Physics Notes

Historical development of the models of the Universe. Aristotle Newton

Aristotle

Aristotle was a mathematician and an intellect of the 330 BC who invented the Geocentric model of the universe. The church took his model and was taught for another 2000 years. The church took his model because his model said that planets and sun move in perfect circles and God made the universe perfect. He never made any measurements as he believed taking measurements for the inferior people.
Aristachus He was a intellectual in 240 BC who invented the first Heliocentric model with the earth rotating on an axis. He did so with naked eye observations and logic. His theory was dismissed due to objections such as why people dont fall of the earth if it spins, and why there is no observable parallax to stars and galaxies. Ptolemy Ptolemy was a scientist in 120 AD who refined the Geocentric model. He looked the observed retrograde motion of mars from earth and explained the phenomena by epicycles. The maths of his epicycles worked out brilliantly and was a reason this model was used for a period of time. Nicolaus Copernicus A scientist from 1540 re surfaced the heliocentric model of the universe, with the orbits of the planets being perfect circles. He used a lot more accurate astrolabes and had a much better measurements. He held back his publications until his death bed, as going against the churchs model of the solar system was deemed as heresy. But once he passed away the church couldnt do anything about it. Tycho Brahe

A dutch aristocrat and astronomer in 1590 in central Europe away from the power of the catholic church Heliocentric Model planets go around Sun, except Earth (!) Had artisans make him super accurate and expensive astrolabes And spend 35 years doing precise measurements Tycho Brahe wasnt a good mathematician and therefore hired Johannes Kepler to teach him and solve his measurements..

Johannes Kepler Johannes Kepler in the 1610 was the first astronomer to publish the heliocentric model with elliptical orbits. He didnt know why they were elliptical because gravity wasnt discovered. He had to wait until the death of Tycho Brahe to get the measurements of the orbit of Mars. Came up with Keplers Three Laws of Planetary Motion Galileo Galilei An astronomer in @ 1620 Heliocentric Model confirmed using telescope A contemporary of Kepler kept in touch with him. Designed a high-power refracting telescope to observe stars and planets Discovered moons of Jupiter. Noticed moons would disappear only to reappear a few days later on the other side. Therefore they must be orbiting Jupiter. If moons can orbit Jupiter, then why cannot the Earth and other planets orbit the Sun? Also discovered that planets have phases like our Moon simplest explanation is that they orbiting the Sun! Also using high-power telescope, confirmed Kepler's results with more exact measurements available via telescope (rather than eye-balling stars using an astrolabe) Problems with the Church: 1615 Inquisition bans his treatise Sidereal Messenger about evidence to support

Coperican model. Some Inquisitors claim that "devils" were inside telescope influencing what you can see with it (!) However not everyone in the Church is happy with the result and informally a few cardinals support GG and encourage him to continue his work. During the next 20 years GG makes lots of enemies among the Jesuit Church upper hierarchy by mockingly ramming his theories down people's throats. 1632 publishes Dialog concerning the two chief World Systems . Paints himself in a heroic light and supplies thinly disguised portraits of Jesuits and Pope Urban VIII as carping idiots. Needless to say they were not amused. 1633 Inquisition II. Recant. Home arrest until death (1642). Because he was forced to recant in 1633, GG has become an Enlightenment Poster-boy Bertolt Brecht's Life of Galileo (1943) [ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Life_of_Galileo ]. But instead of being a martyr, GG desperately needed to learn a few peopleskills and to STFU.