Astronomer Nicolaus Copernicus was instrumental in establishing the concept of a heliocentric solar system, in which the sun, rather than the earth, is the center of the solar system.
For Copernicus, his heliocentric theory was by no means a watershed, for it created as many problems as it solved. For instance, heavy objects were always assumed to fall to the ground because Earth was the center of the universe. Why would they do so in a sun-centered system? He retain...
Nicolaus Copernicus proposed his theory that the planets revolved around the sun in the 1500s, when most people believed that Earth was the center of the universe. Although his model wasn't completely correct, it formed a strong foundation for future scientists, such as Galileo, to build on ...
“It is well to remember that the entire universe, with one trifling exception, is composed of others”*… This artist’s impression shows the temperate planet Ross 128 b, with its red dwarf parent star in the background. Credit: ESO/M. Kornmesser For centuries, scientific discoveries have...
"Of all discoveries and opinions, none may have exerted a greater effect on the human spirit than the doctrine of Copernicus. The world had scarcely become known as round and complete in itself when it was asked to waive the tremendous privilege of being the center of the universe. Never, ...
a hobby of his. His theory about the Sun as the center of the solar system, turning over the traditional geocentric theory (that placed Earth at the center of the Universe), is considered one of the most important discoveries ever, and is the fundamental starting point of modern astronomy ...
Modern neurosis began with the discoveries of Copernicus. Science made men feel small by showing him that the earth was not the center of the universe. He retaliated … through the conquest of nature, the invention of machines, the industrial revolution. … In the course of these compensatory ...
We can learn from great scientists of the past that important scientific discoveries are often first ignored, and then violently rejected, by the society of their time. As Nicolaus Copernicus confirms; ..astronomers of my day are so inconsistent in these [astronomical] investigations ... that the...
theory of the universe that would permit explanation of the movement of the Earth and other planets was presented. This explanation, in turn, provided a framework for further scientific development. The influence of Copernicus was indeed important but it resulted not so much from his system of ...
he treated astronomy as a hobby. His theory about the Sun as the center of the Universe, opposed to the traditional geocentric theory that placed Earth at the center, is considered one of the most important discoveries ever, and is the fundamental starting point of modern astronomy and modern...