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astronomy w/ the universe
astronomy. making sense.
the imaginative scientists who looked up with wonder.
ASTRONOMY
Science vs. Religion
God Created The Heaven And The Earth
The Earth is the Center of the Universe.
Heavenly Bodies and Religious Truth.
CHRISTIANITY
The Time Of Christ.
Well do I know that I am mortal, a creature of one day.
But if my mind follows the wandering path of stars
Then my feet no longer rest on earth, but standing by
Zeus himself, I take my fill of ambrosia, the food of the gods.
Ptolomey
Claudius Ptolemy
An Earth Self-Centered View of the Sky
RELIGION
God Created the Universe
Born: 85 CE; Hermiou, Egypt.
Died: 165 CE; Alexandria, Egypt.
Portrait of Ptolemy by Andre Thevet © Bettmann/CORBIS
The Earth was the center of the Universe according to
Claudius Ptolemy’s view of the cosmos persisted for 1400 years
until it was (controversially) overturned by the findings of
Copernicus,
Galileo
Newton.
Ancient Astronomer
Claudius Ptolemy (about 85–165 CE)
Alexandria, Egypt
A city established by Alexander the Great
400 years before Ptolemy’s birth.
GREEK RULE
Alexandria cultivated a famous library, attracting scholars from Greece.
Alexandria’s school for astronomers received praise and patronage.
PTOLEMY’S COSMIC VIEW
THE NAKED TRUTH
THE LAST ASTRONOMER STANDING
30 BCE
The Romans conquered Egypt
(Octavian Over Cleopatra)
Rome’s interest was in conquering the Earth,
not phi·los·o·phiz·ing about the universe, and the meaning of life.
GOD CREATED THE HEAVEN AND THE EARTH.
It took him seven days.
That’s the Catholic Church’s story, and it stuck to it.
Stuck to it, HARD.
The Romans provided nearly nothing for the scientific study of the stars.
Alexandria had become the second-largest city in the Roman Empire
Not because of its scholarly past,
Because it was one of the Empire’s most important sources of grain.
FOOD FOR THOUGHT.
FEAST OF WAR
THE LAST ASTRONOMER STANDING
(Alone In The Desert)
PTOLEMY
The One Great Astronomer of Roman Alexandria.
mathematician (science)
geographer
astrologer (religion)
lived in Egypt,
wrote in Greek, and
bore a Roman first name,
Claudius — probably a gift to one of Ptolemy’s ancestors.
from the Roman emperor
Ptolemy’s Understanding of the Universe was always Greek.
THE GEOCENTRIC VIEW (HELIO)
based on the observation of planetary positions
and unusual visual phenomena
Comets, Meteors, and Solar and Luna Eclipse.
Ptolemy promoted (wrote about) his view and understanding of the cosmos
His view was soon accepted (believed as religious truth) in the Byzantine and Islamic worlds,
and after translation (Greek to Latin) in the 12th Century, Ptolemy’s GEOCENTRIC VIEW was favored throughout Europe,
and proved the accepted truth for 1400 years.
ARISTOTLE
First To Imagine
384 B.C. to 322 B.C
Greek
philosopher
scientis
considered one of the greatest thinkers in
politics,
psychology
ethics.
Attended PLATO’s Academy at 17.
Tutoring Alexander the Great (338 B.C.)
First to Imagine
The Sun,
The Moon,
The Planets
Revolving Around
A SPHERICAL EARTH.
ORBIT
PTOLEMY
Accepted Aristotle’s Idea
The Sun / The Moon
The Planets
revolve around a spherical Earth
THE GEOCENTRIC VIEW.
Ptolemy developed this Idea through observation and mathematical detail.
In doing so, he rejected the hypothesis of Aristarchus of Samos,
who came to Alexandria about 350 years before
Aristarchus had made the claim that the Earth revolves around the Sun,
but he couldn’t prove it.
THE NAKED TRUTH
Based on observations he made with his naked eye,
Ptolemy saw the Universe as a set of nested, transparent spheres,
with Earth in the center.
He posited that the Moon, Mercury, Venus, and the Sun all revolved around Earth.
Beyond the Sun
Behind Mars, Jupiter and Saturn (the only other planets visible with a naked eye),
One Final Sphere, with all the stars (revolving around each other) fixed to it.
This idea of the Universe did not fit exactly with all of Ptolemy’s observations.
He was aware that the size, motion, and brightness of the planets varied.
So he incorporated Hipparchus’s notion of epicycles, to work out his calculations.
Introduced two centuries earlier
Epicycles were small circular orbits
around imaginary centers on which the planets were said to move
while making a revolution around the Earth.
By using Ptolemy’s tables,
astronomers could accurately predict eclipses and the positions of planets.
Because real visible events in the sky seemed to confirm the truth of Ptolemy’s views,
his ideas were accepted for centuries
Until the Polish astronomer proposed otherwide in 1543.
