COPERNICUS’ INNOVATION oparius andthe Reveusion “he pblaton of Cope De Rest rum Cat 9 nau the pw iy aon nd oe teil ought at we al he Capri Reet, To ths osreb af ht Reto, Ftp rage opn whch the Revolution ocd. Now we tor 0 eRe at ding sn he pte, wah Ceri subutions to So fara possible we sal @ncane hase cont sare eit own wer, drawn fom the De Retains, thee pte nv steno tthe wo Ao Inlay we allen afi an anges won wh Tol dpde oo eetndng of he Copernic evlaton ce at Revlon sin many respes pea of any othe stor conepua!uphensl i the sieees "tj De Recolaondus ifr osm ble tet. Some of ts prob lens dere singly othe nis ies of 8 bet mater. Mh par the lntgvetory Fist Book is too math to be £0 sie atitanding by zayone exept a techntally profelntastrno we yes del nih eset foci contrition in rel they mation prior mh He ple et ii the ape and we shal bypass ths process certain of the seem eas tat the De Recoltindus preseted to # si eel ides, Had Copenics propounded the new atom seascape form to which we sal frequently resort his cee eas region might have been suite dierent. Opposton to 4 mre comprehensible work might fr exp, bao been marsaled sree oar ant problem i thecore the barer which a ck Sia polenry ples betwen and the ental books of the sro tat Inagorated the Revolton COPERNICUS’ INNOVATION 135 But the technical obscurity of the De Revolutionbus, though it ‘must be recognized at the stat, is nether the most difficult nor the most important sort of problem inherent in Copernicus’ work. The principal difficulties of the De Resolutionibue andthe ones that we ‘may not evade arise eather frm the apparent incompatibility between that text and its role inthe development of astronomy. Tn is conse. quences the De Revolutionibus is undoubtedly a revolutionary work From it derive a fundamentally new approach to planetary astroncmny, the fist accurate and simple solution of the problem of the phnets and ultimately, with other Sbers added to the pattern, a new com ‘mology. But, o any reader aware ofthis outcome, the De Revolution: ‘bus itelf must be a constant puzzle and paradox, for, measured in terms ofits consequences, it isa relatively stad, sober, and uneevohi- tionary work. Most ofthe essential elements by which we know the Copernican Revolution - easy and accurate computations of planetary Postion, the abolition of epicycles and eccentrics, the dsolution of the spheres, the sun a star, the iaiite expansion of the universe these and many others are not to be found anywhere in Copernicus work, In every respect except the earths motion the De Recelution- bus seems more closely akin to the works of ancient and medieval astronomers and cosmologists than to the writings ofthe succeeding generations who based their work upon Copernicus and who made explicit the radical consequences that even its author had not seen tn his work, ‘The significance of the De Recolutionibus lies, then, less in what ‘e says itself than in what it eaused others to sy. The book gave rise ‘oa revolution that ithad searcely enunciated. ts a revolution making rather than a revolutionary text. Such texts are a relatively frequent and extremely significant phenomenon inthe development of scent thought. They may be described as text that shift the direction in hich scientific thought develops; revolution making work is once the culmination of a past tition and the source af a novel future tmultion. As a whole the De Revolutionibus stands almost entirely within an ancient astronomical and cosmological taiion, yet within its generally classical framework ate tobe found a few novelties which shifted the direction of scientife thought in ways unforeseen by ts author and which gave rise to a rapid and complete break with the ancient tradition. Viewed in a perspective provided by the history of136 THE COPERNICAN REVOLUTION astronomy, the De Revolutonibus has a dual nature. It is at once fancient and modern, conservative and radical. Therefore its sigaif- ‘ance can be discovered only by looking simultaneously to its past and to is future, to the tradition from which it derived and to the tradition which derives from it ‘That donble view of a single work isthe principal problem of this chapter, What isthe relation af Copernicus to the ancient astronomi: cal tradition within which he was educated? More preclely, what fspects of that tradition Jed him to believe that some astronomical Innovation was essential, that certain aspects of ancient cosmology and astronomy must be rejected? And, having resolved to break with fan old tradition, to what extent was he still necessarily bound by it 1s the only source of those intellectual and observstional tools re- ‘quired for the practice of astronomy? Again, what fs Copernicn’rela- tion tothe tradition of modem planetary atronomy and cosmology? Given the limitations imposed by the training and tools of clasial astronomy, what creative innovations could his work contain? How ould those innovations, which ultimately produced a radially new ‘stronomy and cosmology, be embedded iitlly ina predominanty classical frame? And how could those novelties be recognized and adopted by his successors? These probloms and thelr corollaries are symptomatic of the real diffcuties of the De Revoluionibut or of any “centile work which, thoogh bora within one tradition of scientific thought, isthe source of a new tradition that ultimately destroys ite parent «Motives for Innovation — Copeenics' Preface Copernicus & among that small group of Europeans who frst revived the full Hellenistic tradition of technical mathematical sstronomy which in antiquity had culminated in the work of Ptolemy. ‘The De Recolutiontbur was modeled on the Almogest, and it was directed almost exclusively to that small group of contemporary astronomers equipped to read Ptolemy's treatise. With Copernicus we retum forthe St time to the sort of technical astronomical problem ‘with which we last dealt én Chapter 3 when examining the developed Ptolemaic system. In fact we return to the same prablem. The De “Revolutionibus was written to solve the problem of the planets, which, Copernicus felt, Ptolemy and his successors had left unsolved. Ia COPERNICUS’ INNOVATION 17 Copernicus’ work the revolutionary conception of the earths motion is initially an anomalous by-product of a proiient and devoted aston. fomer's attempt to reform the techniques cmployed in computing planetary position, That i the frst significant incomgrty of the De Revoluiinibus, the disproportion between the objective that mot vated Copernicus’ innovation and the innovation itself. It can be dis: covered slot at the start of the prefatory letter that Copernicus prefixed to the De Revolutionbus in order to sketch the motive, the ouree, and the nature of his scentife achievement? TO THE MOST HOLY LOND, POPE PAUL IL “The Preface of Nicholas Copernicus tothe ‘Books ofthe Resolutions 1 may well promume, most Holy Father, that certain people, 25 soon as ‘hey hea that thi bok about the Revatons ofthe Spheres of the Ua ‘ee Taseribe movement tothe earthly lobe, wall ey out Hat, Belding ich views, [should at onct be hised off the stage. For am nt 30 pleated ‘vith any cv work that T shuld fal duly to weigh the fodgment which Sire nay pase therein, and though T know hat the specolatons of Bloeopher te far removed fom the jdgient of the slitude— for is Sim eto sok tah nal things afr as God has permite aan season foto do yet I hold tht opinion which are quite eroneous sould be olde "Thiching therefore within myself tht to ascribe movement tothe Earth snus indeed ecm at aba performance on my part to those who know {st many centuries have contented to the esubluhment of the cintary Jidgment, namely that the Earth i placed inmovably ar the cent point fn the middle of the Universe, I heated lng whether onthe one Fd T soul lve tothe light thee my Commentaries veritten to prove the Enths motin, or whether, on the other band, lt were beter to follow the example of the Fythagreans an others who sere wont Ho inp hee plhlowphie mysterie only to intimates and ces, and then mot wring Tut by word af mouth, asthe eter of Lis o Hipparcos witesee. | Tit letter, whieh Copernicus had st one tne intended to incide In the De ecolutonbus, deserves the Pythagorean and Neopltonse njetin agaist revealing nature's secrets to tose who are not intter of mystical eal Reference to there excmplier Copernic’ partepation i the Reniseance revival of Neoplatoisn dcussed nthe fet chapter) Tn my judgment they did so not ar some would have though jeloury of sharing their Akctrines, ut a8 fearing let these 0 noble nd ardly wan discoveries of ‘he Keamed should he despise by sich av eter care ot to sty aught save for gua, or ~ if by the encouragement and example of aers they are ‘imate to pioxopieMbeal pursue yet by reson ofthe dulloss of138 THE COPERNICAN REVOLUTION hei wits ae in the company of philsopers = drones among. bes. e- fecting thon the thought ofthe sear wich Thad to fearon econ of the devel and Inconplty of my theory, welligh induced ie to aban ‘Thee ingvngs and actual potas have been overcome by my fends one af whom) fen urged and even impotoned re to pul this ‘snc vhih adept in soe ot fr ne yer ay, but fort pod tie years. - Hhy wged thi Usd ot oh account of my fas, ‘cfs aby Toner to contibte the fui of my iors to the common a antago of tae Interested fa mathematics, They fated tht, thaagh my Tory ofthe East's movement might at fret ise strange yet would tppenr oimable and accepable wen the pubbeaton of my ehcatny Unments shld pel the mits of pardon. Viking then to their pe Srasn Tat st permed my fends fo push that werk which they Have slong demanded Tit Tallw the publiewton of thac my studies may supe your Holiness the les in tat having boon at sch vat tain ther, Tad then ot sroped fo commit to weting ny thous pon the motion of the Enh [Some yeate before the publeaton of the Be Revoltionus {Capers ta ciated among hs fends ast manuscript called the Commentariat, desing an ear version of his suvecntered aston tmp. A second advance report of Cope mor werk the Norte Fina by Copersica’stdert, Retest, had pesto te 1540 and ain in 1941} How came to dare to conceive sch "mtion ofthe Earth, con tay tothe recived opinion of the Mathematics sl indeed. contrary torte impreson ofthese, what your lies sil rather expect to ear Sof should ike your Holiness to know that Iwas indced to thik rma of computing the nts ofthe speres by noting ele than tte imowkedge that the Matkeatiars are icomsistent fn these invest fons Tor, hist, tne mathematica ae 9 unsure of the movements ofthe ‘Sin and Moa tht the cannot even explain o serve the constant nih ‘of the tetra year. Secondly, determining the motions of these and of the other ve planets, they te tithe he same prices wed hypotheses forthe sume demonstrat of the apparent motns and revelations So Some use only homowstse cices (te Aistutdlan system, dered by ‘stole fom Euan and Calpe, and revved in Europe shorty bere open” death by Une Kalan strnomers Frcatry and Ami, whe tthe [emply]exeetris and epicjles, Tet eve by these means they do tot completely attain their ends. Thse who have relied on bemocents, though they have proven tat some diferet mations can be compounded therfom, tave no thereby been able fly fo etablah «system which fgecs wid the phenomena, Thre again who have deed cveree {Gm though they appear to have well nigh establaed the seeming mations ty ealeualos aectbl thelr asumpions, have yet made many ami ‘COPERNICUS! INNOVATION 139 ons (like the use ofthe equant) which seem to vile the fist prinaple ‘of uniformity in motion. Nee have they been able thereby to aceen or Aedace the principal thing namely the shape of the Unsere aod the tunchangeable symmetry of parte. With them Te a8 though an actit twee to guther the hands, fet bead and other tmembers for his images from diverse model, each part exelln’y drawn, but nol elated to singe body, and since they inno way match each ater, the result would be ‘monster rather than man, So in the course of their exposition, which the mathematicians call heir system, . «we Bnd that they have eer ented some indispensable deal or introduced something foreign end willy lnelevant This would ofa surety not have een eo ad they followed Fed ‘principles; for If thes hypotheses were not missing, all inferences based thereon might be surely veded. Though my present assertions ste obscure, {hey wil be made clea ia due coare [An honest appraisal of contemporary astronomy, says Copernicus, ‘shows thatthe eath-contered approach tothe problem of the planets is hopeless. The traditional techniques of Ptolemaic astronomy have not and will not solve that problem; instead they have produced a ‘monster; there must, he concludes, be a fundamental error in the basle concepts of traditional planetary astronomy. For the fst time a tech ically competent astronomer had rejected the time-honored scientific tradition for reasons internal to his science, and this professional aware- ness of technical fallaey inaugurated the Copernican Revolution. A felt necessity was the mother of Copernicus invention. But the feling of necessity was a new one. The astronomical tradition had not previ- ously seemed monstrous. By Copernicus’ time a metamorphosis had ‘occurred, and Copernicus preface belisntly describes the felt causes ofthat transformation. Copernicus and his contemporaries inherited not only the Alma- {gest but also the astronomies of many Islamic and a few European astronomers who had criticized and modiied Ptolemy's sytem, These fare the men to whom Copernicus refers as "the mathematicians” One hnad added or subtracted a few small circles; another had employed sn epicycle to account for a planetary iregularity that Ptolemy had orginally treated with an eccentric; stil another had invented a means unknown to Ptolemy of accounting for small deviations from the ‘motion predicted by a oneepicycle one-deferent system; others had, with new measurements, altered the rates at which the compounded ‘ireles of Ptolemy’s system rotated, There was no longer one Ptolemaic140. ‘THE COPERNICAN REVOLUTION system, but a dozen or more and the number was multiplying rapidly ‘withthe multiplication of technically proficient astronomers. All these ystems were modeled on the system of the Almagest, and all were herefore “Ptolemaic.” But because there were so many variant sys tems, the adjective “Ptolemaic” had lost much of its meaning. The fstronomical tradition had become dfs; it no longer fully specified the techniques that an astronomer might employ in computing plane- tary positon, and it could not therefore specify the results that he ‘woul ebtai from his computations. Equivocatins like these deprived the astronomical tradition ofits principal source of internal strength ‘Copernicus’ monster has other faces. None of the “Ptolemaic” 5y3- tens which Copernicus knew gave results that quite coincided with ood naked-ye observations. They were no worse than Ptolemy's re- Shs, bu they were also no beter. Alter thiteen centuries of frutess fesearch a perceptive astronomer might well wonder, as Polemy ‘could not ave, whether further attempts within the same tradition ould conceivably be successful. Beside, the centuries that had inter- ‘ened between Ptolemy and Copernicus hat! magnified the errors of the teaditionl approach, thus providing an additonal source of dis- tontent. The motions of a system of epicyces and deferents are not ‘unlike those ofthe hands ofa clock, and the apparent errr of lock Increases with the passage of time, If clock loses, say, 1 second per ‘dosade, its ertor may tot be apparent at the end of a year or the end of ten. But the error can scarcely be evaded after a millenium, when it wil have inceased to alinast 2 minutes. Since Copernicus and his ‘contemporaries possesed astronomical data extending over atime span ‘irteen centuries longer than that covered by Ptolemy’s data, they ould impose a far more senskive check upon their systems. They were necesaeily more aware of the errors inherent in the ancient approach "The passage of time also presented the sitteenthcentury astrono- ser with a counterfeit problem which ironically was even more eflec- tive than the real motion of the planets in fostering recognition of the errom in the Ptolemaic method. Many of the data inherited by ‘Copernicus and his colleagues were bad data which placed the planets fnd stars in positions that they had never occupied. Some of the trroneous records had been collected by poor observers; others had ‘Gace been based upon good abservatios but had been miscopied or COPERNICUS’ INNOVATION ua ron during the proses of ransmision, No simple planetary Suton Melony Cope Repeat Newtors ea ave ‘duc oon the da tt Renae astonomer thus ey nd to ex. The compeniy ofthe problem presented by Rena since dats tincended tat ofthe heavens thensches, Cops Wr hue! tin ofthe data tht had egy id hn fa ‘jecting the Relea yon His own stom woul ave giten far Beer rele he hd ben septal abt his pedeccan Scrat he war abnt the mathemati tes Difuenesr and continued acaaey hee te he 0 pen pst ci th monte dred by Cp a asthe Copernican Reveaton depended pon capt changes win the astonomilteon fie tae sre aj sorte Bat they ace nt the only ones We ay abo ah why Cope was ‘Bio Teuple te note Some of he tae parent eta, torphors mut have bom inthe eye of the beholder forthe tadton inthis cre nr nat we ha any sidered this question, Copernicus’ awareness of monstrosity depended on that larger late phovophical and state opin whose genes ature were desribl inthe lst per, From he ste {f contemporary stacy aman wihoat Copemic Neopiene thas igh have concaded rely thatthe problem of the plans could have 20 soliton lat was simatancesly simple and precoe Sina, an aromoer nacsintd wh he Walton of cle cca might hae boon ule to develop. pari ces fr ‘sown Sed Thewe ad ter nvehies veloped nthe lat chapter tee min carente ef Caprica tine. Thovgh he seams se them, Coperius was ced by se pho cunt att contepores were uniting cared by th motion ofthe cart Cope werk rennny incense less viewed in rl onto bth the tra sate of tatommny ant he grit lint ofthe age, Boh gether produced the ote isonet wh a rcogaied ester was, however ely the Bt sey toate ec ein Ne ae = hh janings are ested In the renting pordon af Coperear Sepeng portions of Co {pn og open th uncer of mates wan ts thn the matltotheytenotspe i op eae142 THE COPERNICAN REVOLUTION at pep col yo sens geo ay ee ct yo San el wt an pet fs Seto fe TR tat Sul have heey deme, Te SPSS" ven Icy hand tse ot wry So ee atthe mor th spe me te te Seer Een tated fn Ce tat ‘oc ten td Mu om nh vo mabe th sone a Feet al th ah ob yb Pb te Fen sty) a ove oa th ental) es Uh oer ee Sn Hee of ant Boe getPtaStem rh cery ne ae te Earth to wet se eo geet yng vr ow cote 52h o> ty arte ht 10 eg thnk of he moi of he cit he pine sed bal ewig wow at oe Erk ata baled it o nog ach ces m ty chew (Srcgi penta of teem tht 1 rt ‘founder explanations than theirs for the revolution of the celestial spheres iin danced connor, wi 0 my wk tebe w he Exh ty hc Le ps fe bop erin ae eon OSA prc pte wr th row ed ee auc ob ay pte col be mte om So pw wt Sie cpus ee pn Oe gem Sing ieee Teen ti se at ony te Copan ten en Met fe Ober he in Aerie Goda Tait Del nd snd mates wl pe ithe sch Ch oped and appreciate at oD Sg dean oe ence, wh emi COPERNICUS" INNOVATION 143 tle may soe hat Fo not tnt my man cticae a be feed ite meno soca ae Sah NS cave fd ane fet EY 13 Oe Sines int mat my tat st ta tric ti noe Say a Cael hl a a Say pp aname enen ae Syphon ht setae ae Bah ene lige serene ppl a Mptent ner maths a 1 be ak why de ect wil bold that te my ibn conn rset ty 9 me ng Sa sit Las Teper te ES lin odes Ota fe ae Sie eet err ae seas eee te ate ov cari ee deems ek re isc lors pre eet tal ma Your Hotness more than xn perform wth rgud to he wells ft ‘eek pas tomy sported use “Mathematics are for mathematicians” There the st eset incongruity ofthe De Reoltonbue.Thnugh few septs of Wet rm thought were log unaected bythe consequenes of Copenend ork, tat work tl war matrowly tend a poesia ees ‘mathmtial planetary astonomy, not comelagy or liowply, Shut Coperics found monstrous, it was the tefomn of mathe mata strony tht alone comple hi to move the earth I Senter wera fli hm hy weld ave a er and his detatled mathemati sigunents about planetary postion, And they would have to take thee sbsuseatgueats more fenuay than the st evidence ofr ene. The Copeman Heston waeTHE COPERNICAN REVOLUTION 144 employed sevotton inthe mathemati techniques empl aot inary tt Hg soe Tn econ he aa 7 ries made ee a vse new techniques, Coperniens 1 freed for and in developing. the nun Cpe oe the Reel se single orignal cotati 0 tat Ha Mem ‘is sin or nt the fist to suggest the earth's motion, and Ne eat rediscovered the idea for himself, In his pr ea ae tics wh hd arid thatthe earth a ot fhe anes wh a are it Sin ge cian noe rane customary during the Renaissance, to mention Ws he fll at te predecessors who hd believe that the ears) 68 wn trees ip jap on rc gt kes oe the first to realize that the earth's aie i ae ee mnical problem or indeed a scientiBic i a account of he gn romped ah en Neale Ccopecnics!Physis and Cosmelogy at son ofthe eth was ay prosct Fo Cpe te the earth's motion by ex: a pte os hs amining the cei ance he waste cancered about the came tanacendent pe sol at teenton wold preset = ities ta ny ere. Bt Coperice cold not SOE ee hat the eats ton ras for thos ape ioe Pers es exe nono than Ws owe see of wes was COPERNICUS" INNOVATION us He had atleast to make t posible for his contemporaries to conceive the earth's motion; he had to show that the consequences of this motion were not so devastating as they were commonly supposed to be. Therefore Copernicus opened the De Revolutionibus with a now technical sketch of the universe that he had constructed to house a moving earth, His inuoductory Fiest Book was directed £0 laymen, and it included all the arguments that he thought he could make accessible to those without astronomical training ‘Those arguments are profoundly unconvincing. Except when they derive from mathematical analyses that Copernicus failed to make ‘elicit in the First Book, they were not nev, and they did not quite conform tothe details ofthe astronomical system that Coperniens was to develop in the later books. Only & man who lke Copernicus had ther reasons for supposing that the earth moved could have taken the First Book of the De Revolutionibus entirely seriously But the Fist Book is not uninportant. Its very weaknesses foe shadow the incredulity and ridicule with which Copemicus system would be greeted by those who could not follow the detailed mathe: matical discussion of the subsequent books. Its repeated dependence ‘upon Aristotelian and scholastic concepts and laws show how litle ‘even Copernicus was able to waneend his training and his times ex: ‘cept in his own narrow feld of specialization. Finally, the incomplete ness and incongruites ofthe Fist Book illustrate again the coherence of traditional cosmology and traditional astronomy. Copericus, who \was led to revolution by astronomical motives only and who inevitably tried to restrict his innovation to astronomy, could not evade entirely the destructive cosmologial consequences of the earth's motion, BOOK ONE 1. That the Universe Spherical In the fist place we must observe thatthe Universe is spherical. This ls either becaute tha gure isthe most pele, at not bing ateulated but whole and complete in itself or beeatse i isthe most espace and Wherefore est suited for that which i fo contain and prestre all things {of al solids with given surface the sphere har the gestest woe], ot again because all the pevfece parts of mamely, Sun. Moon and Stary {ar so formed; of becatso all things tend to ase this shape, as is soon in the cate of drops of wate and liquid bodes in general i fely formed, No one doubts that such shape bat been asiged tothe Beaver bodies146 THE COPERNICAN REVOLUTION 2. That the Earth lot Spherical The Eth alo i pia, since om il sist nlines [or fal] toad ee Re puerto any pint northward he Neath Pol ees ioc goealy rie while the oer pole sink comrespond Shak and ore starter the North Pole cease to set whe cela stark Behe Std ot sss Farber, the change insite of the pole B sihae prportanl tothe Qisnee trvered the Ent whieh could arene tiTaaphercal gue. Hewce the Eath most be Site ond Merete agar concer the chapter witha fw more aa sar hs ears sphere types of the ease sources that we have ‘aly exmioed] 1, How Barth, with the Wateron forms one Sphere ‘The water spread around the Earth form the seas and 6] the Tower cites The tolune of the waters must be les than that of the Eth he they woud swallow up the land (ape both, by their welght, press teat the same center), Ts forthe safety of vig things, suetces of UO Enh ae et wneveved, sv slo momerous (ln widely seated Nivruhat is contineaty and indeed the while of the Moinhand, but at and? Copencis whbes inthis chapter, to show both that the terse gobs i peedorsnanily made of arth and that water and est together aefed to make the globe a sphere. Presumably he is Joking abeod BSc bres up low easy than water wen moved: tin of «sli gabe eRe lplmaie than ofa fied anes Agaim, Copernicus wl fly sy thor the arth moves naturally a crs Deease a is a sphere (se Chap Weis hie Fist Book below). He theztore needs to show that bath earth Mul eter ate ersnt tothe composition ofthe sphere, inorder tat oth Ai artpate together lathe sphere natoal motion. The passage & of Matulor tress beause Jn documenting his view of the strate of BERN Copernicus auplys hiv acquaintance with the recent voyages UE dacorery td with the conetione Hat mst consequently be made in Pesemy’s growaphicl writings. For example, he 5) the taveaval lobe were predominanty water) the depth of Osean ‘would constantly insteee rom the shore qutvards, and a0 nether iand Vortec nor anything of the nlure of Tand woul be met by slr, how Te soever thy ventured. Yet, we fnew that between the Fgyptn Sea athe Arabion Gul. wellnigh in the mid of the gest Indra, & Rtgs barely 15 atades wile. On the oer hand, in his Csmograply Frelcmy would have it that th habitable land extends to the mide ele The coh, tht Js rough hemaphere extending 180" eastward fom the Canary lands} with fra incognita beyond where modesn diacovery fussed Cathay anda very extensive vegan at far as 60" of longitude. COPERNICUS INNOVATION vay petite at a a tap cs RS see ual mete ra es ener, tole yh id riage Nat si ene lt Fits cel ie iamasically oppor tothe Ganges teas te la en 4. That th Notion he Heel vel, lease odes Unfors ond Pepa or Composed of eal Noto aN tt tiny a Btn ws re dy tt very ats sage epee ‘ede wh snp Ud fd heren eller boeing sora yb Seren tre oer he mm pas Sy the vba tht pubes, many mots ec, Met ail eth ral ti alg yo iy Ss me Ow Uae, uth di hh Snare in das Net we ober rea coe ah with this daily motion and opposing t tom West to East Such opposing ‘oat homo Sin ad ao ade we et se not that of the diurnal rotation, bat of the Zodiac, which iso Sern Sima thy at mone ly ve ther oon ee Ex ae mat ‘San and Moon found now slower, now twifter in thls cow = Fach at Sie the fe pants bce tay te po Sl apie nd even go backward. Futernoe somclins they apprech uth, being then in Perige, while at ther tier receling tho? we mes bore "Rois, dite tse tra RSet, do et, tt cnc that the into lh ty hear ood of er iets hms emt Se nl ea a ae ies and tht cud ot happen tthe matoes were tt Se, ae ile sme can th reste te ple of body as twas So wh the Son whch brs cmpouning cr nosh gah [ng dis and ight athe or seasons ofthe ete. Now tt ‘tht divers motions are conjte, sce spl clea Noy cant soe etna Sige ir uh ely tee Sa Ufo ofthe lg in Boh ee ke a SERS ae eh hn et na sl epgaa THE COPERNICAN REVOLUTION eis the ene gen tn hems of Sy Moon, a8 Tey Boe Se er by ream of the anes ection of do bat se ne ey eon tat Barth ok the ea sae of even ces tou Rath he lees Cie es) seem gente when ey, ae net thee nog moe rnold 8 ah an oe Nn ge ia emma Oe cy ae che sl Conte) ott ey when ‘tary sem coer aie ene se reson len crews carly ae rd the eves es searing ot the st eu hn cre ata sd manly ae wy [Gales to beavery bodies Copernicus here provides the fullest and mt fore rae eee named ofthe tational argament for resting ve tare J esenal bodies to eles. Only uniform creat mote imtions ination of such motions, cs he thinks, acount fo 1h ES, ono al eect phenomena at fd fterals of tne. 9 se eons of Copernic arguments i Arittlan or hao fa sea nstingishabl frm that of trations comely cts sever more Avittla than many of pret In some cpntempearee, He wil nt for example, cones 1 1 ests a ne uniform and syrametic motion of sphere that fine plct inthe use ofan equant Se seal Coperaics has 30 far shown himelf a thorough core ate cannot postpone the souction of the eats a gnger He mus now take account of Me rea wth ea ae a enmgey enough, inthe break that Copernicus °0 tem, Anu the tation most cll. Tm ent be SF 1s detente ae pessile an Aristotelian, Begining in the BP “Pept bow and clmintng i the nea scion | eet dh aed nth chapters, Copeens suggests hak Pater va en apher. ke the celestial bodies, ft must Pens the car mended irelar motions which, be sys are natural (© sphere. 15 Whether Crelar Motion belongs to the Earths Ged eoncering it poston. since st has been shown that Enh phe we now, cose eae tO, Contra to he shape and er pein i he en tient ee he tno wer thE i He Seiccan teams ns satiety ae merge al Shae aa eee eee an en 5 ESS an nn ye a sot np eis Wor ts Ee ASI Se ual pen ce Ey come tera aS eo re a a it We Cowal i an ane a Iniverse, believing that the Stars set owing to th ‘i ey mati cpetner mapas eerie errr tt ith a ne ete less grave arises about the Earths position, even thoug slo t everyone ‘Shieh eta tie ero aes oe Sinope fey Rtenseng sr i pm Geto er hana 1, while small compared [with the distance) to the starry ney considerable compared 7 San Sty ee feo at ate aa Ssauely ‘not the center of their circles, Nor is it certain whether the Pi at oor seb ee SB tn ee ave sought out in Italy. ae Copernicus is here poating tothe most immediate advantage for 4 ating sioner fhe coop of toring wath the eth moves . 2150 ‘THE COPERNICAN REVOLUTION ‘an orbital circle around the center as well as spinning on its axis, then, At leat qualitatively, the retrograde motions and the diferent times fecuited fora planets successive joumeys around the eliptic ean be explained without the use of epicycks. In Copernicus’ system the Inujor irregularities ofthe planetary motions are only apparent. Viewed from a moving earth a planet that infact moved regularly would appear to move iregularly. For this rasoe, Copernicus fels, we should be- lieve in the orbital motion of the earth. But, strangely enoogh, in the parts of hi work accessible to the lay reader, Copernicus never Rmonstrates this point any more clearly than he has above. Nor does he demonstrate the other astronomical advantages that he cites ese- Iebere He asks the nonrmathematial xeader to take them for granted, Though they ave not dificalt to. demonstrate qualitatively. Only in the liter books of the De Recolutiontbus does he let the real advan tages of his system show, and since he there deals, not with retrograde notions in general but with the abstruse quantitative details of the Tetrograde motions of each individual planet, only the astronomically Initiate were able to discover what the carlier references to sto fomical advantages meant. Copernicus’ obscurity may have been de- Iberste, for he had previously referred with some approval to the Pythagorean tadition which dictated withholding nature's secrets from those not previously purified by the study of mathematics (and by ther more mystical rites). In any case the obscurity helps ex: plain the way in which his work was received. In the neat two sections we shall consider the astronomical con- sequences of the earths mation Ja detail, but we must fst compete “Copernicus general sketch of physics and cosmology. Omitting forthe ‘moment Chapter 6, Of the Vastness of the Heavens compared with The Size of the Earth, we proceed to the central chapters in which ‘Copernicus, having asked indulgent readers to assuie that atronomi- cal arguments pecesitate the earth's motion around the center, at tempts to make that motion physically reasonable. Why the Ancients Dlived thatthe Bart a et Tike @ Center, in the idle ofthe Unicere. “The ancien Philsophers tried by divers... methods to prove Earth ned inthe ist of the Universe, The most powerful argument was drawn fom the doctrine ofthe hesny ad the ight. For, they angus, Earth i the eaven clement, and al things of weight move towards tending ts ter, Hence since the Earth spherical and heusy things move verily COPERNICUS’ INNOVATION 1st Lo they wold ll together othe enter ot apo a Now hte things which move tomrds he center es ecg se sin et Mach oe thn wl th wl Eat ema a et at Sater ofthe Unsere Race a aling bes eas sly Ss om weight : i are ‘Anothrsrgument sad on he supposed aaa of ot. A says that motion of a single aud simple body is oe Wis singl A snl matory ‘be ether seaight, or eieuur. Agen sagt mation may be eter wpe dn. So, ery simple mot mst be ete toward the eee, ae near oF away fom the ene, mately upwad, or ound the ese, sant ce, (Tat acer Ata so hse pa, oth oly ete ta a eat e e te caused by the nate ofthe body thats nodon Fe teal oe Sire tip kr fe es Snes a ater) ‘must itself be simple, because it is a consequence of a sim; ne or Slenentay nate Ad alte ace ony tee (emesis ‘ens pl nop cols hea tees Sen Ra pond ey ft hn Cnr rw nt tse tect Bat th igh cements ode are pra ay tats: Tle We at sia on ee I lets, The el tds howe esr mans AE ea, 7 Pony, Eat moves at ost with Sal lation, sek mint be te reve of ta dered above. Fo the toe mut be OF py se is mat gol re Earth Now tang stag vary sully ee ee i ae te aptto dpe, nse Sly Ll wpe. Poleny entee a a Exch woul hive Bem ded lng apy a sbnurdity) would have destroy Moots tabard eae mained on its surface, but must have been shaken of. Neither could falling 8. Peta of he rgments nd et etn st the Unive: Row lf one sd ty that tn Bath moves ht Thad wt ke eg w ne ne a oe ine ite’ woe ig mates ete Een gr i tb dntped i at lg See cece eee reer en152 ‘THE COPERNICAN REVOLUTION 4s, sf the cath moves otal does so Because It 6 ofthe ntare of eaeth {Smove, onda natural notion eansot be dupe] Ts therfore tthe fear of Poly that Earth and all thereon would be disintegrated by anata rotation, ating far dierent from a atta 5 Shou he not fear even more for the Universe, whose motion mst be iS'moch mote rapid atthe Heavens are greater than the Earth? Have the Fervent become so vast because of their vehement motion, and would they Clapoe if they stood sl? 1 ths were 0 the Heavens mast be of inte ‘le Poc the ore thoy expand by the force ofthe motion, the more rapid te become th motion Beease ofthe ever increasing dance to be tr ened in 34 hours, And In tur, af the motion wares, must the Srsmensity GF the Heavens wax, Thus velcty and sie would increase each the other to infty. "They ty to that ouside the Heavens ino body, na space, nay not ven oil in fac absoitely nothing, and therfore no room fr the Heavens {S'exqund (ar we hive suggested above that they woul]. Yet surely is ‘Meange tha something ean be held by nothing, Perhaps indeed st will be fast to understand fis nothingnest ouside the Heavens if we assume them tbe lft, and bounded tsterally only by their concavity, s0 that (rarthine however great contained in thm, whe the Heavens remain nmovable Tt ur then Have to Natural Phsophers the question whether the Universe be Bite crn, olding only to ths that Earth site and spberi- cal Why then hesitate to rant Earth tat power of motion natural tis fapherel) shape, rather than suppore » gliding round of the whee unt {Soe whose limits are unknown and unkoowabe? And shy not grant that {he diurnal rotation ts only apparent io the Heavens but real in the Eacth? Tes but asthe tying of Acros in Virgil "We a forth from the baron, te lands and ees reine” A the ship Boats along inthe calm ll external ‘hinge sem to have the motion that i ely that of the ship, while those tthin the ship eel that Chey and al ts contents are at res. wit imay beasked what ofthe cous and ther cbjsts suspended In the ‘aor saking and singin Sorely not only the Earth, withthe water on ie moves ths, ft lo quantity ofa and all things wo associated with the Barth, Perhaps the coatlguour sir coatains an admiture of earthy ot testry mater an so follows the sme natral la a5 the Easth or perhaps the a acqutes mation fom the perpealyztatlng Earth by propingity and abrence of esistnce. ‘We must adi the prabity of « double motion of objects which fall and re in the Universe, namely the resltant of recliner and lear ‘motion, (This isthe analyse advocated eater by Oresme} Thus Beavy Faling objets, being specially earthy, must doubtless retain the natre of the whole to which they belong. (Therefo a stone, for example when emoved rom the eath ail continue to move circularly withthe earth ‘Tal wil sltaneouly fl cetlinearly toward the earth's surfce, Its net COPERNICUS’ INNOVATION 153 sto wl se to ple the mtn 4g. sigh toward tthe center of a rotating potter’s wheel.] See te ots sie ly Sh Sage he primar of cer ti sd eng eben Shap ond tom kr wah ates ele ‘ach motion i whaly scott a srt bing a Fe Sire ee om te pcs ee ne tint stold beside Is owa pace. Throne there ne mete se Set per aa a eats sce (by mks wee they obo ae ee Bele tw thy bong tnd ths wea Sexey Se (0 cus’ argument shows how quickly the traditional distinction be. tether oy il re sat Sea Shea SS ee St chu sat Beds we cae Cea an ae fics har shay ten no he hens beatae acy So Sereda sod pty af the anes ee at a ee aod aot be ntl tary ‘object that has achieved its own place, Sine impel mo an ht Stn Be ute we coe imsbity 10 be ler andere a count tnd onan, hc ht an rs tte Uae, Wd ot thn em sur te to whch oni reste aed ae ae vnamely the Earth? aiielan ee Tay sie he pli appotch and mew fom the Es te oti cnt ich a Cy rt fe rt mln ned ee) 2 oe bat Ard i the vay le om hich Arts ds he ‘Son as msi ere eat ces mos a creer 3 rom med ate sake um ‘oto a prop contr Fon al tne comers enae woke, Soa el dt nme rae soy ee hte dm ote, beg pana eee ae = wg nica sin tm nor ele reo ta act SiEd Dee td oan pay eee154 THE COPERNICAN REVOLUTION from the Bah Thee would be unntigl they moved in resco fh Ea ice, theo, here ae moe centers han one (ht Se eal the rial motos coner of the earth sella peeps Sates) we may dueesr whether the centr of the Unerte 56 itoot the Eas center of grav Souk ss tome grly but natal ncnation, bestowed on the Sat tis by te G we nthe frm of snot tis by tho Crestor soa combine the pats inthe phd hrc th uy ad egy And my Baad popes present even inthe Som, Moo, nd Planets, so tht Sy the ein her spa form sottandig thi wrist Mice, the Earth ao anders hse uit nce ‘emblem ete planetary} moti vig ysl peri (ce ToC nw sce ike plant ino many tbe respects). For we ites the min f the Son tothe But, ting the Sun fo be a et rect and evening tang sod stingy of Stas wil be onaecte, Uitte stinary pointy reteogressone, aed progressions of the Planets Teo otto tik own inotong, bu to that of the Earthy which tel sr cscs redet Faly weal lice the Sun himself at the center of PE ance Alt suggested by the sytemate procesion of eens Be tony ofthe whee Unive, ly we face the facts, they Sy ith ath eye open” tn these st ce chapters we have Copies tory of matin, a conceptual sen tat designed to permis tarsposng the ‘Lith and sun without ting spartan eseatlly Aristotelian wi Sine ine pocon, Acering to Copernic phystes all mater, lsu and tonetal aggregates stall ino spheres, and the Spheres then state oftheir pn nature. A Di mate separated rem Ratu postion wil enn to ftte wi ts sper, silane suey rctuting to hs natural pace by a retincar motion. ti 9 any eengroous theory (as Chapter 6 wil demonstate in were Semin nal bt its most ncongraous portion ta elatively ERighal me, Copernicus may possibly have wenented i for hi SE tut mon ofthe esentlelemets in bth ert of Arte ‘Su i they of ton canbe found in car achat wer, uly te Oresme. Only when applied to Oreme's more Tinted pt ee ise to proviean adequate physi ba forthe eat’ ton det nt dssedt Capers: He did nt concave or acept the SSGkE main for resns drawn dom physce The physel and nhgisl problem ested so cre the Fit Book are of is COPERNICUS’ INNOVATION 135 making, but they are not really his problems; he might have avoided them altogether i he could. But the inadequacies of Copemion physies do illustrate the way in which the consequences of his astro- romical innovation transcend the astronomical problem from which the innovation was derived, and they do show how litle the author of the innovation was himself able to assimlate the Revolution born from his work The moving earth is an anomaly in a classical Avis toteian universe, but the universe af the De Revolutiontbus is classical in every respect that Copernicus can make seem compatible with the ‘motion ofthe earth. As he says himself, the motion ofthe sun as sit- ply been transferred to the earth, The sun isnot yet a star but the ‘unique central body about which the universe is constructed i in- hhris the old functions of the earth and some new ones besides. As \we shall soon discover, Copernicus’ universe is sil nite, and con- centric nesting sphores still move all planet, even though they can no longer be driven by the outer sphere, which i now at rest. All motions must be compounded of circles; moving the earth does not leven enable Copernicus to dispease with epicycles. The Copernican Revolution, as we know it, s searcely to be found ia the De Revol tionibus and that isthe second essential incongruity ofthe test. Copernican Astronomy — The Two Spheres We have not quite Gnished with Copernicus’ First Book, But Chapters 10 and 11, which immediately follow the last section quoted above, deal with more nearly astronomical matters, and we Shall consider them in the context ofan astronomical discussion which goes beyond the arguments that Copernicus made accesible for lay waders. We shall again tum briely to Copernicus text in a later section, but first we shall ry to discover why astronomers might have been more impressed than laymen with Copernicus’ proposal. That fan scarcely be discovered anywhere in the Fist Book. Copernicus endowed the earth with three simultaneous circul ‘motions: a diumal axial rotation, an annual orbital motion, and an annual conical motion of the axs. The eastward diumal rotation is the one that accounts for the apparent diurnal circles traced by the stars, sun, moon, and plants. 1 Uh earth is situated at the center of the sphere of tho stars, and rotate eatward dally about an axis through ‘ts own north and south poles, then all objects that are stationary oF156 THE COPERNICAN REVOLUTION erly tatosry with respect to the sphere of the stare wil seem to travel westward in cic re above the Boron, ace tik those in which the eel bodes ae cerved to move in ay shor period site If Copernicus or Ores’ arguments to this effect are obser, seer again othe sar tales in Figs 6 and T (pp. 18 and 19). “Thon tracks could be produced ether by a cular motion ofthe farsi font of 4 et obierver (Ptolemy's explanation) or by Totton ofthe obvrver in font of ed stars (Gopemict expan tion). Or examine the now twoapbere universe shown in Fige 38, NORTH CELESTIAL Pour Figue 26, A rotting earth a the center of Sue sll sphere. I om ping hs diagram with Figure 1, ote hat ere the hoo’ plane mast be {mal wa the enh tht tr georee lao tthe moving oberer O stays Bd implied copy of the drawing that we frst wsed in discussing the ‘motions of stars in the two-sphere universe (Figure Il p. 31) except that in the new version the poles are shown for the eatth, not for the celestial sphere, and the direction of rotation has been reverse, ‘When we Sst used a diagram like this, we held the earth, the ob- server, and the horizon plane fixed, and we turned the sphere of the stare westward. Now we must hold the outer sphere fixed and spin the earth, observer, and horizon plane together eastward. An observer siting at the center ofthe horizon plane and moving with i wil not be able to tll, at least from anything he can see in the skies, any diference betwoen the two cases. In bouh he will ee stars and planets COPERNICUS INNOVATION 187 emerge along the eastern rim of the horizon and travel overhead to the westem horizon inthe same ciecular paths. “To this point we have kept the spinning earth at the center of the stationary sghere of the stars; we have, that is, considered the model of the universe suggested by Heraclides and developed by ‘Oresie, This is only the frst step toward a Copernican universe, how fever, and the next one Is both more radical and more dificult. As Copernicus points out in the portion of Chapter 5 already quoted, i we ate prepared to admit the possibilty of the earth's motion at all, ‘ve must be prepared to conser not only a motion at the center, but Aso a motion of the eaith away from the center In fact, says Cos Pemicus, a moving earth need not be at the center. It need only be telatively near the center, and as long as it stays close enough to the ‘enter it may move sbout at will without affecting the apparent mo tions of the star. This was a dificult conclusion for his astonomically, trained calleagues to acept because, in contrast to the conception of the earth's immobility, which derives only from common sense and from terrestrial physics, the notion of the earths central position can apparently be derived. directly from astronomical observation. Co- ‘pemicus’ conception of a noncentral earth therefore seemed intially to confit with the immediate consequences of pure astronemical abs servation, and it was to avoid this confit, o a closely related one ‘which we shall consider at the end ofthe neat section, that Copernicus was forced to increase vastly the size of the sphere of the stars and to take a fst step toward the conception of an iafnte universe elab- crated by his succesors. Copernicus discussion ofthe earths positon ‘occurs in Chapter 6 of his First Book. Here we shall need a clearer And more comprehensive version. “The earth's central postion within the sphere ofthe stars cam appar cently be derived from the observation that the horizon of any ter- restrial observer bitects the stellar sphere, ‘The vernal equinox and the autumnal equinox are, fr example, two diametrically opposite ‘points onthe phere of the stars, for they are defined as the intersections ‘of two great circles onthe sphere, the equator an the ecliptic. Observa- tion shows that whenever one of these points i just rising over the Ihorizon on tho east, the other is just setting in the west, The same is true of any other pir of diametrically opporite points on the sphere: ‘whenever one ses, the other sets. Apparently these observations can1s THE COPERNICAN REVOLUTION be explained only if, as shown in Figure 2 or the earlier Figure 11 the horizon plane is drawn through the center of the sphere of the Stars 20 that, to, wil intersect the sphere ia a gucat circle. If and fnly ifthe horizon plane intersects the sphere of the stars in & great ‘rele wil diametrically opposite potnts an the sphere always rise and set atthe sare moment But all horizon planes must also be drawn tangent to the spheri cal earth, (We have avoided this construction in Figures 28 and 11 ‘nly because we have there shown the earth inmensely exaggerated in sive.) Therefore the observer must himself be at, or very near, at the center of the sphere ofthe stars. The entire surface ot the terres: taal sphere self must be at or very nearly atthe center; the earth must be very small almost a point, and it must be centrally located If, as in Figure 27, the earth (represented by the inner concentric ‘ge 2 the eis date ape comped wth that of he spiel hc tue te eat apreaty Space frm he cee, he Fei nd oot het th ee Pere circle) were quite large with respect to the sphere of the stars or if ‘the earth (now represented by the black dot) were small but displaced from the center, then the horizon plane would not seem to biscet the sphere of the stars, and diametrically opposite points on the sphere ‘would not rie and st together. "As developed here the argument itself makes clear the weakness exploited by Copernicus, Observation does not show that the earth mist be a point (i it di, even the Aristotelian and Ptolemaic unt COPERNICUS’ INNOVATION 19 verse would conflict with observation) or that st must be precisely at the center, because observation can never say that, for example, the vernal equinox rises exactly as the autumnal equinox sets. Crude rsked-eye observations will show that when the vera) equinox i just setting the autumnal equinox is within a degre or s0 ofthe hor zon. Refined naked-eye observation (appropriately corrected. for stmospherle refraction and for the iregulavities of any actual ori- zon) might show that when the winter sastice has jst reached the western horizon, the summer solstice is within 6” (or 01°) of the faster horizon, But no naked-eye ebservation will do much beter Te can show only thatthe horizon very nearly bisects the sphere and that all tevzestlal observers mut therefore be very close to the center of the universe. Just how nearly the horizon bisects the sphere and jst how clos to the center teresa abservers mast be depends upon the accuracy of observation, For example, f we know from observation that whenever one solstice les on the horizon, the other is no moze than 01° away from the horizon, then no terestrial observer may ever be farther from the center ofthe sphere ofthe stars than a distance which i 0.001 the radius ofthat sphere. Or if observation tells us (and few naked-eye observa- tions are even approximately this good) that with one solstice on the horizon the other i no more than 001° away from the horizon, then the inner sphere of Figure 27 may have a radius no larger than 0.0001, the radius of the outer sphere, and the entice earth must again lie somewhere within the inner circle at al tines. If the earth moved outside the inner eitele, then the horizon plane would fil to bisect the sphere of the stars by more than 0.01", and our hypothetical ob servations would discover the discrepancy, but with the earth any where inside of the inner circle, the horizon plane will seem, within the limits of observation, to isect the epere ‘That fe Copernicn® argument. Observstion only forces us to keep the earth somewhere inside of a small sphere concentric with the sphere of the sts. Within that inner sphere the earth may move freely without violating the appearances. In particular, the earth may Ihave an orbital motion about the center or about the central sun, pro- vided that ts orbit never carries it too far away from the center. And “too far" means only “too far relative to the radius of the outer sphere" If the radive ofthe outer sphere is known, then observations160 ‘THE COPERNICAN REVOLUTION cf Snown accaracy plce Tit pom the maximum radios of the ris obit I the sze of the elite obit owe (and ca, in theory, be detomiaed by Aristachas technique for mestring the tun dance, ten servations of ows accuracy place «in upon the minimum sie of he spre ofthe stare. For example Hf the dstance between the earth and sun i a indited by Artarchs Ineanernent serie inthe Technical Appendix. equal to 764 earth Tamers (1528 cath rai) and sf obserstons are known. to be curate tia 01 the th rade ofthe spre ofthe stars most Be ees 100 ine the rads of the earth orbit o at est 152800 cert rai ‘Our example i «wif on, bossus, though Cope obser stint were not guite this acirate, thee made by hit immediate Tocceor, Brahe, were if anything sighy snore accurate than O°. um he representative estimate of the minimum se of the bere ff te stars by a stteenth-entry Copeman. In penile, thee te thing abu about theres, for in the sienth and seventeenth Centuries tere was no dret way of deteminng the tance tothe ‘phew ofthe star. Its radius might have been tore than 150000 lich adit otf i wore that Inge —and Copericaniem demanded that it should be~ then ral break with tadsnal covmology must br amid, AT Fargan, for example, had entinated the rads ofthe Sphere 20,10 earth ai more than seventy ve nes smaller than Ube Copeman estimate. The Copernican universe most be vay larger un that of traditional eoumolgy ts vekane ia east 000 times as great. There i en inmene amount of apace between the Spl of Satur and the sphere ofthe stars. The ret fancona co: ence ofthe nesting spheres of the tradtonal universe hes been lated, though Copernic stems t0 remain nabimelywnaware of Thebes Copernican Astronomy —The Sun Copernicus’ angument permits an orbital motion of the earth in a vastly expanded universe, but the point is academic unless the fonhital motion can be shown to be compatible with the observed ‘motions of the sun and other planets. It is to those motions that Copernicus tums in Chapters 10 and 11 of his First Book, We may best begin with an expanded paraphrase of Chapter 11, in which COPERNICUS’ INNOVATION 161 Copemicus describes the orbital motion of the earth and considers ts ‘effect upon the apparent position of the sun. For the moment assume, as shown in Figure 28, that the centers of the universe, the sun, and the carth’s obit all coincide. Inthe diagram the plane of the ecliptic Js viewed from a position near the north celestial poe; the sphere of the stars Is stationary; the earth travels regularly eastward in ite orbit ‘once in a year: and it simultaneously spins eastward om its axe once in every 23 hours 8 minutes. Provided that the earth's orbit és mach Figure 28. As the cath mover i 8 Copeicn obi fm to Bethe appt to hela, at ti of he a ie snaller than the sphere ofthe stars the ail rotation of the earth wil ecoutprecely forthe dlunal chiles of the sun, moon, aed planet at well 3 for howe ofthe am, case fom any poston Inthe ears obit lof thse bodies must be cen agai Gh sphere Of the tar and must sem to move wih 2 the cath oes Inthe diagram th nth shown in two aston which oncpls thin day par Tn each potion te san aed gin te pre ofthe str a oth spree poston ofthe sm must Hee the tel which now den ate ne th which the pan he cars motion (a plan tat laces the sun) lterects the phere Bata the arth at ned estado poston By to poston inthe gram, the sn bas apparently moved eastward eng he ccipti frm poston Sto postion $y Copernic tery herfore pret the sme ested aoa ton the sun ang he clipe athe Pema theory. Isso pedis, as we Sal dcover162 THE COPERNICAN REVOLUTION Jimmediately, the same seasonal variation of the height ofthe sun in the sky. Figure 29 shows the earth's orbit vewed from a point inthe celes tial sphere slightly north of the autumnal equinox. The earth is ‘raw at the Four postions oceupied successively atthe vernal equines, the summer solstice, the autumnal equinoe, and the winter solstice. In all four of these positions, at throughout its motion, the earth’ axis remains parallel to an imaginary line passing through the sun and tilted 238° from a perpendicular to the plane of the ecliptic. Two VERNAL EQUINOX winter Solstice ‘SOLSTICE SOLSTICE AUTUMNAL Equinox 129. The ears sna maton sown its Coperican obit At al ines ‘he eats ts say prt fla we he tana ne raw thro the shat ah a olarver © at son mie-vorhem inte Bd the 28 touch mare neasy creed st th masmer thant the winter sti, little arrows in the diagram show the position of a terestral observer fn middle-norther latitudes at local noon on June 22 and December 22 the two solitices. Lines from the sun to the earth (not shown ia the Giagram) indieate the direction of the rays of the moon sun, which is clearly more nearly over the observe’ head during the summer solstice than during the winter solstice. A similar construction deter- ‘mines the sun's elevation atthe equinones and at intermediate seasons. "The seasonal variation of the sun's elevation can therefore be completely diagnosed from Figure 29. In practice, however, it is, simpler to revert to the Ptolemaic explanation. Since in every season COPERNICUS INNOVATION 16a the sun appears to occupy the sume positon among the stars in the Copernican as in the Ptolemaic system, it must rise and set with the same stars in both systems. The correlation of the seasons with the apparent postion ofthe sun along the eliptic cannot be afected by the transition. With respect to the apparent motions of the sun and stars the two systems are equivalent, and the Ptolemaic i simpler ‘The lst diagram aso reveals two other interesting features of Co- perio system. Since iti the rotation of the earth that produces the urna circles of the stars, the earth's axis must point to the center of ‘hore circles inthe celestial sphere, But, asthe diagram indicates the ‘earths axis never does point to quite the same positions on the celes- tual sphere from one year's end tothe next. According tothe Coperni- can theory the extension of the earth's axis trace, during the course of ‘year, wo small cicles on the sphere of the stats, one around the north celestial pole and one around the south. To an observer on the earth the center of the diurnal cles of the stars should self seem to move in a small circle about the celestial pole once each year. Or, to put the same point ina way more closely related to observation, each ofthe stars should seem slightly to change its postion onthe sphere of the stars (or with respect tothe observed pole ofthe sphere) during the course of a year. ‘This apparent motion, which cannot be seen with the naked eye and which was nat even sen with telescopes until 1538, is known as igre $0. The annual pralla of«tr. Becta the ln twee teeta terra sed star docs at Gute pre! hls east sve ‘asa th sts apparent pontine the nel sphere shld sty a tal p ring an ner ol seat164 THE COPERNICAN REVOLUTION ‘the parallactic motion, Because two lines drawn to a star frm dia ietcaly opposite points on the earth's obit are not quite parallel (igure 80), the apparent angular postion of the str viewed from the earth should be diferent at diffrent seasons. But ifthe distance to the star is very much greater than the distance across the earths conbit, then the angle of parallax, p in Figure 90, will be very, very ‘small, and the change in the apparent postion of the star will not be appreciable, The parallacte motion is not apparent only because the stars are s0 very faraway relative tothe dimensions ofthe earth’ orbit The situation fs precisely equivalent to the one we discussed above when considering why the earth's motion did not ster to ‘change the intersection of the horizon plane and tho sphere of the Stars In fac, we are desing with the same problem. But the present version of the problem is 4 more important one, because near the horizon it is very dificult to make the precise measurements of stellar position required to discover whether the horizon bisects the stellar Sphere. Unlike the rising and setting of the equinoxes, discussed above, the search for parllactic mations need not be restricted tothe horizon. Parallax therefore provides a much more sensitive observational check ‘upon the minimum size ofthe sphere ofthe stars relative to the size of the earths orbit than is provided by the position of the horizon, land the Copernican estimates ofthe spheres siz given above ought really to have been derived from a. discussion of parallax. ‘The second point illuminated by considering Figure 29 is not bout the skies at all but about Copernicus. We described the orbital ‘motion illustrated in the diagram as a single motion by which the far’s center is caried in # cite about the sun while its axis re- tains always parallel to a fixed line through the sun. Copernicus de Seribes the same physical motion as consisting of two simultaneous mathematical motions, That is why he gives the earth a total of three Circular motions. And the reason for his description give another sig- nificant illustration of the extent to which his thought was bound to the traditional patterns of Aristotelian thought. For him the earth fs planet which is caried about the central sun by a sphere just like the one that wed to cary the sun about the central earth, Ifthe earth were fimly fed in a sphere, ts axis would not always stay parallel to the same line through the sun t would instead be caried bout by the spheres rotation and would occupy the positions shown COPERNICUS! INNOVATION 165 Jn Figure Sla. Aftr the eath had revolved 180° about the sun, the earth's axis would stl be tted 238° away from the perpendicular Dat in a direction opposite to tht sn which it had begun. To undo this change in the diretion of the axis, caused by the rotation of the a" fh wo) ( 21 ier tn” ad “i” meio. Tl mae, ot td in oaing sncetered spre show i (0), This mote acs nt heap the ext ane paral tol Dat the cna hd eto Shown in (B) i eure tbe han back tie sphere that caries the earth, Copemicus requires ¢ thied ereular ‘motion, this one applied to the axis of the earth only and shown in Figure 31b, It isa conical motion, which earies the north end of the nis once westward each year, and thus jst compensates forthe efect on tho earth's ans of the orbital motion operon Astronomy — The Planes So far the conceptal scheme developed by Copernicus i hut as elective a lems butt uely no more S, ad i seems 2 god del more cubersre Ii ony when the plant are sed sper nen it ny al bt ri nent bce ‘parent Conse, for example, the explanation of etrograde motion towhich Copernic lle witout discon atthe endef Chap tern his itodutry Fit Book. In the Pokal sytem the et tyade motion ofeach plant i asconted for By placing te planet ba mor epee wow center in fun aod sb the ath Uy the planets deerent. The combined motion cf the two eles producer the chanctere hoped patterns dcase in Chapier166 THE COPERNICAN REVOLUTION In Copernicus system no major epleyce at equed The retrograde Gr meter matin of ple rong the sas oly am apparent trton priced, ike the apparent ron ofthe wn ard the tcp, by th ital motion othe cath Accoding to Coperius Ghetmetion at Pesdemy ad expnnet wih espe epcyles as realy he ton of the eth, atte oe planets By a teres Sheer who ought hie satay te wo tT cle ange see at Sol AcpasiTncrgn Tatar las Tere ae aaa os “The basis of Copernicus’ contention i illustrated and claried by Figures S24 and 22h, Successive apparent postions of a moving st petior planet viewed from moving earth ogainst the fixed back ground provided by the stellar sphere are shown in the ist digram;, the second shows successive apparent postions of an inferior planet, Only the orbital motions are indicated the earth's diumal rotation, whieh produces the rapid apparent westward motion ofthe sun, planets, nd stars together, s omitted. In both diagrams successive positions COPERNICUS INNOVATION 167 of the earth in ts suncentered circular orbit are indicated by the points Ey, Es, « . « ; the corresponding consecutive positions ofthe planets are marked Py, Ps, . Py; and the corresponding apparent positions ofthe planet, discovered by extending a line from the earth through the planet until it interscete the stellar sphere, ae labeled 1,2, .« «7. Ineach case the more central planet moves more rapidly In Its orbit. Tnspection of the diagram indicates that the apparent motion of the planet among the stars i normal (eastward) from T to 2and from 2 to then the planet appears to retogcess (move west: ward) from 3 to 4 and from 4 to 5; and finaly it everses its motion again and moves normally from 5 to 6 and from 6 to 7. As the earth completes the balance of its obit, the planet continues in normal ‘motion, moving eastward most rapidly when it lies diametrically cross the sum from the earth, ‘Therefore, in Copernicus’ system, planets viewed from the earth should appear to move eastward most of the time; they retrogress ‘only when the earth, in its more rapid orbital motion, overtakes them (superior planets) ar when they overtake the earth (inferior planets) Retrograde motion ean occur only when the earth is nearest to the planet whose motion is observed, and this is in accord with observa. tions. Superior planets, at Jest, are most brilliant when they move westward, The fst major ireguarty of planetary motion has been explained qualitatively without the use of epicycles. Figure 53 indicates how Copernicus’ proposal accounts for a see- fond major iregularty of the planetary motions—the discrepancy between the times require for successive trips of a planet around the ‘ecliptic. In the diagram iti assumed thatthe earth completes 114 east- ward trips about ts orbit while the planet, inthis cae a superior plane, travels eastward throngh its orbit once. Suppose that at the start of the series of observations the eutth is at Ey and the planet st P. The planet fs then in the middle ofa retrogression andl appents silhouetted against the stationary stellar sphere at 1, When the planet has completed one ton in its orbit and returned to P, the earth has made 1% trips round its orbit and reached Ey. The planet therefore is seen at 2, ‘west of postion 1 at which it started. Ie has not yet completed full journey around the ecliptic, and its Ses fll trip will therefore cone sume mare te than the planet required to revalve once in ity orbit ‘As the planet makes ts second trip about its orbit, the earth again makes more than one orbital rovolitinn and reaches E, when the168 THE COPERNICAN REVOLUTION planet has returned to P again. This tne the planet is seen silhouetted 53, to the east of postion 2 Tt has completed mare than one journey round the ecliptic while moving only once through its orbit, and it fecond journey around the ecliptic was therefore a very rapid one. After a third revolution the planet is again at P, but it appears at position 4, east of 3, and its journey around the eliple was therfore ST a at 7 8 / 1 1 | \, \ \ Figur 8, The Copernican caplaatin of vito inthe tim regu for super planet to camps rst oumsye td the ecg" Wil the linet mover one cad rund He at on Po Ft eathinckes 1 ese ‘rand evhton from Ey to Ey anon oy Dusit intra he space! pa {on fh pet sn he sts aves esta un to gh leet 8 {ule Dur he plant et evoiton the cate no ah on {Ex so tat te apart pation smog esa sie fom 2 40 Lad gn tT pi slightly mar than on al ip aa oe slip again fast one. After a fourth revolution init orbit the planet again spears at I, west of 4, and its final tip was therefore slow. The planet hs completed four tips about its orbit and four trips around the ecliptic atthe same instant. The average time required by a superior planet to circle the ecliptic is therefore identical with the planet’ orbital period. But the time required for an individual trip may be considerably greater or considerably less than the average. A silat argument will account for the similar iregulartes of an inferior planet's motion, Retrograde motion and the variation of the time required to circle COPERNICUS! INNOVATION 168 the ecliptic are the two gross planetary irogularities which in an- tiquity had led astronomers to employ epiycles and deferents in treating the problem ofthe planets. Copernicus’ system explains these same gross regularities, and it does so without resorting to epieycles, for at least to. major epicycles. To gsin even an approximate and qualitative account ofthe planetary motions Hipparchus and Ptolemy Trad required twelve cieles—one each for the sun and moon, and two each for the Sve remaining “wanderers.” Copernicus achieved the same qualitative account of the apparent planetary motions with only seven circles. He needed only one sunentered circle for each fof the six known planets— Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn — and one additional earthcentered circle for the moon. ‘To an astronomer concerned only with @ qualitative account of the planetary motions, Copernicus system sist seem the more eco- amical ‘But this apparent economy of the Copernican system, though It is a propaganda vitory that the proponents of the new astronomy rarcly failed to emphasize, i largely an illusion, We have not yet begun to deal with the full complexity of Copersicus’ planetary astronomy. The sevencirele system presented in the Fist Book of the De Revolutionbus, and ia many modern elementary accounts of the Copernican system, is a wonderfully economical system, but it does not work, If will not predict the position of planets with an accuracy comparable to that supplied by Ptolemy's system. Its ac ‘curacy Is comparable to that of a simplified twelvecirele version of Ptolemy's system — Copernicus ean give a more economical qualita Hee account of the planetary motions than Ptolemy. But to gain a reasonably good quentitatie account of the alteration of planetary position Ptolemy had been compelled to complicate the fundamental twelve-ctele systom with minor epiycles, eccentrics, and equants, fand to get comparable results from his basic seven-circle system Copernicus, to0, wat foreed to use minor epieycles and eccentris His fall system war litle if say less cumbersome than Ptolemy's had been. Bath emplayed over thirty circles; there was litle to choose Detween them in economy. Nor could the two systems he dst suishod by their accuracy. When Copernicus had fished adding circles, hie cumbersome sun-centered system gave results as accurate as Prolemy’s, but it did not give more accurate results, Copernicus Aid not solve the problem of the planes170 THE COPERNICAN REVOLUTION ‘The fll Copernican system is deseribed fn the later books of the De Revolutionhus. Fortunately we need ony illustrate the sorts of complexities these developed, Copernicus system was not, for ex ample, really a sun-centered system at all, To account for the in- ‘creased rate at which the sun travels through the sigas of the zodiac during the winter, Copersieus made the earth's eicular orbit eccon- tue, displacing its center from the sun's. To account for other tegu- lartes, indicated by ancient and contemporary observations of the son's motion, he kept this displaced center in motion. The center of the earth's eccentric was placed upon a second circle whose mation continully varied the extent and direction of the earth’s eccentricity. ‘The final system employed to compute the earth's motion Is repre- sented approximately in Figute Se, In the diagram, $ is the sun, fixed in space; the poiat O, which itself moves slowly about the sun, Js the center ofa slowly rotating circle that caves the moving, center (Op of the earth's eccentric; Eis the earth isl Similar complexities were necewsitated by the observed motions of the other heavenly bodies. For the moon Copernicus used a total of thre circles, the frst centered on the moving earth, the second cen- tered on the moving cireumference ofthe fst, and the third on the € Qy « © Figure 9 Copmios acount ofthe ton of (4) the earth and (B) Mars tn (ol the gon oot 8 an the eat Er esl on 4 sle wove ss tes swab ptt ©, shih fn see on a su-cestred cle In Ua) More placed on fel eevsng ona delve whove center, Ox ate {ae afd pron laton tthe sung center Ox ofthe anh tba COPERNICUS: INNOVATION wm ‘dreunferonce of the second. For Mars and most of the ther planets the employed a system much like that illstated in Figure 34b. The center of Mars obit, Oy, is displaced from the center of the earth's ‘orbit, Op, and is moved with it; the planet itself i placed at M, not ‘on the eccentric but on an epieyele, which rotates eastward in the same direction and with the stme period as the eccentric. Nor do the complexities end here, Stil other devices fully equivalent to Ptolemy's, ‘were required to account for the north and south deviations of each planet from the ecliptic. Even this brlf sketch of the complex systern of Interlocking circles employed by Copernicus to compute planetary position indicates the third great incongruity of the De Revoluionibur and the immense leony of Copernicus’ Mework, The preface to the De Revolutionibur opens with a forceful indletment of Ptolemale astronomy for is in scouraey, complexity, and ineonssteney, yet before Copernicus’ text loser, it hat convicted itself of exactly the same shortcomings ‘Copernicus’ system i neither simpler nor more accurate than Ptolemy's ‘And the methods that Copernicus employed in constructing it seam just as litle likely as the methods of Ptolemy’ to produce a single Consistent solution of the problem of the planets. The De Recolur tHonibus ite isnot consistent with the single surviving ealy version ofthe system, desertbed by Copernicus in the early manuscript Com- smentariolus. Even Copernicus could not derive from his hypothesis 4 single and unique combination of interlocking circles, and his successors did not do so. Tho features of the ancient tradition which hhad Jed Copernicus to attempt a radical imovation were not elimi- nated by that sanovation, Copernicus had rejected the Ptolemaic tradition because of his discovery that “the Mathematicians are in- consistent in these [astronomical] investigations” and because “if ther hypotheses were not misleading, all inferences based thercon might surely be veried.” A new Copernicus could have turned the ‘entical arguments against him. ‘The Hormony ofthe Copernican System Judged on purely practical groands, Copernicus’ new plane. tary sytem was a fuilore; it was neither more accurate no sigaiflcantly simpler than its tolemsie predecessors. But historically the now sys-172 THE COPERNICAN REVOLUTION tem was a great success; the De Revolutionbus did convince a few of Copernicus” successors that sun-centered astronomy held the Key to the problem of the planets, and these men Gnally provided the simple and accurate solution that Copernicus had sought. We shall txamine their workin the nest chapter, but frst we must try to dis: over why they became Copernicans—in the absence of increased feconomy of precision, what reacons were there for transposing the fearth and the sun? The answer to this question is not easly dis- ‘entangled from the technical details that Bll the De Revolutiontbus, bpeeause, as Copernicus himeel! recognized, the real appeal of sun- ‘entered astronomy was aesthetic rather than pragmatic. To astroao: ters the initial choice hetween Copernicus’ system and Ptolemy’ could only be a mater of taste, and matters of taste are the most Aliicult ofall to define of debate. Yet, as the Copernican Revolution ‘vel indicates, matters of taste are not negligible. The ear equipped, to discern geometric harmony could detect a new neatness and co- hherence in the sun-entered astronomy of Copericus, and if that neatness and coherence had not been recognized, there might have ‘been no Revolution ‘We heve already examined one of the aesthetic advantages of Copernicus’ system, It explains the principal qualitatice features of the planetary amotions without using epicyces. Retrograde motion, in particular, is transformed to a natural and immediate consequence of the geometry of sumcentered orbits, But only astronomers who valued qualitative neatness far more than quantitative accuracy (and. there were a few —Calileo among them) could consider this a coa- vincing argument ia the face ofthe complex system of epiycles and teocentries elaborated in the De Revolutions, Fortunately there were other, less ephemera, arguments for the new system. For example, {1 gives e simpler and far more natural account than Ptolemy's of ‘the motions ofthe inferior planets. Mercury and Venus never get very far from the sua, and Ptolemaie astronomy accounts for this observa- tion by tying the deferens of Mereury, Venus, and the sum together to that the center of the eplcycle of each inferior planet always Ties fon a straight line between the earth and the sun (Figure 35). This llignment of the centers of the epicycls isan “extra” deviee, an a he addition to the geometry of carth-centered astronomy, and there {sno ned for such an assumption in Copernius' system. When, asin COPERNICUS’ INNOVATION 173 Fge 38, the ot of» plant es nil within the eats obi Shere i no way in whch te planet can appear fo om the Masini elongation wil cca, as tthe agra, the ne from th earth tothe plat tangent othe planets ot an he tngle SPs 4g angle Thrfore te angle of ngstion, SEP, 5th argest angle by whlch the ifr planet can devise fr he sun. The base geomet of the system fly account for he nay in which Mera and Venu are bound to te som ©) «) ® Pp ett on on it ae sal Th Ses tte tet See seen Sorat adee ete soca ccicnene am uit oeetecen th the pars ott entirely contained by the ark, seh ren Ie eee: Copernican geometry hints another even more important aspect ofthe bauir ofthe inferr planes, namely the Oar of thr orbit. Inthe Plena sytem the plans were ranged a ccrteatred ots so tet the average dance etme slat tnd the earth icresed withthe tine sequel forthe pet traverse the elie The device worked well fore sper planes fd for he moon bt Mery, Vans he un all oie tyr for an average fuey sound the edpa sod We oer of le orisha therefore rays been a sore of dete In the Copeman Stem thre m0 pie for snl dette no two panels hve Be Same orl period The non is no longer insled ia the palm, fort travels about the earth sateen about the cent an, TsNICAN REVOLUTION Wa ‘THE OPER! and Stu, pees ter odode wa fevole ue Me oom ee ae eter becuse thea : Sto te ry need oie tel The a ee ee Gs he ears eal ped, yar, oa oy remans pe Morey ond Ves 1 an a rr fo the it ie, oly Ate ‘mined. 1 known to bogs 7 sn be son fll, Ves kn 10 , ir ne aogade maton cn be eee aly het er mo Bt dr et Sn es eae eps i nmon ci te so, NOW ee teaver (8) Ser Se wae Sic ne drg hia mot at a nnn ot tay Bt et at i 2 es rogue A (=) dy le sn Vers pei 25 ay than ve ote mst bene eri and hte Sane ae secs ote es and ‘closest to the sun. Since Mercury retrogresses, and therefore laps ae ge step tu i=) ime SSD, ttle emp tot nen EE 26 ay Te ola of dye the toes oa (eth pane cls ote Se are te ronnie ety ois wth te ey pce tonne oor ether sa oe em th eer oe nv the ge chit: ae tmp hat thao he it nae Se ped mor fly he Copenh sit ita pr ain ah stem inal aly in he Pol sold have is a, Vi Je ra a eet te thy doer the aso we ly atitous, and te planets, excepting the en a afcen can be dely determined, have acter mic ytes another very sponse oh ugg seordeig cost Ce eee te between the Copeman andthe Plemale 2 importa ee eee discovered in is pect, Coperics superior planets, Mars, Jupiter, COPERNICUS’ INNOVATION vs himself particularly emphasizes. In the Ptolemaic system the deferent and epcycle of any one planet can be shrunk or expanded! at wil without affecting either the sizes ofthe other planetary orbits or the position at which the plant, viewed from a central earth, appears against the stars, The order ofthe obits may be determined by assutne Inga relation between size of orbit and orbital period, In addition, the relative dimensions of the orbits may be worked out with the aid of the further assumption, discussed in Chapter 3, that the minima dise tance of one planet from the earth is just equal to the maximum dis tance between the earth and the next interior planet. But thovgh both ofthese seem natural assumptions, neither is necessary, The Ptolemaic system could predict the same apparent positions forthe plants with. ‘out making use of ether. In the Polemale system the appearances are not dependent upon the order or the sizes of the planetary orbits ‘There is no similar freedom in the Copemican system. If all the planets revolve in approximately circular orbits about the sun, then both the order and the relive sizes of the orbits can be determined dizetly from observation without additional assumptions. Any change fn order or even in relative size of the orbits will upset the whole system. For example, Figure 36a shows an inferior planet, P, viewed from the earth at the time when i reaches its maximum clongation ‘from the sun. The orbit is assumed cirular, and the angle SPE must therefore be a right angle when the angle of elongation, SEP, reaches its maximum value. The plant, the sun, and the eath form a right, triangle one of whose acute angles, SEP, can be directly measured, But knowledge of one acute angle of aright triangle determines the ratio ofthe lengths of the sides of that tangle. Therefore the ratio of the radius ofthe inferior plane’ orbit, SP, tothe radius ofthe earth's ‘orbit, SE, can be computed from the measured value ofthe angle SEP. The relative sizes ofthe earth's orbit and the orbits of both inferior planets ean be discovered feom observation. ‘An equivaient determination can be made for a superior planet, though the techniques are more complex. One possible technique is flustated in Figure 365, Suppose that at some determined instant of time the sun, the earth, and the planet all le on the straight line SEP; this Is the orientation in which the planet lies diametrically ‘cross the ecliptic from the sun and isin the middle of a retrograde ‘motion. Since the earth traverses its orbit more rapidly than auy su.176 ‘THE COPERNICAN REVOLUTION ter () vhs ia the Copeman igure 98, Determining the rave dimesion of yee tron inf pnt) far «sopra pane. ve ple tre mate ar tat of tine we he th Fe ea Pal fon ght angle SEP with tes, se nd eas eto ont he peta pt oe yey Smid ad tine Se tems The mle ESE ct to be SR nate sae to 0 i Sr Beastie 2 dye For a el The age FAP cn be de a eet ee he ne reget y the at tami a tno and nse y a ee tesa wt mode hy heer ran ER sd BSE towns PSE an eee ENT we ago hes spn SEP. Se fan non ro east se Saat cas ot SE on herr Be Se ocean an ein pt wr makqus be this the distances t all the planets can be oa ee etme tie eth the ee ge te san wh the ano he a met anned, Now oh tin, Copernic a eh olen and magus ol 2 ee ound tng at tig oy So ae pn wi pric ottn te ca Fe abv wa wk Bsn the COPERNICUS’ INNOVATION vw relative dimensions of the planetary orbits are & direct consequence of the fst geometric premises of sun-centered astronomy, the new astronomy has for Copernicus a naturalness and coherence that were lacking in the older earthcentered version. The structure of the hheavens can be derived from Copernicus’ system with fewer extre neous or ad hoc assumptions like plenitude, That is the new and esthetic harmony which Copernicus emphasizes and illustrates 30 folly in the tenth chapter of his inseductory Fiest Book, to which we now tur, having frst leamed enough about the new system (as Copemicus’ lay readers had not) to understand what he Is talking about. 10. Ofthe Order af the Heavenly Bodie, No ove doubts tht the Sphere of the Fed Stary ithe most distant of vile thing As forthe ore ofthe pny, the early Philosophers wd 1b determine fom the mage of ei revlon, They abc the tha that of objets moving ith equal spec, twee dant sem to move move siwly (are prov in Bucs Opis). hey thnk tht the Moon describes Ber path i he shore! time brent, beg near to the Ear, she rover inthe sales sce, Farthot tix) place Saturn, who inthe Tonge tine esther the genet cea. Nee than be Jepter, nd then Mass ‘Opinions fer a fo Venus and Mery which, ule the other, do st aogeter leave the Sun. Some place thom beyond the Sanya Pato fn Timacu; ots nearer han the Sa, as Pciny sd many ofthe modes Aleagies [a telftsentury Mose astonéwer] make Venus eae fn Mercy farther than the Sem. If we ages with Plato thinking tht {he planets ar themselves dark bode that do Dt rec ight fom the Sy t mst foo, at saree than the Sun on acount ofthe ro iit to him they ould appear as half or paral cs fo they would fever rete such ight they sesve ody, at toward te So, Soa the waxing or waning Noon, [Se te lacie af the phases cf Ves in the next chapter Nether the etc ner the following bd Sally vide withet the tacope] Some tink that ace epee even proportional to thelr sr I ever ened by tte planes, they can fever br tween tt adhe Son = pes Fores 1 ete ‘many deulies im the arguments tainly we to determine Ue weave Side of the sn andthe lferor planets Then he continues) Unconincing too i Polen’ proof thatthe Sun moves between those fodies tat do and hse tat dono recede fem hn comply haf fetween the mpate plats which can atone any sgl af ongaton inthe infor pints one msi slonaton lintel. Con178 THE COPERNICAN REVOLUTION sitertin of tho eae of he Moon which does 0 recede expe i alse weston wat ease ean be aloged, hy se Who pace Ven neater TS ME Siat tn Merery nese some oer order? Why shuld nt ‘hep oli spurte ps ato Ghat fhe Sun Bete plnets er efrctave nt te othe sn)? And ant ata crew the selave sites ad slowness id at eb Tr steged order Eor then the Earth cannot be the cee t which Thevoaltt the planeto and rhle Spheres i relied or cetsinly thet ‘needs et leet nor dae apgae iy 2 gh pesto ‘Sould be aged to Stor than to Jopter, or any other ple. “Pett tlk we mut sey conser the ingens iw eld ty Mustanes Capella" Roma engeopedst of the ith centry who Peer tthe of the fern planets prebsbiy ist suggested by Tied) ad certain lier Latin at Venus and) Mercury do erind he Ent tke the ober pats Bt sun thes coure wth The Sout centr and ao do ot depart from hi fre than the com sees ticr Spikes cows Wha cue can hey ean than tht Tetatrel thee Spheres ta the Sen? 80 certainly the cele of Mr Mts be win at of Ven, whi # gre is mre than wie Sigest oe Se may now extend this hypotess bring Satun, oper sto nr tts cer, making thet Spheres great oough Sain os of Venus and: Mecury and the Earth» =» Thee outer Slots se ahys nearer to the Earth ot the tne of et wnng Aneta when they ae ln oppo the Sun, ad the Eat ‘Eee them na the Sun. They te more stent em the Each athe inc of tik evening sting, when thy aze In conjonetlon wth he Sun 1 the San betwen themsnd the Eas Tse idcatbos prove het {Parenter pea ae to he San Oa tthe tye hat ti {he same ctr a that to which the revelations of Verue and Metcury np sated, 7 [Ec yma dont atl pve hg, The Pee ston Epa these penn ss completely ase Copersan, bt the ote Sati pan ve stro, ike the Cpe {baton af the ted clogaton a the ff planets, depends oly weet geometry ef surceterel astonomies tem, not onthe pate ine oa eos ied to the planet Copernic remarks wll be ‘Soe ty ceence te Figure Sa, A sper pnt reopeses when theth oes fad ude tw trees be sia tance to th rth and aco he eli rm the st the Sslemae Stew a reogresing sper planet most be ene tthe Tan ant any er tne and is fat aoc he sky from the sun, But only arom the sky from the son Decne the rte of etn eft decom and eye Rave puta ace that happen ‘tthe plant back opposion to hea whenever the epee ngs COPERNICUS! INNOVATION v9 the planet bick clone tthe cet earth fin the Fema system, the edo eye dot wer quately gly afc ea the quatative roulny Ut pots atettoesning soperir planet att the sly fom the sun wuld oct In te Coperncen sem mat cortege of the particular rates st which th planets revo a the ott) Bt snc all these (Sptes] have one center i x necey that the space between the cones ile of Venuys Spe and the cance se oF Marrs mast al viewed « Spe coment ithe aes ple of receiving the Earth wither slit the Moon and whatever iecontaned within the Sphere ofthe Moon for we must met separate the Moon fom the Esch the toner being beyond all doubt nena to the hater, especialy ab at space we table Sed ap rom forthe Mose We therfore ast thatthe center ofthe Earth, cayng the Moors path, pases in rent cl mang the ete ples sal fev fon und the Sen, thet ner the San kth center of te Unive and that wees the Sin sat re any apparent motion ofthe Sun can be better explained by motion of the Bath Yet so great the Uatvse that though the distance af he Earth fom the Santo insiglcat compared wah the sizeof sy other planetary path, in accordance withthe ator of thoi sae, ti ignlient compared with the dances of the Sphere the Fined Star. think i ear to blo thi than to confuse the isue by assuming 4g tate a See hh te wn bop Eat a he eter mu We thus rate flow Nati, who prcig nothing van 6 Aho often prefers to endow one cause ith my effects Though them ews ae dif, cont fo expectation, and etal) una yet fn tee esl) Co ng make hem analy clear ea smatheratisns. Given the above view~ and there is none se renspable~ tht the ode tnes ae propria othe sie the Spey Dn the oder {the Spheres. begining fom the most dtot a follows. Mest dant Sf all nthe Sphere of the Fiaed Star, containing all thing and being therefore temo. Represent tht fo which the moo and os tion of all the other bie at be fered» «Next the planet Sn, ‘Srl "yew Ne ones jp ovng + iE yea ey then Mas, who gos round in 2 year. The fourth place eld by the ‘oul revolt fle hte) hich the Bath bese ee ‘it te Spite of te Mona on moe Veta, wine pete b smooths yi the fith plc, and sith i Mercury, who goes Sam the space of 60 daa erates eth mile of ll sts Son ctisoned. Tn this most beat tomple contd place tis lainey in any beter posto fom whieh eee Shumate the woe atone? He gly called the Lamp, We Sigh, te180 ‘THE COPERNICAN REVOLUTION Ruler of the Univers; Hermes Tesmegstus names hin the Vise God Soptole’ Eki calls hn the Alleceing, So the Sun ate as upon a zoyal throne ruling his children the planets which cle round fin "The Each Ire the Moon at her service, As Arto tye Jn hit On (the Goneation fk Animaly the Moon as the cltetcelatonship with the Earth. Mean ‘hie 'the Barth conceives by the Sun, and becomes prgoant with an nal sebith ‘So we find underying this ordination an admitable symmety in the Univer, and a clear bond of harmony in the moti and magetade of the Spheres suchas can be dicovered into other wis, For here swe my ‘observe why the progresion and relrogrsson appear geste for Jupiter than Satun, and fess than for Mary, but again greater fr Venus tha for Meteuy [a glance at Figure 92 will show that the closer the orbit of = planet tothe orbit of the earth, the larger the apparent seroma Imation of thit planet must bean addtional harmony of Copeenias ‘Suter and why such exllation appears more frequently f Saturn than fh Jupiter, but lee fequently in Mare and. Venur than Merry (the fcth will up «slowly moving superior plant more frequently than i apt rapid ones and conversely for a infer planet), moreover why Sata, Jupiter and Mare are nearer to the Earth st opposiion to ae Sun than ‘when they are lst In or emerge from the Sunt rays. Particularly Mary, Svhen be shines all night and is therefore fn oppositon), appears to rv Jopiter in magpitae, being oly dtnguishabe by hs ruddy calor other ‘vse het saree equal to 8 star of the second magpit, and can be ecogoiced only when hie movements are carefully followed. All these ‘Phenomena proeed fom the same case, narely Earth's moto, That there are no tach phenomena forthe Sted stars proves thelr Jnmesnurable ditance, because of which the outer sphere [apparent] nual motion os [parllacti) mage Is ivisble tothe eyes. For every ‘ile object has a certain dstance beyond which i ean no more be soem, {is proved Sn optic. The twinkling ofthe stars, alo, shows tht thor 1 Bar vue ditano between the frtost of the planets, Saturn, and. the Spliete of the Ped Stare for ifthe sare were” very neat Saturn, they loud shea he does), and iis eel hy this ideation hat they ae Aistingushed from the planets. Further, there must necessary be gre! {ference between moving and non-moving bodes. So pet ths divine work of the Grest and Noble Crestor! ‘Throughout this crucially important tenth chapter Copericus! emphasis ie upon the “admirable symmetry" and the “clear bond of harmony ia the motion and magnitude of the Spheres” that « sun ‘entered geometry imparts tothe appearances of the heavens. If the sum i the center, then an inferior planet cannot possibly appear fae from the sun; if the sun Is the center, then a superior planet must be COPERNICUS’ INNOVATION wt {in opposition to the un when i ie closest tothe cath; and so on and on, It is through arguments lke these that Copernicus socks to per- suade his contemporaries of the validity of his new approach. Fach argument cites an aspect of the appearances that can be explained by ‘ther the Ptolemaic or the Copernican system, and each then pro ceeds to point out how much more harmonious, coherent, and natural ‘he Copemican explanation i, There are a great many such arg ments, The sum of the evidence drawn from harmony is nothing if ‘ot impressive. ‘But it may well be nothing. “Harmony” seems a strange basis on hich to argue for the easth's motion, particlary sine the harmony Js 00 obscured by the complex multitude of circles that make wp the full Copernican system. Copernicus’ arguments are not pragmatic, They eppeal, if at all, not to the utilitarian sense of the practicing asteonomer but to his aesthetic sense and to that alone, They had 10 appeal to laymen, wo, even sehen they understood the arguments, were unwilling to substitute minor celestial harmonies for major ter restlal discord. They did not necessarily appeal to astronomers, for the harmonies to which Copernicus’ arguments pointed didnot enable the astronomer to perform his job better, New harmonies did not Increase accuracy oF simplicity. Therefore they could and did appeal primarily to that limited and perhaps irational subgroup of mathe- ‘matic astronomers whose Neoplatonie car for mathematica har. ‘monies could not he obstructed by page after page of complex mathe matics Ieeding fnally to numerical predictions scarely better than those they had known before. Fortunately, as we shall discover in the next chapter, there were « few such astronomers. Thee work i also an essential ingredient of the Copernican Revolution. Revolution by Degrees Because ho was the fst fully to develop an astronomical system based upon the motion of the earth, Copernicus is frequently called the frst modern astronomer. But, ae the text ofthe De Revolu- onibus indicates, an equally persuasive case might be made for calling him the last great Ptolemale astronomer. Polemaie astronomy meant far more than astronomy predicated on a stationary earth, and iets only with respect to the position and motion of the earth that Copernicus broke with the Ptolemaie tradition. The cosmological102 ‘THE COPERNICAN REVOLUTION frame in which his astronomy was embedded, his physics, trrstil and celestial, and even the mathematical devices that he employed to make his system give adequate predictions are all in the tradition established by ancient and medieval scientists Though historians have occasionally grown livid arguing whether Copernicus ie relly the last of the ancient or the fist of the moder astronomers, the debate i in prineiple absurd. Copernicus is neither Jan ancient nor a modera but rather a Renalssance astronomer In whose work the two traditions merge. To ask whether his work is zeally sncient or modern i rather like asking whether the bend in an other- wise straight road belongs to the seston of road that precedes the ‘bend oto the portion that comes after t, From the bend both sections of the roud are visble, and its continuity is apparent. But viewed from a point before the bend, the road scems to run straight to the bend and then to disappear the bend seems the lst pot in a straight road. And viewed from a point in the next section, after the bend, the road appeats to begin at the bend from which trans The bend belongs equally to both sections, or it belongs to neither. It marks a tuming point in the diecton of the road's progress, just tas the De Revolutioibus marks a shift inthe dzetion in which asto- rnomical thought developed ‘To this point in this chapter we have emphasized primarily the ties between the De Recolutiondbus and the carler astronomical and cosmological tradition, We have minimized, as Copernicus himself does, the extent of the Copernican innovation, because we have been concerned to discover how a potentially destructive innovation could be produced by the tation that it was ultimately to destey. But, as ‘we shall soon discover, this snot the only legitimate way to view the De Revolutionibus, and it i not the view taken by most later Coper- ficans. For Copernicus’ sisteenth- and seventeenth-ceatury followers, the primary importance of the De Revolutioibus derived from i tingle novel concept, the planetary carth, and from the novel astro- homical consequences, the new harmonies, which Copernicus had derived from that concept. To them Copericanism meant the three fold motion ofthe earth and, intally that alone. The traditional eon ceptions with which Copemices had clothed his innovation were not to is followers essential clements of his work, simply because, a8 traditional elements, they were not Copernicus’ conteibation to sei COPERNICUS’ INNOVATION 13 fence. It was not becruse of its traditional elements that people ‘quarrled about the De Revolutionibus ‘That is why the De Revolutionbus could be the starting point for 4 new astronomical and cosmological tradition as well asthe eulina- tion of an old one. Those whom Copernicus converted to the concept of a moving earth began their research from the point at whic Copernicus had stopped. Their starting point was the earth's mation, which was all they necessarily took from Coperacus, and the prob Tems to which they devoted themselves were not the problems of the ld astronomy, which had occupied Copernicus, but the problems of the now sun-centered astronomy, which they discovered in the De Revolutionibus. Copersicus presented them with a set of problems that neither he nor his predecessors had had to face. In the pursuit of those problems the Copernican Revolution was completed, and a new astronomical tradition, deriving from the De Revolutionibus, was founded. Modern astronomy looks back to the De Revolutionibus as Copernicus had looked back to Hipparchus and Ptolemy. “Major upheavals in the fondamental concopts of science occur by degrees. The work of 2 single individual may play a pretminent role Jn such a conceptual revolution, but if it does, i achieves preéminence cithor because, ike the De Revolutions, initiates evolution by 4 small innovation which presents solonee with new problems, oF because, Uke Newton's Principia, it terminates revolution by inte- trating concepts derived from many sources. The extent of the inno- Yation that any individoal can produce is nocessarly limited, for ‘ach individual must employ in his research the tools that he aoquies from a traditional education, an he cannot in his own lifetime replace them all It seems therefore that many of the clements in the De Revolutonibus which, ia the earlier parts ofthis chapter, we pointed to as incongruities are not really inngrultes at all. The De Hevolu- Honibus soems incongruous only to those who expect to find the entice Copernican Revolution in the work which gives that revolution ite name, and such an expectation derives from « misunderstanding of the way ia which new patterns of slontie thought are produced, ‘The limitations of the De Revolutonibus might better be regarded 4s essential and typical characterises of any revalution-making work ‘Most of the apparent incongruities fn the De Revolutionus ve fect the personality ofits author, and Copernicus’ personality seems104 ‘THE COPERNICAN REVOLUTION centitely appropriate to his seminal sole inthe development of astron- ‘omy, Copernicus was a dedicated specialit. He belonged to the revived Hellenistic tradition of mathematical astronomy which em ‘hasized the mathematical problem of the planets at the expense of cosmology, For his Hellenistic predecesors the physical incongruity ‘of an epiycle had not been an important drawback of the Ptolemaic system, and Copernicus displayed a simllar indifference to cosmo> Togieal detail when he failed to note the incongruites of a moving earth in an otherwise traditional wniverse. For him, mathematical and Colestial detail came Birt, he wore blinders that kept his gaze focused lupon the mathematical harmonies ofthe heavens. To anyone who did not share his specialty Copernicus’ view of the universe was narrow and his sense of values distorted. But an excessive concern with the heavens and a distorted sense of values may be essential characterstis of the man who inaugurated the revolution in astronomy and cosmology. The blinders that re srleted Copernicus’ gaze to the eavens may have been functional ‘They made him so perturbed by discrepancias of « few degrees in astronomical prediction that in an attempt to resolve them he could tembrace a cosmological heresy. the earths motion, They gave him fan eye s0 absorbed with geometrical harmony that he could adhere to his heresy fr its harmony alone, even when it had failed to solve the problem that had led him to st And they helped him evade the ronastonomical consequences of his innovation, consequences that Ted men of less restricted vision to reject his innovation as absurd. [boxe all, Coperiens’ dedication to the celestial motions fs re spanslble forthe painstaking detail with which he explored the mathe- atic consequences of the earth's motion and Stted those conse: quences to af existing knowledge of the heavens. That detailed technical study fs Copernicus’ real conteibution, Both before and after Copernious there were cosmologsts more radical than he, men who ‘with broad brosh strokes sketched an infinite and multipopulated Universe. But none of them produced work resembling the Tater books of the De Revolationtbus, and itis these books which, by showing forthe Bist time thatthe astronomers jab could be done, and done ‘more harmoniously, from a moving earth, provided a stable base from which to launch a new astronomical tradition. Had Copernicus’ cos- ‘nological Fits Book appeared alone, the Copernican Revolution would tnd should be known by someone eles name THE ASSIMILATION OF COPERNICAN ASTRONOMY The Reception of Copernicus! Work Copernicus died in 1543, the year in which the De Revolu- ionibus was published, and tradition tells us that he reotived the frst printed copy of his life's work on his deathbed. The book had to fight its battles without futher help from ite author, But for those battles Copernicus had constructed an almost ideal weapon, He had made the book unreadable to all but the erudite astronomers of his ay. Outside ofthe astronomical world the De Revolutionibus created Initially very litle str. By th time large-scale lay and cereal oppos- tion developed, most of the best European astronomer, to whom the book was directed, had found one or another of Copernicus mathematical techniques indispensable. Tt was then impossible to suppress the work completely, particularly because it wae in a printed ook and not, ike Oresme's work or Buridan’s, in a manuscript Whether intentionally or aot, the final victory of the De Revol tonibus was achieved by intration For two decades before the publication of his principal work Copemicus had been widely recognized at one of Europe's leading astronomers, Reports about his research, including his new hypathesis, had circulated since about 1515. The publication of the De Revolu- tionibus was eagerly avraited. When it appeared, Copernicny con- temporaries may have been skeptical of {ts main hypothesis and isappointed in the complesty of its astronomical theory, but they were nevertheless forced to recognize Copemicus’ book as the Sst European astronomical text that could rival the Almagest in depth tnd completeness. Many advanced astronomical texte wnitten ding the lity years alter Copericus’ death referred to him as a “second