• We begin to discuss the conceptual revolutions wrought by

Copernicus, Kepler, Galileo, ….

– Readings: (reading assignments listed on the web)
• Rohrlich, ch. 1-4
• Sklar, pp. 1-18
• Cushing ch. 4
• Homework for Friday Jan. 19: (homework assignments are on the
web) 5pm on COMPASS
– Does the Earth go around the Sun or does the Sun go around the Earth?
How do you know? Give some evidence to support your argument.
– Because this is the first assignment (and very rushed!), you do not need to cite
reading material. If you remember an argument but cannot recall where you
saw it, use it anyway. Later in the course, you will be expected to cite sources
for information, and give credit for other’s arguments.
– At most 750 words.
– Read the homework guidelines, on the homework page. They will give you an
idea how to structure your essays.
 Themes for today
• Why did the Earth-centered Ptolemaic system last so long?
Why wasn’t the heliocentric theory popular before 1543?
• What problem was Copernicus trying to solve?
• What makes a “good” theory? What criteria are used to test a
theory?
Let’s try to see astronomy from a viewpoint of ~1600 A.D.
Keep in mind:
• Observational data available then, including
• direct astronomical observations
• other physical observations on how things move
• The general organization of the world view,
including metaphysical assumptions.
Aristotle:
Dialectical: understand the world by thinking hard and arguing opposing viewpoints
Natural: generalize experience of the world
 Development of Astronomy
Early experiment consists of direct observation and measurement of length of shadows
(the sun and moon) and angles.
How did they measure the length of the day? What was their operational definition?
Solar Measurements (i.e. sundials or gnomen)
1. Define noon as the time when the sun’s shadow is the shortest. We can
quantitatively measure the change of seasons.
2. Define the summer and winter solstices as the days on which the minimum and
maximum shadows occur.
3. But measurements depend on location
– North-south movements change lengths
– East-west movements change times (what does that mean? how could they know?)

Why do we think the earth is a sphere and not flat?

• Ships disappear over the horizon
• The angle of the north star depends on latitude
• The time of an eclipse depends on the longitude
• The shadow of the earth on the moon is circular
• Spheres are simple (metaphysics)
 The astronomical data
(remember, no telescopes until after 1600)

• The positions of all celestial objects (day or night) rotate about the north pole
approximately once per day.
• The stars move in lock-step (e.g., constellations don’t change shape).
• The Sun loses one rotation per year with respect to the “fixed” stars.
– The entire disk of the Sun is lit.
• The Moon loses one rotation per month w.r.t. the stars.
– Only that part of the Moon which faces the Sun is lit. During a solar eclipse it is
between the sun and the earth.
• The motion of the planets is complicated (more on this later).
• A comment about the data:
– The data available in the time of Copernicus was mostly old and unreliable. Some had
clearly been fudged to fit predictions of the Ptolemaic model (see below). Even the
best data was accurate only to 10 minutes of arc (1/3 the visual size of the moon):
2 sphere model
 The intuitive picture (Aristotle)
On Earth
– The Earth doesn’t seem to be moving. It doesn't feel like you're moving.
– Objects don't keep moving with respect to the earth, but come to rest on the
earth.
• Matter resists displacement and tries to regain its natural place:
AIR> FIRE >WATER>EARTH
• Explains a spherical earth, with water and air in certain places.
• Nature abhors a vacuum. Hence the space between Earth and the stars is filled with
aether.
• The only motions that are natural are linear and circular.

In the sky (thanks to Aristarchus, about 250 BC) via geometry, using lunar
eclipses and half-moons.
• the Moon is about 1/3 the diameter of the Earth.
• the Sun is much larger than the Earth.
 Two sphere model
• One sphere (the inner one) is the
Earth, the other (the outer one) is
the stars. The Earth is stationary;
the stars rotate once per day. The
positions of the orbits of the Sun,
Moon, and planets are
intermediate, size determined by
orbital period.
• The figure is oversimplified. The
theory must explain some
complications, starting with:
– The seasons:
The circle the Sun follows
moves north and south. (The
motion of its sphere w.r.t. the
outer sphere is still circular, but
with an axis at a tilt compared
to the axis of the star-sphere
rotation.)
Peter Apian's Cosmographia (Antwerp, 1539)
 Further complications

• The slightly non-uniform motion of the Sun and

Moon. Their speed increases and decreases around
the circle.
• The complicated motion of the planets.
Sometimes, they move backwards with respect to
the stars (i.e., westward, instead of slipping slowly
eastward).
 Planet, Epicycles
Planetary Motion Sun,
or Moon

• The Ptolemaic solution to

the planetary problem Epicycle

makes the actual theory Retrograde

quite complicated. It uses Earth

motion

epicycles, eccentrics, and

equants. (see figure) Deferent

• Ptolemaic system was

loosely based on an Earth- What an earthbound astronomer sees
centered cosmology, but the in the sky. This is the motion with
ad hoc devices violated this. respect to the fixed stars :

West
East
Retrograde motion

Only planets actually move backwards.

Sun and Moon merely speed up and
slow down.
 Eccentrics and Equants

Eccentric :

Center of uniform
circular motion is not
Earth
the Earth.

Both devices cause

the apparent speed
of the motion across Equant :
the sky to vary.
Center is the Earth.
Angular motion is
Earth uniform about another
center
 Other Issues
• Although particular versions of the 2-sp h e re Un ive rse
system were not especially accurate, Lo o kin g Do w n a t th e No rth
that could always be fixed by adding Po le
w ar d d iu r n a l m
We s t ot i
epicycles, etc.
on

• There were more qualitative

problems.
retrograde
– Why are Venus and Mercury
always close to the Sun?
– Why does retrograde motion Ea rth

always occur when a planet is in Mercury

Venus
opposition to the Sun? (opposite
in the sky)
– How can the mechanical picture
of "crystal spheres" be reconciled
with the epicycles, etc.?
 Selling points of two-sphere picture

• Conceptual economy. It ties together many facts in a simple geometrical

model still used today.
• It "preserves the phenomena", i.e. describes basic astronomical observations
of days, seasons, eclipses ...
• The universe is finite. (infinity is a difficult concept)
• The Earth stands still.
• The Earth is the center of everything
– (intuitive, and in accord with most theologies).
• Motion increase systematically with distance from the Earth.
• Heavy (“earthlike”) objects are at the center.
“Firelike” objects are at the outside.
– (heavy objects fall and fire rises... so the pattern connects with terrestrial
dynamics)
 Philosophical background
• Renewed interest in Platonic and Pythagorean philosophy (vs.
Aristotle’s) increased value placed on mathematical simplicity.
Copernicus particularly disliked equants.
• So, there was an important shift in the answers to two questions:
– Is it legitimate to use any point of reference in astronomy other than the
Earth?
• The Aristotelian/Ptolemaic answer was no.
The Pythagorean answer was yes.
• In fact, the followers of Pythagoras, most notably Aristarchus, had invented
heliocentric cosmology in the fifth to third centuries BC.
– Is the universe as a whole, including our Earth, fundamentally mathematical in
its structure?
• Aristotle implicitly assumed yes, (hence the perfect circles), but didn't follow up the
implications.
• The Pythagoreans also tended to assume yes, but left the question of the particular
mathematical form open.
• Question: What justification is there for the assumption of
mathematical simplicity? Occam’s razor?
 C o p e rn ic u s' u n ive rse
Copernicus Lo o kin g Do w n a t th e No rth Po le
(& Aristarchus) (n o t to sc a le )

Sta rs a re a t le a st 1000
• Made the Earth rotate once every 23 tim e s a s fa r fro m Su n
hours 56 minutes. a s is th e Ea rth

• Made the Sun stationary, at the

center.
• Made the stellar sphere stationary
(and very large).
• Put the Earth in a circular orbit around
the Sun.
• Put the planets in circular orbits Sun

around the Sun.

• Kept the Moon in a circular orbit
around the Earth.
• Why have most objects (including the Ea rth

Earth!) orbit the sun, but to have the

Moon alone orbit the Earth?
Thomas Digges' 1576 Copernican heliocentric model of the celestial orbs
 Copernicus’ accomplishments
• There's a pattern to which object moves:
– Smaller objects always orbit bigger ones.
– One motion (Earth’s rotation) explains the major motion of all astronomical
objects (the diurnal motion).
• Retrograde motion
– Eliminates the major epicycles.
– Naturally gives REGULARITIES of the retrograde motion with fewer arbitrary
parameters. It happens when superior planets (farther out than Earth) are
opposite to the Sun and when inferior planets are between Earth and Sun.
• Venus and Mercury appear close to the Sun in the sky, have same net motion as
Sun on the average, because they are close to it.
• Fixes relative sizes of planetary orbits without requiring any additional assumptions
(i.e., no appeal to other principles such as natural motion).
 What Copernicus did not accomplish:
• Any significant improvement in accuracy of predictions.
• Elimination of most Ptolemaic devices (minor eccentrics, etc.). Only the biggest
features were replaced by the Earth’s motion.

Why are we called Copernicans, not Aristarchans?

What was going on for those 1800 years?
 Drawbacks of Copernicus’ theory
• The “second and third motions” of the Earth (see Kuhn p. 165)
– The earth is supposed to be carried around the Sun by a crystal sphere. That would make the
Earth's axis (which isn't parallel to the rotation axis) also rotate yearly. But the apparent motions are
described by keeping the Earth's axis fixed. So Copernicus adds another wobble to the Earth, which
has the odd effect of just canceling the effect of the crystal sphere on the Earth's axis.
– Notice that we've used two hypotheses (crystal sphere and extra wobble) to explain zero effects
(Earth's axis doesn't wobble.) It seems there should be a simpler way. But then we would need
some other way (not attachment to a rigid sphere) to explain why the Earth orbits the Sun.
– A simpler solution of this problem requires a new dynamics.
• The Earth moves!
– Doesn't fit with Aristotelian physics, which is strongly based on intuition.
– Throw a rock up! A falling body would be left behind
– The atmosphere would be left behind—a huge wind (Aristotle)
– The earth itself would fly apart owing to force of rotation.
– Copernicus does not dispute—his hypothesis is simply to make predictions.
• One systematic pattern- the relation between the apparent type of object and its cosmic place- is lost.
The earth is just one of several planets—it is not unique.
• Stars are far away because parallax is not observed. Why did the creator waste all that space?
• Copernicus explicitly used the same criteria for evaluating a scientific explanation that we typically use
today: “We find then in this arrangement an admirable harmony of the world, and a dependable,
harmonious interconnection of the motion and the size of the paths, such as cannot otherwise be
discovered ... And all this results from the same cause, namely the motion of the Earth. “
 Scorecard

Copernicus Ptolemy
Approximate mathematical Agrees with ordinary physical
simplicity intuition

Ptolemaic cosmology held on for about 60 years after 1543.

• Is there some crucial observation to settle who's right or wrong?

• If we can eliminate one of these theories, will we then know whether

the earth goes around the sun?

The two cosmologies made different predictions, but they were

~unobservable until the invention of the telescope. In 1609, Galileo
looked at the heavens with a telescope and observed for himself new
“facts” supporting Copernicus. (see Kuhn, pp. 219-225)
 Copernicus
Copernicus Ptolemy
Ptolemy

SUN
SUN
SUN
SUN The phases of
Venus

APPEARANCE
From Earth

EARTH

Proves that Venus orbits the Sun, and shows that Venus is spherical
 Ptolemic model is completely ruled out

Other telescopic evidence:

– The moons of Jupiter
• Shows another center of orbital motion.
So why should the Earth be the center of the universe?
– The stars have smaller angular size than was thought.
• Weakens one argument against their great distance- they
might not have to be much larger than the other known
source of light, the Sun

First homework is due tomorrow at 5pm

(Friday Jan 22rd) on Compass.