How the accomplishments of nicolaus Copernicus helped change European society?

Answer 1

Copernicus used early trigonometry to show that the observations of the movements of the planets in the sky are most easily explained by assuming that the Earth and other planets orbited around the Sun. He published this in 1543 in Poland. Copernicus also made contributions to Mathematics.

It had previously been assumed that the Earth was the centre of the universe and that all other bodies revolved around the Earth. This appeared obvious to ancient astronomers since the heavenly bodies all rose in the East and set in the West. The planets (wanderers) altered their places in the sky relative to other bodies and this was explained by assuming that their motions executed circles within circles. However, in order to fit observations, this had to be carried to a ridiculous extreme.

The theory that all other bodies revolved around the Earth had become part of religious dogma, so was vehemently opposed by the church.

Copernicus's doctrine was opposed by the church for many years. In 1616 the Catholic church declared that it was contrary to the scriptures. Galileo had been a champion of Copernicus in Italy and was forced to recant and spent the rest of his life (1564-1642) under house arrest by order of the inquisition.

He proposed a heliocentric system that Earth orbits the sun. apex cx

Answer 2

Copernicus provided an alternative model of the planets in 1543 describing the way the planets move among the stars. Copernicus's model represented these movements fairly accurately, as the Ptolemaic model also did.

Copernicus said that his model was simpler, and it was in a way, because some of the epicycles it used were smaller than in the Ptolemaic model.

During Copernicus's lifetime there was no way of deciding which of the two models was preferable. But Galileo later used a telescope to discover the phases of Venus. This exposed a major fault with the Ptolemaic system - it was unable to explain the full range of phases of Venus.

Galileo claimed that this 'proved' that Copernicus's theory was right; however this claim was incorrect because other models produced by Tycho and Kepler correctly explained the phases of Venus. Tycho's model was geocentric and Kepler's was heliocentric.

After further theoretical discoveries by Newton, the model produced by Kepler was generally accepted as the best available model, and it was adopted. Kepler's model is still in use today and the other three models are of only historical interest.

Answer 3

copernicus was the first to realise that there is no reason for the earth to be in the centre of the univese and the heliocentric system was far more easy to understand and predict the movement of the planets

for more questions about the universe: higi2100@gmail.com

Answer 4

Not at all. Most people in that era never went much beyond their villages; it was a rare person who traveled as much as a hundred miles in any direction. For all they knew, the world might as well have been flat.

It is only hundreds of years later that we can observe what he speculated, and how this information can be useful.

Answer 5

In 1543, Nicolaus Copernicus put forward a theory that the Sun was at the centre of our Solar System. People used to think that the Earth was the centre. His theory was later confirmed by Galileo and Isaac newton .

Answer 6

Many scientists consider Nicolaus Copernicus the father of modern astronomy. In the early 1500's he developed the theory that the Sun was the center of the universe.

He was born in 1473 and died in 1543. He was a Polish scientist and was educated in 3 different universities.

His ideas were controversial as the Church and other elites believed the Earth was at the center of the universe.

Answer 7

The Copernicus model contributed to the modern understanding of the Solar System. Copernicus was the first to produce a theory based on the idea that the Earth isn't at the centre of the solar system. While he didn't see his discovery adopted, he inspired Johannes Kepler to produce an alternative theory that retained the idea that the Sun is at the centre but introduced the idea of elliptical orbits.

After Isaac Newton's later discoveries which proved that the planets must move in elliptical orbits around the Sun, people began to accept that Kepler's theory was the right one, and they still accept it today.

Copernicus is credited with starting this process going in 1543 but it took around 150 years before Newton's theory put the finishing touches to the model of what we now call the solar system.

Answer 8

Nothing, really, except the first published heliocentric model of the Solar System based on mathematical rigor and logic, thus creating modern astronomy and inciting a scientific revolution. But, that's really about it.

Answer 9

Yes he encouraged people to question the old theory that the Earth was at the centre of the universe. He publicised the heliocentric system which has the Sun at the centre. This was later accepted as true after scientific discoveries in the 18th and 19th centuries.

Answer 10

Nicolaus Copernicus was a German born astronomer and mathematician of the Renaissance era. Copernicus' works showed that the Sun instead of the Earth was at the center of the universe on a heliocentric model.