|
|
|
 
Discoveries of Scientists of the "Age of Reason"
The discoveries of many scientist and great thinkers of the "Age of
Reason" have all contributed to the entire scope of how we view astronomy
today. The shift was of a less secular thesis to one based on humanism and
the Scientific Method. There were several great thinkers that led to this
discovery on the scientific level, which chiefly began and ended with the
astronomers/scientists Copernicus and Isaac Newton.
Copernicus was a mathematician as well as a scientist whom found the
stars fascinating. He did, however, find a great flaw with the
mathematical results of the universe being a Earth- centered one. He then
saw that if the universe was to revolve around the sun (an error on
Copernicus's part... only our solar system revolves around the Earth -- not
the universe!) then all of his mathematical formulas would become more
"aesthetic". Thus, he composed the theory, which led to great controversial
book "On the Revolutions of Heavenly Spheres" in which the church was
greatly angered. While Copernicus's book was not a revolutionary book, it
was, however, a catalyst to make other minds ponder the new Heliocentric
theory.
After Copernicus's death there were three other scientists which
helped credit the Heliocentric theory. Tycho Brahe was the first, he
played with the idea that the planets all revolved around the sun, but the
sun instead revolved around the Earth(still Geocentric). After Brahe's
death Johannes Kepler took the notes and data that Brahe had taken. Kepler
came up with the idea the it would be even more mathematically plausible
that the orbits of the planets around the sun (Heliocentric) were
elliptical, instead of circular and published the book "On the motion of
Mars"-- the problem was unfortunately that this could not be proved. The
most important of these three scientists was Galileo Galilei, whom looked
out his telescope one night and saw something very dangerous to the church.
He saw the Jupiter had a moon which orbited it. This meant big trouble
because it proved that everything did not revolve around the Earth --
contradicting the church. Galileo was attacked and pressured to deny this
evidence the rest of his life.
The final great thinker of the time was Isaac Newton, whom ended up
solving all the problems of the astronomers previously. Newton (Thanks to
an apple falling on his head -- just kidding!) developed the theory of
Gravity and several laws of science and Physics which now serve as the
basis of all we study today. Newton theories intelligently explained the
ideas and why the planets in our solar system revolve around the sun, and
also why there were elliptical orbits.
The great achievements of the scientists whom disproved the Geocentric
theory of the universe, contradicting the church's strong scholastism, ave
proved to be one of the greatest examples of courage and truly using
scientific method. The entire structure of our humanism and the
relationship with the universe changed forever. Hopefully now that we know
our place in the universe, we can work on fixing some of the problems back
here on Earth!
ADDITIONAL FEATURED ESSAYS
Sphere: Summary
The Sphere is a novel about a huge vessel that is discovered in the South Pacific on the ocean floor. A group of scienti
Isaac Newton
Sir was an English mathematician and physicist, considered one of the greatest scientists in history. He made important
Australopithecus Afarenis
Louis Leakey found the first fossil remains of the species in 1935 during an excavation in Africa. He found a canine too
Animals In The Research Lab
The use of living animals is an important way to solve a medical problem. Researchers continually seek other models to u
Louis Pasteur 2
PASTEUR, Louis (1822-95). The French chemist Louis Pasteur devoted his life to solving practical problems of industry, a
|
|
|
|
