called Isaac Newton came along and proved
Copernicus’s model right, thanks to his laws of gravity. These stated that the mass of
on an object will have a direct force on other objects, this force altering depending on
the mass of an object and the distance from the object. Applied to the solar system
this stated that sun, having a larger mass, will attract the earth and thus pulling it into
the sun’s orbit, thanks to the earth’s own original force. Isaac Newton’s proof of
Copernicus’s model was enough to prove that the earth actually orbits the sun.

Isaac Newton’s laws of gravity and motion were accepted because they made
perfect sense and everyone could see them in action, throughout normal life.
These simple laws are just that simple and so through Occam’s razor are the ones
that are chosen as the simplest theory to understand that works
 Thomas Lowbridge

So to conclude I would say that thanks to these reasons it took over 2000 years for a
heliocentric model of our solar system to be accepted. Though as science is always
improving we may be able to alter this model in the future with better findings.