The one concept that was not liked was that the earth moved around the sun. To deal with this dilemma, Tycho Brahe met Copernicus and Ptolemy halfway by making the earth a stationary object while the planets orbited the sun in the center. The rotating earth idea was not revived until the English philosopher Isaac Newton started explaining celestial mechanics.
Tycho Brahe (1546-1601) also theorized and accumulated data about stellar and planetary motions. He argued that the stars and planets revolved around the sun, but that the sun revolved around Earth. He was semi correct and semi wrong on his theories.
His Theory:
While observing the stars one night, Tycho saw Jupiter and Saturn pass close to each other and then he realized that the Alfonsine tables he had, were off by a month, and the Copernicus tables by several days in predicting the event. He thought of this work as unacceptable by astronomers and decided he would construct an accurate table by observing exact positions of the planets over a period of time.
In 1572, another interesting event took place that caught Tycho's eye. He noticed a star, part of Cassiopeia, brighter than Venus. The star lasted 18 months, a very rare event. The two possible explanations to where this was actually located were: either it was in the upper atmosphere which is below the moon, which would be fine because that region was where change took place, or, it was out in the 8th sphere in the fixed stars, but that would contradict Aristotelian and Christian dogma because this region had always remained unchanged. Many leading astronomers observed this star and detected no movement with their stretched threads. Tycho settled this argument. He built a new table of corrections for errors he detected. His technology was more advanced than anyone else's during his time. And he was also able to prove that the star was in fact in the 8th sphere. The next year he wrote about his findings but waited to publish. He also gave a course on astronomy after being ordered to do so by the king.
Then, in 1577 comets caused another controversy. Tycho's observations showed that the belief that planets were carried on material spheres that fit tightly around each other was impossible because comets moved through these spheres. In addition, Tycho developed a system that combined the best of both the Copernican system and the Aristotelian physics and even though Tycho's world system was not widely accepted, he backed his belief that the earth was the center and everything orbited around it with accurate observations to prove his theory. In 1575, Tycho decided he wanted to move to Switzerland, but King Frederick II of Denmark didn't want to lose his best astronomer and astrologer, so he offered Tycho a castle. Tycho refused, but accepted the king’s offer for a whole island. This is where Tycho built his Uraniborg, castle of heavens. A few of the things it included were: a 250 ft. wall on each side, rooms for precision instruments, murals, a paper mill and printing press, an alchemists furnace, a prison, a library with an enormous globe with positions of stars on it, and a quadrant built into a wall for Tycho to observe stars with. Him and his staff worked together to get very accurate results.
In 1588, Tychonic system was introduced where “the earth is always remaining quiescent at the center of cosmos, the planets revolve around the sun, and the sun revolved around the earth”. (geoheliocentric , McLLEAN & DORN P.217). In 1599, he went to Bohemia where the emperor appointed Tycho imperial mathematician, he also hired Kepler as an assistant to calculate planetary orbits from his observations. And because of his accurate observations and Kepler's elliptical astronomy, these tables were more accurate than any others before.
Johannes Kepler (1571-1630) was Brahe's assistant. Kepler was a member of a minor German noble family and trained for the Lutheran ministry. He used mathematics to demonstrate the validity of Copernicus' heliocentric system. He was also the developer of the three laws of planetary motion, which were: planet orbits were elliptical (oval), planet orbits velocities were not consistent, and that planet orbit around the sun was related to its distance or T2 ~ R3. Kepler went on to show that the orbits of the planets are elliptical and now circular.
These discoveries by Kepler and Copernicus were terribly shocking to everyone in the Church community and anyone who still clung to the traditions of old. The geocentric theory was largely based on religion, and everyone was content in knowing that God made the Universe for man and that the Earth was made at the center. Yet Copernicus and Kepler showed that indeed the Earth was not the center, and that it revolved around the Sun. With the heliocentric theory, there was no empyrean to house angels and other immortal spirits. With the discovery of astronomical truths, the religious people of Europe were dealt a tremendous blow.
Galileo Galilei (1564-1642) was a poor nobleman who was first marked for a religious career. He developed laws about inertia and gravitational acceleration.
His Theory:
One day when he was a service in the cathedral at Pisa, the bronze lamp hanging from the ceiling distracted him. The lamp had been put aside in order to light it more easily. When the lamp was released, it moved side-to side continually with decreasing amplitude. Using the beat of his pulse, to keep the time, he found out that every time it oscillated to the furthest, it took the same amount if time to get each end.
By later experiments, Galileo discovered the pendulum. In 1583, age nineteen, while Galileo was at home on vacation, he begun to study mathematics. Then in 1585, which was when Galileo was twenty-one years old, he turned to philosophy and mathematics. He left the University of Pisa in his fourth year, without a degree that year. Galileo became so interested in math that he became a Professor at Pisa. He was appointed to the chair of mathematics, and he spent twenty years teaching as a university professor.
Then later on Galileo wrote a book called "A Message from the Star," which caused a awareness. In 1613 he found out that the plants revolve around the sun, so Galileo stated that Copernicans theory was wrong. The Copernicans theory said that Earth was the center of the universe, and the planets around the earth. Most astronomers favored the Copernicans system, but Galileo showed a marked tendency to use all his discoveries as evidence for Copernicanism, and to do so with great verbal as well as mathematical skill.
Isaac Newton (1642-1727) was a lower English gentry. He developed a systematic explanation of physical laws based on findings and theories of Copernicus, Kepler, and Galileo. He focused mainly on the law of gravitation and theorized often about the subject.
His Theory:
By joining them in what he called the Fluxional method, Newton developed in the autumn of 1666 a kind of mathematics that is now known as calculus. Was a new and powerful method that carried modern mathematics above the level of Greek geometry. Although Newton was its inventor, he did not introduce calculus into European Mathematics. Always Fearful of publication and Criticism, Newton kept his Discovery to himself.
Optics was another area of Newton's early interests. In trying at explain now colors occur, he arrived at the idea that sunlight is a heterogeneous blend of different rays each of, which represents a different color-and that reflections and refraction cause colors to appear by separating the blend into its components. Newton demonstrated his theory of colors by passing the beam of sunlight through a type of prism, which split the beam into separate colors.
In 1672 Newton sent a brief exposition of his theory of colors to the Royal Society in London. In 1704 however, Newton published appliqués, which explained his theories in details. During the following two and a half years, Newton established the modern science of dynamics by formulating his three laws of motion. Newton applied there laws to Kepler's law of orbital motion-formulated by the German astronomer Johannes Kepler and derived the law of Universal Gravitation. Newton is probably best known for discovering Universal Gravitation, which explains that all bodies in space and on earth are affected by the force of Gravity, and another thing he invented was the Reflecting Telescope. He published this theory in his book; Natural philosophy Principia Mathematica in 1687. This book marked a turning point in the history of science; it also ensured that its author could never regain his privacy.
Effects of the Theories and Scientific Revolution
The Roman Catholic Church was affected the most by all the new discoveries of science and the development of new theories. The Church greatly opposed to the Scientific Revolution. The leaders of the Catholic Churches saw the revolution as a great threat to their beliefs and traditions. The Church had a numerous amount of efforts to put down the new movement of science. One way was by spreading rumors such as one where they stated that Copernicus did not publish his findings until the year he died in order to avoid controversy. Another rumor was that Galileo recanted his support for the Copernican system after being placed under house arrest and being summoned before the Inquisition. .
The Catholic Church was the main group trying to "trash" the Scientific Revolution. Other Churches such as the Protestant branch were more open to the Revolution because of their Catholic opposition. Church beliefs and traditions, as predicted by the leaders, did weaken and science gained more popularity. Science just simply supplanted religion, and crystallized the method of modern experimentation.
There were many other scientist and philosophers of the time that each had a part of the creation and spread of the Scientific Revolution. The ideas and theories that were created during the time play large roles in our life today, which is roughly about 300 years later. How would life be if the Revolution had occurred earlier in time? How would it be if it had been later? Times would be very different, but thanks to the great scientist of the Renaissance, we live in the great world that exists today.
