humanities assignment - historical methods

7/27/2019 Humanities Assignment - Historical Methods

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THE MOST IMPORTANT

EVENT OFMODERN

ASTRONOMY

R. VEERA MANOHARAN

SR No- 10810


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Introduction

The word astronomy comes from the words astro-which relates to objects like

stars and heavenly bodies and nomoswhich means laws, hence from these two

words we can infer the meaning of astronomy as the laws of nature which govern

the celestial and heavenly bodies. Astronomy is the oldest of all fields of science

known to mankind. This field of study originated not just from casual gaze over

the sky and the effects of inborn curiosity but also due to the religious studies.

The development of the field of astronomy is imprinted with various political,

social and religious issues throughout the history. In this essay I would like to

address one of such events in the history of astronomy i.e. the publication of the

revolutionary theory of heliocentric universe; the theory which says earth


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revolves around the universe. Before I talk more I would like to give a brief

introduction of the history of astronomy.

History of Astronomy

The science of astronomy had its origins, probably at the very start of human

civilizations. There is enough evidence of this from various rock paintings

depicting lunar phases, constellations etc. Some people in the central Africa

probably used lunar calendar to predict seasons and hence determine the time of

planting and harvesting seeds and plants. Some prehistoric monuments like

Stonehenge are interestingly aligned with passage of sun along meridian at

solstice. Much of older day astronomy had something to do with calendars topredict festivals etc. There are several places where such evidences of practices of

astronomy were found. Ancient astronomy was more or less related to astrology

than a science itself.


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The earliest known astronomer whom we know a bit about is Hipparchus. He is

known for his contribution to the star catalogue by cataloging about 850 stars

with information about their positions and their brightness. These observations

when compared with later astronomers showed that the axis of the earth

undergo precession similar to that of a gyroscope. At this time earth was assumed

to be stationary, hence the movement of the stars were explained by an

imaginary celestial sphere. These ideas were emphasized further by the popular

(at least to the clergy) astronomer called Ptolemy. He came with Ptolemaic

system of world which assumed to be the absolute truth about the universe (for a

long time) in which earth was considered to be the centre of the universe and

everything else was considered to be orbiting the planet.

By the 16thcentury these ideas were strongly challenged by the polish

astronomer Nicolaus Copernicus who published his work on heliocentric theory

which made the world realize that it was the earth which was orbiting the sun and

not the vice-versa. This idea initially faced some criticism but defended later by

astronomers like Kepler, Galileo, and Newton etc. Then since the invention of the

telescope the science of astronomy has moved far from being just way of getting

information for calendars to a science which deals with all sorts of celestial bodies

from earth to stats , galaxies and in fact the whole universe. This was also

accelerated with the parallel but later development of other fields of science like

mathematics and physics, which could explain a lot of celestial phenomenon

which could not be explained earlier. Later Edwin Hubble demystified the big-

bang theory. Recently a lot of high tech equipments and satellites have been at

work to learn more about the universe. But still the search for knowledge about

the universe still continues and will continue well into the future.

THE EVENT

The event I have taken in this assignment is the event which according to me is

most revolutionary in the field of astronomy. The event is of course the

publication of the theory of heliocentric model of heavens which can be referred

to as Copernican revolution. This is something that drove the future astronomers

in the right way i.e. to study the science of astronomy in the way it should be. Not


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just this is the event that led to the scientific thinking and scientific method

proper. This is the reason why Nicolaus Copernicus is still regarded as the father

of modern astronomy even though he lived sometime back in 16th

century.

Copernicus is sometimes even credited with beginning the Scientific Revolution.

Imagine a world in which people still believe in a universe where the earth is at

the centre of the universe, that is a geocentric universe which we now know is

not true. There would have been very little advancements in science and

technology, which would have severely, cripple worlds overall development. This

would without development in science and technology would have low economic

prospects and it would lack the knowledge and main reason we study astronomy,

to find out the secrets of the universe(Even though for which even we do not

entirely know the answer). This event in history has also led to development of

other fields of science as well like Physics and Mathematics.

The polish astronomer Nicolaus Copernicus (1473-1543) was born in Torun.

His father was a merchant and his mother also came from a family of merchants.

He studied arts at the University of Cracow. It is possible that he would have got

to study astronomy as well as astrology here. He worked under Domenico Maria

de Novara, the chief astronomer of the University of the Bologna as his assistant.

It is also possible that Novara might have introduced Copernicus to early works

which contained views which opposed the then widely accepted Ptolemys theory.

A few years after this when he went back to Poland, Bishop Watzenrode arranged

a job for him. It was in his spare time which he formed heliocentric theory. There

was a flaw in Ptolemys theory; it could not properly explain the positioning of

Mercury and Venus. Moreover the orbits followed by the heavenly bodies in this

system are quite complex and making the processes of making calendars difficult.

He first postulated in Commentariolusthat if we assume sun to be at rest and that

other bodies move around it, the fall into an ordered sidereal(Time taken to

complete an orbit around the centre) relationship.

He also published another book in collaboration with Rheticus. Here at this point

we can see politics in action; he cleverly described himself to be following the

footsteps of his predecessor Ptolemy, but in principle this is what he exactly does

not do. We can find the reason to be that whatever he wrote is against the


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teaching of the church (about astronomy). He doesnt want to get caught in any

situation where he is punished for going against the teachings of the church more

so ever because he was having a job in church. He published his final publication

over this topic in De revolutionibus orbium coelestium libri vi.Again, to avoid

getting caught in any sort of political issues, he dedicated his work Derevolutionibus orbium coelestium libri vi to the Pope Paul III. Even when he was

about to publish the text, his supervisor advised him to present his ideas as purely

hypothetical. But later the supervisor wrote an unsigned letter to general public

commenting upon the book as untruth, ultimately confusing the readers.

Unfortunately at a later time, he lost consciousness due to a stroke. He died

shortly after the book after his book was published.

Copernicusswork and Religion and Politics

When Copernicus published his work he faced lots of negative comments and

criticism on the basis of religion. One of Copernicuss contemporaries Martin

Luthercondemned him as a fool whose teachings went against religion. He even

describes Copernicus as a fool who went against a holy writ. Here is extract of

one of his descriptions on De revolutionibus orbium coelestium libri vi.

There is talk of a new astrologer who wants to prove that the

earth moves and goes around instead of the sky, the sun, the moon, just as if

somebody were moving in a carriage or ship might hold that he was sitting still and

at rest while the earth and the trees walked and moved. But that is how things are

nowadays: when a man wishes to be clever he must needs invent something special,

and the way he does it must needs be the best! The fool wants to turn the whole art

of astronomy upside-down. However, as Holy Scripture tells us, so did Joshua bid the


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sun to stand still and not the earth. [For more information click here or see the

references]

Although his work face some initial criticism but the overall effect on the

society was ambivalent. But after a few decades his ideas sank in the minds of thepeople and began to take form. Later it time his system of time was used to make

the Gregorian calendar. But the church treated this as just a mathematical

construct rather than a complete theory which can be accepted. In fact, later the

church officially banned the work of Copernicus. His work was relieved by Galileo;

unfortunately he was kept under house arrest for his emphasis on heliocentric

theory. It is interesting to note that he was declared innocent 350 years after his

death.

Copernicusstheory proved that Church is not the ultimate source of truth.

His theory challenged the overall authority of people and the world and rathertheir minds. He started a revolution which has actually changed the world as we

know it now.

Conclusion

Many people believe that Copernicus was the first person to postulate the idea

that the earth was not the center of the universe, though this is not so. While

there were wise Greek, Muslim and Indian civilizations who had also published

ideas about the sun being the center of the universe hundreds of years before

Copernicus, he still remains the one who did the most in depth research andfounded the Copernican Revolution and hence ultimately scientific revolution.

The Copernican revolution has spread Secularism. His theory brought down the

absolute dominance of the church over the society. Hence his theory is a standing

milestone in the history of humanity.

References

Nicolaus Copernicus - Wikipedia: - For information of the works andbiography Copernicus.

History of Astronomy -Wikipedia: - For information on the history ofastronomy. http://abyss.uoregon.edu/~js/ast121/lectures/lec02.html - For more

information on history of astronomy.

Top 10 Most Important Astronomers- List verse
http://www.astronomy.ohio-state.edu/~pogge/Ast161/Unit3/response.htmlhttp://www.astronomy.ohio-state.edu/~pogge/Ast161/Unit3/response.htmlhttp://www.astronomy.ohio-state.edu/~pogge/Ast161/Unit3/response.htmlhttp://abyss.uoregon.edu/~js/ast121/lectures/lec02.htmlhttp://abyss.uoregon.edu/~js/ast121/lectures/lec02.htmlhttp://abyss.uoregon.edu/~js/ast121/lectures/lec02.htmlhttp://www.astronomy.ohio-state.edu/~pogge/Ast161/Unit3/response.htmlhttp://www.astronomy.ohio-state.edu/~pogge/Ast161/Unit3/response.html


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http://www.astronomy.ohio-state.edu/~pogge/Ast161/Unit3/galileo.html A bit of information of life

timeline of Galileo and his controversies with the church.

[1]http://www.astronomy.ohio-state.edu/~pogge/Ast161/Unit3/response.html the political, religiousviews of the people, society and his contemporaries on His work De

revolutionibus orbium coelestium libri vi. The excerpt of Martin Luther is

taken from this website. http://starchild.gsfc.nasa.gov/docs/StarChild/whos_who_level2/coper

nicus.htmlA brief history on Copernicus.
http://www.astronomy.ohio-state.edu/~pogge/Ast161/Unit3/galileo.htmlhttp://www.astronomy.ohio-state.edu/~pogge/Ast161/Unit3/galileo.htmlhttp://www.astronomy.ohio-state.edu/~pogge/Ast161/Unit3/galileo.htmlhttp://www.astronomy.ohio-state.edu/~pogge/Ast161/Unit3/galileo.htmlhttp://www.astronomy.ohio-state.edu/~pogge/Ast161/Unit3/galileo.htmlhttp://www.astronomy.ohio-state.edu/~pogge/Ast161/Unit3/response.htmlhttp://www.astronomy.ohio-state.edu/~pogge/Ast161/Unit3/response.htmlhttp://www.astronomy.ohio-state.edu/~pogge/Ast161/Unit3/response.htmlhttp://www.astronomy.ohio-state.edu/~pogge/Ast161/Unit3/response.htmlhttp://starchild.gsfc.nasa.gov/docs/StarChild/whos_who_level2/copernicus.htmlhttp://starchild.gsfc.nasa.gov/docs/StarChild/whos_who_level2/copernicus.htmlhttp://starchild.gsfc.nasa.gov/docs/StarChild/whos_who_level2/copernicus.htmlhttp://starchild.gsfc.nasa.gov/docs/StarChild/whos_who_level2/copernicus.htmlhttp://starchild.gsfc.nasa.gov/docs/StarChild/whos_who_level2/copernicus.htmlhttp://starchild.gsfc.nasa.gov/docs/StarChild/whos_who_level2/copernicus.htmlhttp://starchild.gsfc.nasa.gov/docs/StarChild/whos_who_level2/copernicus.htmlhttp://www.astronomy.ohio-state.edu/~pogge/Ast161/Unit3/response.htmlhttp://www.astronomy.ohio-state.edu/~pogge/Ast161/Unit3/response.htmlhttp://www.astronomy.ohio-state.edu/~pogge/Ast161/Unit3/galileo.htmlhttp://www.astronomy.ohio-state.edu/~pogge/Ast161/Unit3/galileo.html

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