The transition to the heliocentric model took so long that some historians refer to it as the Copernican nonrevolution. The saga of Galileo and the church is the most famous event in the history of science and religion. The timeline of the Copernican nonrevolution spanned the 16th to 19th centuries, almost 300 years.
1. Copernicus worked on the heliocentric model for 40 years. He was hesitant to publish his work, but he published his book at end of his life in 1543 due to the encouragement of his friends and the church. Pope Gregory welcomed Kepler's book at the time it was published.
2. As Copernicus suspected would happen, opposition against the Copernican model grew due to a lack of ability for people to understand it and due to the fact that it was opposed to the senses.
3. Kepler published a scientific work supporting the Copernican model in 1596, but Galileo was afraid to support it.
4. In 1610, Galileo thought that his telescope provided irrefutable proof of the Copernican model. He then boldly proclaimed that it was true because he thought people would accept it with new proof. However, he was wrong, and the church continued to oppose it.
5. There was extensive controversy between Galileo and the church until he was placed under house arrest in 1633. The church used arguments such as that we cannot know the positions of stars or planets in the sky, to argue against Copernicus.
6. In 1687, Newton finally explained why the planets orbit the sun: gravity.
7. The Catholic church and some Protestant churches did not consider gravity as an explanation of the movement of the solar system. They continued to oppose it.
Copernicus first learned about the heliocentric model by studying the works of ancient Greek proponents of heliocentrism. At first, he thought that it sounded absurd, but after diligent study of the positions of the planets, he confirmed it. Copernicus found great pleasure in his research, but he preferred to keep his studies to himself and his close associates, only publishing a small volume in 1514 for a few close friends. He justifiably feared that he would be “ridiculed by ignorant people, who constitute the majority” if he published for a wider audience. Johann Widmanstetter, secretary to the Pope, explained the theory to Pope Clement in 1533, who welcomed the theory, and Cardinal Capua wrote to Copernicus, urging him to publish his theory. Copernicus finally published his book: De Revolutionibus Orbium Coelestium (On the Revolutions of the Celestial Spheres) in 1543, the year of his death, in which he described his heliocentric model. In his book, he proposed that the earth rotates on its axis, and the earth and other planets orbit the sun. Copernicus knew that this was completely opposite from the way people viewed the stable earth. As he expected, the response was less than positive, but Copernicus disdained those who opposed him.
“If there should chance to be any exegetes ignorant of mathematics who pretend to skill in that discipline, and dare to condemn and censure this hypothesis of mine upon the authority of some scriptural passage twisted to their purpose, I value them not, but disdain their unconsidered judgment.”
There was a mix of Protestants and Catholics in Copernicus’ area in Poland, and he obtained support and help in publication efforts from both sides. Although some Protestant scholars were associates of Copernicus and were in favor of the Copernican model, many leading Protestants opposed it. The first notable Catholic to oppose Copernicus was Bartolomeo Spina (chief censor of the Catholic Church), who wanted to stamp out the Copernican theory. His friend Giovanni Tolosani wrote an unpublished treatise opposing Copernicus in 1545. Tolosani’s main arguments were that Copernicus could not measure the speed of the earth, and that his approach to the problem was based on mathematics. By the end of the 16th century, most people opposed the Copernican theory.
At this time, Galileo supported the Copernican theory in private but would not dare to publicly support it. Galileo invented the telescope in 1610. He saw the moons of Jupiter, which disproved the Aristotelian concept that everything orbited around the earth. He also saw the phases of Venus and the corresponding shift in the size of Venus during the year, which proved that Venus orbited the sun. Based on these observations, Galileo thought that he had proof of heliocentrism, which gave him the confidence to publicly promote the Copernican heliocentric model and to publicly criticize the Aristotelian (A.k.a. Ptolemaic) model. Nevertheless, Galileo ran into strong opposition from scholars and leaders within the Catholic Church who supported Aristotelian concepts. Caccini made a complaint to the Catholic Holy Office in 1615, which initiated the legal proceedings against Galileo from Cardinal Bellarmine and the Inquisition. In response, Galileo wrote the “open letter to Christina” in which he argued his case. In the 40-page letter, Galileo referred to the opposition as completely unreasonable and illogical. Much of the opposition centered on passages in the Bible that supposedly supported the geocentric model of the universe. Galileo argued that the passages weren’t meant to be interpreted literally.
Prior to the Inquisition hearing, Cardinal Bellarmine consulted with Jesuit astrologers who agreed that Galileo had shown that Ptolemy (Aristotle) was wrong, but the Jesuit’s argued that Galileo had not proven that heliocentrism was correct. As a result of the trial, Galileo was told not to state that the Copernican system was true, and Galileo agreed to this edict.
By 1619, Kepler proved the Copernican model with Brahe’s precise observations and his three laws of planetary motion that precisely calculated the elliptical paths of the planets. The planetary positions over time precisely followed the mathematical model. He published the heliocentric model in “New Astronomy, where he also argued that the Bible is written for humans with concepts that reflect human conceptions of the universe. For example, Kepler stated that Psalm 19 (God pitched a tent for the sun) is meant to be poetical and is not meant to represent physical reality.[1]
A new pope entered office in 1623. Pope Urban was a friend of Galileo, and Galileo pleaded with Pope Urban for two years to allow him to publish a new book on heliocentrism. The new pope eventually acquiesced but asked Galileo to also include arguments for geocentrism in his book. Galileo published his book, Dialogue concerning two chief world systems, in 1632. He worked hard on the book and on developing arguments in support of heliocentrism. In the preface, he described his view of events before and during his Inquisition hearing. One problem with his book was that me made his opponents out to be idiots, and he offended many people. He put the arguments for geocentrism in the mouth of a foolish character named Simplicio, which meant simpleton. One can only wonder if the resistance of the church to the heliocentric model might have been avoided if Galileo took a less sarcastic approach. As a result, he was put under house arrest.
During this period, opponents of heliocentrism argued that it was impossible to derive a model of the universe based on the faint light of stars, and they questioned the validity of observed data. Thus, the ability to observe and interpret data became a huge controversy in the 17th century. In response, Kepler wrote Ad Vitellionem, in which he made the following arguments in support of the ability to precisely observe and accurately model the positions of the planets.
1. light is composed of forms and visual rays,
2. “images were causal effects; stains of light which accidently bounced off of objects and fell on screens,”
3. images represent reality, and we can trust observations and images,
4. causes can be discerned in the observations of the planets.
In this intellectual milieu, scientist and philosopher Rene Descartes began to struggle with the legitimacy of any information. He also struggled with our ability to reason as we process the information. He began to question his own existence and the existence of God. After a long season of philosophical gymnastics, he resolved his dilemma with the famous statement, “I think, therefore I am.” One must wonder if Descartes would have struggled with truth if there had not been a Copernican controversy in which the church and associated scientists questioned the legitimacy of information. When an organization such as a church holds on to false concepts and ignores obvious data, it is difficult for the members of that organization to evaluate information.
Isaac Newton finally provided the theoretical basis for the heliocentric model in 1687. In his book Principia, he showed that a balance of gravity and centrifugal force kept the planets in their orbits around the sun. The Catholic Church and some Protestant churches still did not consider this to be proof that the Earth moved. Seventy years afterward, the Catholic Church officially allowed publication of the concept that the earth moved.
References
[1] McMullen, E. 2003. Galileo's condemnation: The real and complex story. Georgia Journal of Science
http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qa4015/is_200301/ai_n9199980/pg_3