3 ms·
I find this one odd: >People give ear to an upstart astrologer who strove to show that the earth revolves, not the heavens or the firmament, the sun and the mo
by xerophyte12932 12y ago
I find this one odd:
>People give ear to an upstart astrologer who strove to show that the earth revolves, not the heavens or the firmament, the sun and the moon... Whoever wishes to appear clever must devise some new system, which of all systems is of course the very best. This fool wishes to reverse the entire science of astronomy; but the sacred scripture tells us [Joshua 10:13] that Joshua commanded the sun to stand still, not the earth.
- Martin Luther (1483-1546) [Criticizing Copernicus' heliocentric theory of planetary motion.]
Because Copernicus wasn't the first astronomer to suggest this. In fact there's a very long line of Muslim astronomers that preceded Copernicus and noticed that the Greek model was wrong, based on a very simple observation: if the earth is stationary and every thing else revolves around it, the view of the heavens should be the same every night (which it isn't). In fact the Muslims actually proposed and experimentally tested several models before Copernicus.
- jacquesm 12y ago> every thing else revolves around it, the view of the heavens should be the same every night Well, unless of course the heavens revolve as well. Which is how it was usually pictured in those days, the distance of the stars was surprisingly much larger than even the wildest estimates.
- xerophyte12932 12y agoI obviously over simplified it. The original muslim astronomers not only tested the greek model but several others using observational data and mathematical models.