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The Advance of the Heliocentric Theory

By: Natalie Ludwig

To a person living in the 21st century, the geocentric theory seems ridiculous. The idea that the Earth is the center of our solar system just does not make sense to us.

This is because we have come to know over the years that it is actually the Sun that is in the center of our solar system. The heliocentric theory has been considered to be correct for years and years now, but that has not always been the case; there was once a time when the geocentric theory was accepted as correct. Theories were bounced around by scientists centuries ago to finally come to the truth in heliocentrism.

Plato, Aristotle, and eventually Ptolemy all supported the theory of geocentrism.

For years and years, this was the theory widely accepted, and even the Church supported it. Plato’s theory was based more on philosophy than science. Back in the 4th century B.C., he had a theory about the “divine essence” of the Earth, and concluded based on that feeling that the Earth must be the center of existence. A few years later came Aristotle’s contribution. Although he agreed that the Earth was the center, he thought that the only way to prove that was to use science, specifically observations.

Later, in the 2nd century A.D., Ptolemy then created his geocentric model based on the foundation of Plato and Aristotle’s work, with the Earth in the center as the Sun, Moon, and stars orbited it(Plant, 2012).

Although the heliocentric theory did not become a popular idea until the 1500’s, the idea that the Sun was the center of our solar system was around for centuries prior.

The earliest noted idea of this is recorded back in 200 B.C., by Aristarchus of Samos, Ludwig 2 although most people would give the credit to Nicolaus Copernicus (Cessna, 2009).

Copernicus built upon the theory that Aristarchus began so long ago and did give him credit when he furthered the theory. At the time, it was difficult for heliocentrism to gain credibility. For the most part, people thought that the stars, too, circled the Earth, and did not understand how this new theory would explain that. Copernicus’ theory explained much more about heliocentrism and answered those questions.

In his book On the Revolutions of the Heavenly Bodies, Copernicus discussed his philosophy about the Sun, Earth, Moon, and stars, and the way they are interact in the solar system. He theorized a few major things in this publication: that the Earth is the third planet from the Sun, that the Moon orbits the Earth as opposed to the Sun, and that the Earth itself rotates, an explanation for the confusion about the position of stars in the sky. Although Copernicus’ work started out as simply a philosophical theory, he went on to utilize mathematics, specifically a great deal of geometry, to support his theory and give it more credibility.

He hit a bit of a roadblock, however, with the Roman Catholic Church. At the time, the Church did not accept that model. It made the most sense that the Earth would be the center, and anything against that was not considered. This was a difficult situation to tip-toe around. Even after Copernicus passed away, the Church did everything it could to get rid of the heliocentric theory. Luckily, Copernicus had several scientists to advance his work after he died(Cessna, 2009). Galileo played a huge role in continuing Copernicus’ work and actively supporting it. His work particularly with the phases of Venus proved very influential in dethroning the geocentric model (Houlding,

2011). Unfortunately, despite this information, the Church was not having it and Ludwig 3 eventually had him arrested, all in the name of proving a scientific truth. Johannes

Kepler also published several works in support of the work of Copernicus and now

Galileo, which, too, had much influence in the eventual denial of the accuracy of the geocentric model.

Geocentrism versus heliocentrism has countless implications within the study of philosophy. The way a person sees the world and its relationship to other bodies in the solar system and universe varies from person to person, and these two theories are two ways of doing that. We know from the history of these theories that we can use science to support our philosophies and learn from each one, expanding our intelligence and critical thinking abilities.

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Works Cited

Cessna, Abby. "Geocentric Model." Universe Today RSS. 17 June 2009.

Cessna, Abby. "Heliocentric Model." Universe Today RSS. 22 June 2009.

Houlding, Deborah. "The Irrespressible Galileo Galilei." 14 Nov. 2011.

Plant, David. "The Copernican Revolution." Skyscript. 23 Dec. 2012.