The Copernican Revolution

Abstract

Abstract The Copernican Revolution is a transitional chapter in the pivot from a geocentric worldview to a heliocentric one. This otherwise minor change in perspective by Copernicus led immediately to a profound simplification of our understanding of celestial motions, including the retrograde motions of the naked-eye planets and the phases of the Moon and Venus. Although the mechanical nature of the geocentric-to-heliocentric change was simple, its impact on society was not. Consequences of that altered worldview are explored. With the meticulous naked-eye observations of Tycho Brahe, Johannes Kepler came to realize that orbits must be elliptical rather than perfectly circular, resulting Kepler’s development of his three laws of planetary motion. Galileo’s use of a telescope to observe the heavens at nearly the same time resulted in major new discoveries and further challenged the geocentric world view and the authority of the Roman Catholic Church, ultimately leading to his home imprisonment.