Question

Explain the Copernican Revolution in Astronomy.

Answer 1

$\bf \large {i) \: Copernican \: Revolution:-}$

The Copernican Revolution was the paradigm shift from the Ptolemaic model of the heavens, which described the cosmos as having Earth stationary at the center of the universe, to the heliocentric model with the Sun at the center of the Solar System. Beginning with the publication of Nicolaus Copernicus’s De revolutionibus orbium coelestium, contributions to the “revolution” continued until finally ending with Isaac Newton’s work over a century later.

$\bf \underline{Subtopics:-}$

$\underline {1. \: Before \: Copernican}$

The "Copernican Revolution" is named for Nicolaus Copernicus, whose Commentariolus, written before 1514, was the first explicit presentation of the heliocentric model in Renaissance scholarship. The idea of heliocentrism is much older; it can be traced to Aristarchus of Samos, a Hellenistic author writing in the 3rd century BC, who may in turn have been drawing on even older concepts in Pythagoreanism. Ancient heliocentrism was, however, eclipsed by the geocentric model presented by Ptolemy and accepted in Aristotelianism.

$\underline {2. \: Metaphorical \: uses}$

Following Kant, the phrase "Copernican Revolution" in the 20th century came to be been used for any (supposed) paradigm shift, for example in reference to Freudian psychoanalysis or postmodern critical theory.