How do you evaluate this sentence '' The revolution accomplished from Copernicus to Newton was the great spiritual adjustment that modern civilization had to make?

Answer 1

It was certainly a scientific revolution if not a spiritual one. It started in1543, the year Copernicus published his theory of the planets' orbits in a book called 'De revolutionibus'. Copernicus's model differed from the ancient Ptolemaic model by having the Sun at the centre instead of the Earth, but in all other respects it was similar, with the planets still moving around epicycles which in turn moved in circles round the common centre.

Johannes Kepler in 1609 produced an entirely novel theory explaining the planets' orbits, with the Sun at (or near) the centre and the planets travelling in fixed elliptical paths or orbits.

Finally in 1687 Newton explained the planets' orbits using the new scentific discoveries of the law of gavity and the laws of motion, and confirmed the validity of Kepler's model.

In that period of around 150 years the Earth's place at the centre of the Universe was evaluated and rejected, and some of the mathematical methods of modern physics were discovered and applied to the planets.

Also in that period Galileo had a long quarrel with the catholic church and was tried for heresy after being accused of re-interpreting the scriptures by saying that the Copernican system was the absolute truth. However Galileo was eventually proved wrong because Kepler's model was adopted and Copernicus's model was rejected. His insistence that the Sun is at the centre was however accepted, and it still is.