INTRODUCTION TO THE MECHANICAL UNIVERSE (Program 1)

Abstract

In the center of all the celestial bodies rests the sun. For who could in this most beautiful temple place this lamp in another or better place than that from which it can illuminate everything at the same time? Indeed, it is not unsuitable that some have called it the light of the world; others, its minds, and still others, its ruler. Trismegistus calls it the visible God; Sophocles' Electra, the all-seeing. So indeed, as if sitting on a royal throne, the Sun rules the family of the stars which surround it. Nicolaus Copernicus in De Revolutionibus Orbium Coelestium (1543) THE COPERNICAN REVOLUTION We find it difficult to imagine the frame of mind of people who once firmly believed the earth to be the immovable center of the universe, with all the heavenly bodies revolving harmoniously around it. It is ironic that this view, inherited from the Middle Ages and handed down by the Greeks, particularly Greek thought frozen in the writings of Plato and Aristotle, was one designed to illustrate our insignificance amid the grand scheme of the universe – even while we resided at its center. Aristotle's world consisted of four fundamental elements – fire, air, water, and earth – and each element was inclined to seek its own natural place.