Questions About On The Revolutions of Heavenly Spheres (On the Shoulders of Giants)

Reader Q&A

To ask other readers questions about On The Revolutions of Heavenly Spheres, please sign up.

Answered Questions (1)

did Copernicus disprove ptolemey, or merely prove that the he was wrong from a certain point of view?

Tyler Copernicus merely presents us with different options. He says that it is possible for Ptolemy to be correct for some epicyclic rotations, but not all.…moreCopernicus merely presents us with different options. He says that it is possible for Ptolemy to be correct for some epicyclic rotations, but not all.

Believe it or not, many of the planetary rotation, being in a complete circle, is possible with a triple cyclic rotation, meaning their movements can be either explained by an ovular rotation with a center in the sun, or they could be explained by Ptolemaic epicyclic rotation (again, though, I believe with a center in the sun). Throughout the entire book, Copernicus has littered it with two different explanations for everything. Something explainable by a singular rotational orbit - and then explainable through epicyclic rotation. He was no dogmatist, that's for sure.

The only exceptions were obviously the Sun's rotation, which he disagreed with completely, and the lunar rotation, of which he completely objected to, on the grounds that Ptolemy's explanation was far too intricate and detailed to be a solution when it was clear the moon rotated around the Earth in an orbit, there were some clear contradictions Copernicus presents for Ptolemy's lunar orbits. (And as Ptolemy's lunar orbital movement was so complex, so extremely intricate, I am tapping out now, if you want to know the specific contradictions read Book IV of Copernicus and if you want to know the insanity that is the original theory of lunar epicyclic rotational movement - the most complicated item in the entirety of the Almagest - then please see the middle of the Almagest). (less)

flag

Unanswered Questions

About Goodreads Q&A

Ask and answer questions about books!

You can pose questions to the Goodreads community with Reader Q&A, or ask your favorite author a question with Ask the Author.

See Featured Authors Answering Questions

Learn more