Western Civilization_ Volume B_ 1300 to 1815 - Jackson J. Spielvogel [216]
Copernicus, however, was basically conservative. He did not reject Aristotle’s principle of the existence of heavenly spheres moving in circular orbits. As a result, when he put forth the calculations to prove his new theory, he retained about half of Ptolemy’s epicycles and wound up with a system somewhat simpler than that of the Alexandrian astronomer but still extremely complicated.
Nevertheless, the shift from an earth-centered to a sun-centered system was significant and raised serious questions about Aristotle’s astronomy and physics despite Copernicus’s own adherence to Aristotle. It also seemed to create uncertainty about the human role in the universe as well as God’s location. Protestant reformers, adhering to a literal interpretation of Scripture, were the first to attack the new ideas. Martin Luther thundered against “the new astrologer who wants to prove that the earth moves and goes round… . The fool wants to turn the whole art of astronomy upside down. As Holy Scripture tells us, so did Joshua bid the sun stand still and not the earth.” Luther’s cohort at Wittenberg, Philip Melanchthon, condemned Copernicus as well:
The eyes are witness that the heavens revolve in the space of twenty-four hours. But certain men, either from the love of novelty, or to make a display of ingenuity, have concluded that the earth moves, and they maintain that neither the eighth sphere [of the fixed stars] nor the sun revolves… . Now it is a want of honesty and decency to assert such notions publicly, and the example is pernicious. It is the part of a good mind to accept the truth as revealed by God and to acquiesce in it.6
The Copernican System. The Copernican system was presented in On the Revolutions of the Heavenly Spheres, published shortly before Copernicus’s death. As shown in this illustration from the first edition of the book, Copernicus maintained that the sun was the center of the universe and that the planets, including the earth, revolved around it. Moreover, the earth rotated daily on its axis. (The circles read, from the insideout:1.Sun;2.Mercury,orbit of 80 days; 3. Venus; 4. Earth, with the moon, orbit of one year; 5. Mars, orbit of 2 years;
© Image Select/Art Resource, NY
The Catholic Church remained silent for the time being; it did not denounce Copernicus until the work of Galileo appeared. The denunciation came at a time when an increasing number of astronomers were being attracted to Copernicus’s ideas.
Brahe
Copernicus did not have a great impact immediately, but doubts about the Ptolemaic system were growing. The next step in destroying the geocentric conception and supporting the Copernican system was taken by Johannes Kepler. It has been argued, however, that Kepler’s work would not have occurred without the material provided by Tycho Brahe (TY-koh BRAH).
A Danish nobleman, Tycho Brahe (1546–1601) was granted possession of an island near Copenhagen by King Frederick II. On it, Brahe built the elaborate Uraniborg Castle, which he outfitted with a library, observatories, and instruments he had designed for more precise astronomical observations. For twenty years, Brahe patiently concentrated on compiling a detailed record of his observations of the positions and movements of the stars and planets, a series of observations described as the most accurate up to that time. This body of data led him to reject the Aristotelian-Ptolemaic system, but at the same time he was unable to accept Copernicus’s suggestion that the earth actually moved. Brahe’s last years were spent in Prague as imperial mathematician to Emperor Rudolf II, who took a keen interest in astronomy, astrology, and the Hermetic tradition. While he was in Prague, Brahe took on an assistant by the