COPERNICAN REVOLUTION

PRESENTED BY : GROUP 4
Keirvylle Robin Clarin
Karlo Arellano Novelyn Salazar
Clifford Torrecer Lester Cajigal
Copernican Revolution

 The "Copernican Revolution" is named for Nicolaus Copernicus. The Copernican

Revolution was the paradigm shift from the Ptolemaic model of the heavens, which described
the cosmos as having Earth stationary at the center of the universe, to the heliocentric model
with the Sun at the center of the Solar System. Mathematics was the common tool used by
ancient astronomers to explain the motion of celestial bodies and on the latter combined with
actual observations that provided enough evidences proving that the sun is the center of the
Solar System.
The 16th century finally saw what came to be a watershed in the development of Cosmology.
In 1543 Nicolas Copernicus published his treatise De Revolutionibus Orbium Coelestium (The
Revolution of Celestial Spheres) where a new view of the world is presented: the heliocentric
model.
The remarkable contributions of ancient astronomers to the development from Geocentric
to Heliocentric model of the Universe is listed in this timeline:
 Copernican Revolution Timeline
Aristotle (Greek)
 Proved that the earth is
spherical.
 Earth was the center of
the universe, i.e., sun,
planets and stars were
located in sphere that
revolved around the
earth.
Hipparchus (Greek)
 Considered to be the
greatest astronomer of
ancient times.
 Measure earth's distance
to the moon.
 Discovered the wobbling
of the earth.
Nicolaus Copernicus (Polish) Johannes Kepler (German)
 Formulated the Three
 Concluded that the sun
Laws of Planetary
and not the Earth is the
Motion.
center of the universe.

310-230 B.C. 85-165 A.D. 1564-1642

384-322 B.C. 190-120 B.C. 1473-1543 1571-1630

Aristarchus (Greek) Claudius Ptolemy (Greek) Galileo Galilei (Italian)

 The first to propose the
idea that the sun was the
center of the universe.
 Used Hipparchus observations  Supported Copernican
to develop the Ptolemaic model of the universe
System which describes the
Earth as the center of the
universe with sun, moon,
planets and stars revolving
around it in a circular orbit.
Aristotle (384-322 B.C., Greek)

 He is sometimes called the grandfather of science. He studied under the

great philosopher Plato and later started his own school, the Lyceum at
Athens. He, too, believed in a geocentric Universe and that the planets and
stars were perfect spheres though Earth itself was not. He further thought
that the movements of the planets and stars must be circular since they
were perfect and if the motions were circular, then they could go on forever.
 Today, we know that none of this is the case, but Aristotle was so respected
that these wrong answers were taught for a very long time. Aristotle,
outside of astronomy, was a champion observer. He was one of the first to
study plants, animals, and people in a scientific way, and he did believe in
experimenting whenever possible and developed logical ways of thinking.
This is a critical legacy for all the scientists who followed after him.
Aristarchus (310-230 B.C., Greek)

 Aristarchus was an ancient Greek astronomer and mathematician who

presented the first known model that placed the Sun at the center of the
known universe with the Earth revolving around it.
 The theory that the Earth revolves around the Sun was a truly revolutionary
scientific advance. It also provided great impetus to the development of the
modern scientific method, which was finally liberated in the middle of the
16th century from the constraints of dogma and nonscientific
considerations. This breakthrough is often but mistakenly attributed to the
great Polish astronomer Nicholas Copernicus, and despite indisputable
evidence to the contrary, the true discoverer of the theory, the astronomer
Aristarchos of Samos that lived in the 3rd century BC in Alexandria, is still
sometimes denied his due credit.
Hipparchus (190-120 B.C., Greek)

 Hipparchus was an ancient Greek astronomer, geographer, and

mathematician. He is considered the founder of trigonometry but is most
famous for his incidental discovery of precession of the equinoxes and
observed the appearance of a new star, a nova.
 Hipparchus is considered the greatest ancient astronomical observer and,
by some, the greatest overall astronomer of antiquity.
 He measured the earth-moon distance accurately, and he solved several
problems of spherical trigonometry. With his solar and lunar theories and
his trigonometry, he may have been the first to develop a reliable method to
predict solar eclipses. His other reputed achievements include the discovery
and measurement of Earth's precession, the compilation of the first
comprehensive star catalogue of the western world, and possibly the
invention of the astrolabe, also of the armillary sphere, which he used
during the creation of much of the star catalogue.
Claudius Ptolemy (85-165 A.D., Greek)

 Ptolemy was an astronomer and mathematician. He developed the

Ptolemaic model of the heavens, which described the cosmos as having
Earth stationary at the center of the universe. The word for Earth in Greek
is geo, so we call this idea a "geocentric" theory.
 Even starting with this incorrect theory, he was able to combine what he
saw of the stars' movements with mathematics, especially geometry, to
predict the movements of the planets. His famous work was called the
Almagest. In order to make his predictions true, he worked out that the
planets must move in epicycles, smaller circles, and the Earth itself moved
along an equant. None of this was true, but it made the math work for his
predictions. This flawed view of the Universe was accepted for many
centuries.
Nicolaus Copernicus (1473-1543, Polish)

 Nicolaus Copernicus was a Renaissance-era mathematician and astronomer.

Nicolaus Copernicus contributed his famous absolute breakthrough idea to
Astronomy, the Heliocentric theory stating that the sun is the center of the
universe, rather than the earth. At the time Copernicus's heliocentric idea was
very controversial; nevertheless, Copernicus's heliocentric theory began what
became known as the Copernican Revolution.
 Decades after he first came up with the heliocentric theory, Copernicus
published his ideas in De Revolutionibus Orbium Coelestium (On the
Revolutions of the Celestial Spheres).
 In his book, its summarized the theory. Besides the idea that everything
orbited the sun rather than the earth, the significant parts included the idea
that retrograde and direct motion could be explained by the rotation of the
earth, the idea that there is no one center of all the celestial circles and spheres,
and the idea that the earth has more than one motion (orbiting the sun, as well
as rotating around). Most of these ended up being true, as they were later
proven by other great scientists.
Galileo Galilei (1564-1642, Italian)

 Galileo Galilei was an Italian polymath. Born in Pisa, Italy approximately

100 years after Copernicus, Galileo became a brilliant student with an
amazing genius for invention and observation. He had his own ideas on
how motion really worked, as opposed to what Aristotle had taught, which
became the basis for one of Isaac Newton's laws of motion, and devised a
telescope that could enlarge objects up to 20 times. He was able to use this
telescope to prove the truth of the Copernican system of heliocentrism. He
published his observations which went against the established teaching of
the Church. He was brought to trial and, although he made a confession of
wrong-doing, he was still kept under house arrest for the rest of his life.
 But it was too late to lock away the knowledge that Galileo shared. Other
scientists, including Sir Isaac Newton and Johannes Kepler, seized its
importance and were able to learn even more about the ways of the world
and the heavens beyond.
Johannes Kepler (1571-1630, German)

 Johannes Kepler was a German mathematician and astronomer who

discovered that the Earth and planets travel about the sun in elliptical
orbits. He founded the three fundamental laws of planetary motion. He
also did important work in optics and geometry.
 Three Laws of Planetary Motion:
1. The Law of Ellipses: All planets move in elliptical orbits, with the Sun at
one focus.
2. The Law of Equal Areas in Equal Time: A line that connects a planet to the
Sun sweeps out equal areas in equal times.
3. The Law of Harmony: The time required for a planet to orbit the Sun,
called its period, is proportional to long axis of the ellipse raised to the 3/2
power. The constant of proportionality is the same for all the planets.
 These early scientists' legacy continues to this day. As time
goes on, we use our instruments, science, math, reasoning,
and creativity to learn more about the secrets of the
Universe. In this way, we are directly linked to the
astronomers of centuries ago who gave us direction to
discover more about the dances of the planets and the
nature of the stars.