The Scientific Revolution & Concept of the Heliocentric Universe

Nicolas CopernicusGalileo GalileiFrancis Bacon

How did we get here?

II. Two Theories of the Universe

A. The Geocentric Theory envisioned an earth-centered universe

1. This idea was made popular by Aristotle – 300’s BC

2. It was later supported by Ptolemy

Ptolemy of Alexandria

• Mathematician / geographer

• Greek descent• Alexandria• Almagest – 2nd

century AD

The Catholic Church supported the Geocentric Theory because it was consistent with religious doctrine that god had made the earth a special place in the universe

1. For almost 1,500 years, the Church supported almost all of Aristotle’s scientific theories as fact

Jigsaw Activity

• Gather in your groups• Read your documents• Discuss important themes• Complete your worksheets

Nicholas Copernicus• A. Copernicus was so fearful of being considered a heretic that he

waited until the last year of his life to publish his theory1. However, his ideas spread despite Church

condemnation and were eventually embraced by others

Johannes Kepler• (1571-1630) - Austrian• He had already accepted the Copernican picture and tried to use his superior data to see if it could fit better than the Ptolemaic theory.

Galileo• While he had already thought Copernicus' model was best Galileo felt this DATA had PROVEN it.

The Scientific method was championed by Francis Bacon

1. He was an English writer who felt that scholars had assumed Aristotle’s teachings to be truth without testing them

2. He emphasized the need for experimentation over simple observation in arriving at conclusions (scientific method)

How This All Fits Together

• Any questions?

Exit Ticket – Isaac Newton

End

Thank you

Sir Isaac Newton was the pioneer of modern physics

1. He was an English scientist who developed the law of gravity to explain the movement of the planets

*This further confirmed the Heliocentric Theory

Newton Continued

• 2. His theories asserted that all celestial bodies are attracted to each other by an invisible force directly related to the mass of the object

• 3. Newton believed that god had designed the universe like a giant clock, with gravity dominating its motions

Which society was first to discover the Earth to be spherical and measure its

circumference?

A. By the Greeks

Whose suggestion that the Sun is the center of the solar system was first taken seriously by

many people?• Copernicus

Resources

• www.chara.gsu.edu/~wiita/a1010heliocentric4.ppt• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=17jymDn0W6U• faculty.rcc.edu/buenviaje/.../The%20Scientific

%20Revolution.ppt• www.encyclopediabritannica.com• Scientific Culture and the Making of the Industrial

West• By Margaret C. Jacob