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A Beginner's View of Our Electric Universe - New

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2 | The thinking that got us here<br />

I read years ago <strong>of</strong> how the 15 th -16 th century Polish astronomer and mathematician Nicolaus Copernicus came<br />

up with the idea that the Earth was not at the centre <strong>of</strong> the observed universe as people had previously been told<br />

it was by religious teachings.<br />

Nicolaus Copernicus<br />

1473 - 1543<br />

24 | The thinking that got us here<br />

The unfortunate implication <strong>of</strong> this was that, if we humans were not at the centre<br />

<strong>of</strong> things, then we would be nothing special. Copernicus saw this as quite a<br />

radical thing to suggest, especially as it went against the teachings <strong>of</strong> the Catholic<br />

Church, the organisation that had promoted the human race to a central role<br />

through its particular view <strong>of</strong> the universe. Therefore, being in fear <strong>of</strong> ridicule<br />

and the power <strong>of</strong> the church, he did not let this idea go public at the time he came<br />

up with it. The Catholic Church certainly did wield an awful lot <strong>of</strong> power and<br />

influence in those days and it would only be the plain stupid or the insanely<br />

dedicated that would actually make known any religiously contentious beliefs<br />

they had. If there was even a hint <strong>of</strong> opposition to the church’s doctrine through<br />

what people said, bad things could happen to them, so it was only at the time <strong>of</strong><br />

Copernicus’ death that his work was actually published.<br />

The Copernican Solar System © author<br />

The Copernican model <strong>of</strong> the universe was that the Earth and<br />

the other planets known at the time, all revolved around the<br />

Sun in concentric circular (assumed) orbits. This model <strong>of</strong> our<br />

Solar System is the one we are all familiar with today. However,<br />

Copernicus got one element <strong>of</strong> his model wrong; he said the Sun<br />

was at the centre <strong>of</strong> the universe! This may have been because,<br />

already having determined the Earth’s relationship to the Sun,<br />

he could see for himself in the night sky that there appeared to<br />

be a globe <strong>of</strong> stars <strong>of</strong> relative equal density surrounding us, no<br />

matter in which direction he looked. Considering the importance<br />

<strong>of</strong> those events, we could easily view them as the beginnings<br />

<strong>of</strong> sensible astronomy. What Copernicus had deduced about our<br />

solar system had at least been based on practical observations,<br />

basic science, and some common sense.<br />

Sun<br />

Distant Stars

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