Posted on 03/05/2010 6:49:06 AM PST by KippLanham
The overwhelming reaction of the sixteenth century scientific community to Copernicus’ new book On the Revolutions, first published in 1543, was contemptuous rejection.
The Greek astronomer, Aristarchus of Samos, had proposed in the third century B.C. that the Earth was the third planet from the Sun, and not the center of the universe. The crazy idea that the massive Earth, the archetypal example of something totally immovable, was tearing around the Sun at 18 miles a second had been clearly disproved in ancient times. The Earth motion notion was clearly contrary to the scientific consensus, a consensus established for centuries.
Read more: http://pajamasmedia.com/blog/the-science-is-settled-they-told-copernicus/
(Excerpt) Read more at pajamasmedia.com ...
Any scientist or eng who’s honest will tell acknowledge very little is settled b/c we know so little. What we’re seeing now is political baloney and pseudo-scientists concerned about losing grant $$$.
For those who care, this article also indirectly shows why no one should believe the Enlightenment myth that Galileo was persecuted by the church because his championing of Coperican theory contradicted the Bible. The Bible was never the issue; it was Aristotle and the main culprits seeking to discredit Galileo were academics in universities.
As a sidelight: the critics of Galileo/Copericus were scientifically correct. The observational evidence supported the Ptomolaic model until well after Galileo’s death. One problem with Coperican theory was that it had the shape of the orbits wrong.
Aristarchus had it right, but he was not politically connected so he lost because of Politically Correctness.
It took over 1500 years for Politically Correct to be overcome.
The present PC isn't going to go away soon.
It wasn’t political correctness - although Aristotle was revered - it was the data. Ptolemy created an excellent model that fit the facts insofar as they could be known.
Check out this Pope Urban “keep the Faith” Pseudo Science Gallileo Award to ( insert name) For Advancing the causes of pseudo science in (scroll to subject) http://www.theusmat.com/
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