As in the Middle Ages, the Earth was round, and in the XXI century it became flat. As in the Middle Ages, the land was round, and in the 21st century it became flat in the form of a pear

06.12.2020 Insulin

Introduction

Claudius Ptolemy - famous Alexandrian astronomer, mathematician and geographer of the eyelids of our era, one of the largest scientists of antiquity. For the whole millennium in the field of astronomy with Ptolem, no one could compare. There are no mention of his life and activities of the historians of this period. Even approximate date of birth and death of Ptolemy, as well as any facts of his biography, were also unknown.

But thanks to his writings, he remained in history. To greatly fortunate modern historians, almost all its main essays have been preserved. The chief labor of Ptolemy - "Almagest" - the beginning of the XVII century was the main textbook of astronomy.

In Almagest, Ptolemy extensively applies the results of the observations of his great predecessor of Hippark (II century BC. Er). Hipparch watched and watched heavenly bodies and sought to detect the patterns of motion of the planets, as they represented a big riddle for astronomers. Planets during their movement across the sky as if described loops. This difficulty is associated with the movement of the earth itself. When the earth seems to be "catching up" another planet, then at first glance it may seem that the planet is as it may be suspended, and then moves back. However, the ancient astronomers thought that the planets actually make such complex movements around the earth and pushing out from this they built their theories.

Chapter I. Geocentric Peace System Ptolemy

1.1. Developing geocentrism

Since ancient times, the Earth was considered the center of the Universe. At the same time, the existence of the central axis of the universe and asymmetry "Verkhnya" was assumed. Land from the fall saved some kind of support. In early civilizations, a huge mythical animal or animals (elephants, whales, turtles) acted as a support. The first ancient Greek thinker and philosopher Falez Miletsky as this support represented a natural object - the world ocean. Anaximander Miretsky made the thought that the Universe is centrally symmetric and it does not have any definite orientation. For this reason, in the center of space, the land is lacking grounds to move in any direction, that is, it is directly resting in the center of the Universe without support. The student of Anaximandra Anaximen did not agree with the theory of his teacher, believing that the compressed air keeps the earth from falling. Anaxahors adhered to this point of view. The position of Anaximandra was divided, however, Pythagoreans, Parmenid and Ptolemy. The position of the democritus was not understood: according to different testimonies, he followed Anaximandra or Anaximen.



Anaximandr assumed that the earth has a form of a low cylinder with a height of three times less than the base diameter. Anaximen, Anaksagor, Levkipp assumed that the land is flat, something like a table covers. A brand new step was made by Pythagoras, who made that the earth has a shape of a ball. In this assumption, not only the Pythagoreans, but also Plato, Parmenid, Aristotle followed him. So the canonical form of a geocentric system appeared, which was subsequently developed by the ancient Greek astronomers: a spherical earth-in the center of the spherical universe; The visible daily movement of the celestial luminaries is the reflection of the rotation of the space around the world axis.

Anaximandr believed that the stars were closest to the ground, then the moon and the sun were located. Anaximen The first suggested that the stars are the most distant objects from the ground, which are fixed on the outer shell of space. In this he followed all the subsequent scientists (the exception: Empedocla; he adhered to the theory of Anaximandra). A judgment appeared (for the first time, most likely, at Anaximen or Pythagoreans), that the larger the period of appealing the heavenly sphere, the higher and, therefore, is further. Thus, the order of Luminage was the following: Moon, Sun, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn and, then, Stars. This list does not include Mercury and Venus, since the Greeks have arisen on their score: Aristotle and Plato placed them immediately behind the sun, Ptolemy - between the moon and the sun. Aristotle believed that there are nothing above the sphere of fixed stars, including the space, while the Stoics believed that our world was immersed in an infinite empty space; Following the judgments of Democritus, they assumed that they had other worlds for our world (which was limited to the sphere of stationary stars). This opinion was supported by epicuretes, and he also outlined Lucretia in the poem "On the nature of things."



1.2. General geocentrism

Ancient Greek scientists had different opinions, justifying the central location and immobility of the Earth. Anaximandr as a reason indicated the spherical symmetry of space. He was not supported by Aristotle, who put forward a countersdown: in this case, a person located in the center of the room, the walls of which is the food, must die with hunger. This argument was later attributed to Buridan. Aristotle himself, directly, justified geocentrism as follows: The Earth is a heavy body, and the center of the Universe is a natural place for heavy bodies; And, as experience shows, all the heavy bodies falling steeply, and since they move to the center of the world, the land is in the center. In addition, the Earth's orbital movement (this was assumed by Pythagorean Philolai) Aristotle denied on the grounds that it should lead to the parallactic displacement of stars, which is not observed.

Multiple authors and other empirical arguments. Plinles Elder in his encyclopedia "Natural History" argues the central location of the land to the equality of the day and night during equinoxies, as well as the fact that during the equinox period, the sunrise can be observed on the same line, and the sunrise on the day of the summer solstice is located on The same line as coming on the day of the winter solstice. From the point of view of astronomy, these arguments and arguments are naturally delusion. Not better and arguments that led to the Advisor in the textbook "Lectures on Astronomy". He explains the centrality of the Earth from Nasty. He believed that if the earth was located east of the center of the Universe, then the shadows at dawn would be shorter than at sunset, the celestial bodies would seem to see more than when entering, and duration from dawn to noon would be less than from noon before sunset. But since this is not there, we can conclude that the earth cannot be shifted to the west of the center of the world. By analogy, it is proved that the Earth cannot be shifted to the West. Next, if the Earth was located north or south of the center, the shadows at the sunrise would be, respectively, in the northern or southern direction. In addition, at dawn in the days of the equinox, the shadow would have the direction accurately in the direction of sunset these days, and at sunrise on the day of the summer solstice, the shadows would point out the sunset point on the day of the winter solstice. It also explains the fact that the land is not shifted to the north or south of the center. In the event that the Earth was located above the center, it would be possible to observe less than half of the sky, including less than six zodiac signs; What would lead to that night would always be longer than the day. By analogy: the land can not be below the center of the world. From the foregoing, it can be concluded that it can be located only in the center. Approximately such arguments in favor of the centrality of the Earth expressed the Ptolemy in Almagest, the book I.Bezvlyo, the arguments of Adhesion and Ptolemy confirm only the fact that the universe is incomparably much more than the Earth, and for this reason are also unjust.

1.3.Gocentric system of the world Ptolemy

Ptolemy, making an emphasis and based on the achievements of Hippark, explored movable heavenly shining. He made a significant contribution in addition and clarify the concept of movement of the moon, and also improved the theory of eclipses. However, a truly great scientific feat of a scientist was the formation of a mathematical theory of the visible movement of the planets. This theory relied on the following principles:

· Fear of land;

· Huge remoteness from the sphere of stars;

· Uniformity and circular nature of the movements of heavenly bodies;

· Earth immobility;

· Central position of the Earth in the Universe.

The theory of Ptolemy combined the concept of epicycles and eccentrics. He made the assumption that the circumference (Deferrant) is located around the fixed land, somewhat shifted relative to the center of the Earth (Eccentric). According to the Deference, the center of a smaller circle is moving - epicycle - with an angular speed, unchanged with respect to the deferent's own center and Not to the earth itself, but to a point that is located symmetrically the center of the Deferent relative to the Earth (Equant). The planet itself in the Ptolemy system is evenly moving along the epicycle. In order to describe the newly discovered unevenness in the movements of the planets and the moon, new additional epicycles were introduced - the second, third, etc. The planet was located on the latter. The theory of Ptolemy made it possible to pretend the complex loop-shaped movements of the planets (their acceleration and deceleration, standing and the opponent movement). On the basis of the arrangement of astronomical tables, the location of the planets could be calculated with a very high at that time accuracy (there was an error less than 10 ").

Of the basic properties of planetary movements, the concept of which was determined by Ptolem, you can select several very important patterns:

1. The conditions for the movement of the upper and lower planets from the sun differ significantly.

2. A characteristic role for movement of both those and other planets represents the sun.

The stages of circulation of planets either by drawing (at the lower planets), or by epicycles (at the top) will be equal to the period of the conversion of the Sun, that is, long per year. The focus of the lower planets and the upper epicycles is due to the plane of the ecliptic. A thorough study of these properties of the planetary movements would bring Ptolemy to a simple conclusion, which would be the following: the sun, and not the earth is the center of the planetary system. This conclusion long before Ptolemy put forward Aristarh Samos. He argued that the Earth is several times less than the sun. Without a doubt, it is clear that the smaller body moves around more, but not the opposite. Although the scale of other planets directly by Ptolemy was not able to determine if it was clear that they were all much less than the sun.

The Ptolemy's system not only clarified the visible movements of the planets, but also made the opportunity to calculate their position for the future with an accuracy that completely satisfied the imperfect studies with the naked eye. That is why, although incorrectly based, the system first did not encourage serious contradictions, and later open objections to her brutally suppressed by the Christian church.

The discrepancy of this concept with observations that appeared as the accuracy of observations increases, were excluded by complicating the system. For example, some inaccuracies in the visible movements of the planets disclosed by subsequent observations were explained by the fact that the planet is not drawn around the center of the first epicycle, and the center of the second epicycle, in the circumference of which the planet is already moving. When and in such a building for any planet, inaccuracies appeared, they were injected the third, fourth, etc. Epicials, as long as the position of the planet on the circumference of the last of them did not give more or less acceptable consent with observations and research.

By the beginning of the XVI century. The Ptolemy system was so difficult to ensure that it was no longer able to satisfy the conditions and requirements that were presented to astronomy practical life, and first of all the shipping. We needed simpler methods to calculate the location of the planets. And thanks to the creation of the brilliant Polish scientist Nikolai Copernicus, who later developed and laid the database of astronomy, such methods were created and modern astronomy could not develop and develop.

Development of geocentrism

Refusal of geocentrism

During the scientific revolution of the XVII century, geocentrism is incompatible with astronomical facts and contradicts physical theory; Geliocentric system of the world gradually established. The main events that led to the abandonment of the geocentric system were the creation of a heliocentric theory of planetary movements by Copernicus, the telescopic discoveries of Galilee, the opening of the laws of Kepler and, most importantly, the creation of classical mechanics and the opening of the law of Newton worldwide.

Geocentrism and Religion

Already one of the first ideas, opposition geocentrism (Heliocentric Hypothesis of Aristarch Samossky) led to the reaction from representatives of religious philosophy: Cleanf Stoic called to attract Aristarha to the court for moving from the site "Foci of the World", having in mind the land; It is not known, however, whether the efforts of Cleanf were crowned with success. In the Middle Ages, since the Christian Church taught that the whole world was created by God for the sake of man (see Anthropocentrism), geocentrism was also successfully adapted to Christianity. This was also facilitated by the literal reading of the Bible. The scientific revolution of the XVII century was accompanied by attempts by the administrative ban of the heliocentric system, which led, in particular, to a lawsuit on a supporter and propaganda of Heliocentrism Galileo Galileem. Currently, geocentrism as a religious faith is found among some conservative Protestant groups in the United States.

Links

see also

Literature

  • T. L. Heath, "Aristarchus of Samos, The Ancient Copernicus: a History of Greek Astronomy to Aristarchus", Oxford, Clarendon, 1913; REPRINTED NEW YORK, DOVER, 1981.


Plan:

    Introduction
  • 1 Development of geocentrism
  • 2 Justification of geocentrism
  • 3 Explanation of astronomical phenomena from the standpoint of geocentrism
  • 4 Refusal of geocentrism
  • 5 Geocentrism and Religion
  • 6 Interesting Facts
  • Notes
    Literature

Introduction

Geocentric system of the world (from Dr. Greek. Γῆ, Γαῖα - Earth) - an idea of \u200b\u200bthe device of the universe, according to which the central position in the Universe occupies a fixed land, around which the sun, moon, planets and stars rotate. An alternative to geocentrism is the heliocentric system of the world and many modern cosmological models of the Universe.

"The figure of heavenly bodies" is an illustration of a Geocentric system of the world, made by Portuguese cartographer Bartolome Velu in 1568. Stored in the National Library of France.


1. Development of geocentrism

From ancient times, the Earth was considered the center of the Universe. At the same time, the presence of the central axis of the universe and the asymmetry "Verkhnya" was assumed. The land from the fall retained some kind of support, as a giant mythical animal or animals (turtles, elephants, whales) thought in the early civilizations (turtles, elephants, whales). "Father of Philosophy" Fales Miletsky as this support saw a natural object - the world ocean. Anaximandr Miletsky suggested that the universe is centrally symmetric and there is no dedicated direction in it. Therefore, in the center of space of the Earth there is no reason to move in any direction, that is, it rests freely in the center of the universe without support. Anximandra's student Anaximen did not follow the teacher, believing that the Earth is held from falling with compressed air. Anaxahors adhered to the same opinion. The point of view of Anaximandra was divided by Pythagoreans, Parmenid and Ptolemy. The position of the democritus is not clear: according to various testimonies, he followed Anaximandra or Anaximen.

One of the earliest reached images of the geocentric system (macrobius, Comment on Slypion's sleep, manuscript of the IX century)

Anaximandr considered the land having a form of a low cylinder with a height of three times less than the base diameter. Anaxeman, Anaksagor, Levkipp considered the land flat, like the table lid. A fundamentally new step made Pythagoras, who suggested that the earth has a ball shape. This was followed by not only Pythagoreans, but also Parmenid, Plato, Aristotle. So the canonical form of the geocentric system appeared, subsequently actively developed by the ancient Greek astronomers: the spherical land is located in the center of the spherical universe; The visible daily movement of celestial luminaries is a reflection of the rotation of the space around the world axis.

As for the order of the shining, the Anaximander considered the stars located closest to the ground, then followed the moon and the sun. Anaximen first suggested that the stars are the most distant objects fastened on the outer sheath of space. In this he followed all subsequent scientists (with the exception of EmPedocla, who supported Anaximandra). There was an opinion (for the first time, Anaximna or Pythagoreans probably), that the larger the period of appealing the heavenly sphere, the higher. Thus, the layout of the Luminage turned out to be: Moon, Sun, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Stars. Mercury and Venus are not included here, because the Greeks had disagreements on their account: Aristotle and Plato placed them immediately behind the sun, Ptolemy - between the moon and the sun. Aristotle believed that there is nothing above the sphere of fixed stars, even space, while the Stoiki believed that our world was immersed in an infinite empty space; Atomists following the Democritus were believed that other worlds were found in the world (limited sphere of fixed stars). This opinion was supported by the epicuretes, he was brightly outlined by Lucretia in the poem "On the nature of things."

Medieval image of a geocentric system (from Cosmography Peter Apiana, 1540)


2. Justification of geocentrism

Ancient Greek scientists in different ways, however, justified the central position and immobility of the Earth. Anaximandr, as already mentioned, as a reason indicated spherical symmetry of space. He did not support Aristotle, putting forward a countersdown, ascribed later to Buridan: in this case, a person who is in the center of the room, in which the walls have food, must die with the hunger (see dried borudanov). Aristotle himself justified geocentrism as follows: the Earth is a heavy body, and the center of the Universe is a natural place for heavy bodies; As the experience shows, all heavy bodies fall pointing, and since they move towards the center of the world, the land is in the center. In addition, the orbital movement of the Earth (which was assumed by Pythagoretz Philolay) Aristotle rejected on the grounds that it should lead to the parallactic displacement of stars, which is not observed.

A number of authors lead other empirical arguments. Plinles Senior in his encyclopedia "Natural History" justifies the central position of the earth by the equality of the day and night during the equinoxies and the fact that during the equinoxy, the sunrise and the occasion is observed on the same line, and the sunrise on the day of the summer solstice is on the same line As an approach on the day of the winter solstice. From an astronomical point of view, all these arguments, of course, are a misunderstanding. Low better and arguments given by the Advisor in the textbook "Lectures on Astronomy", where he justifies the centrality of the Earth from Nasty. In his opinion, if the Earth was east of the center of the Universe, then the shadows at dawn would be shorter than at sunset, the celestial bodies would seem to see more than when entering, and the duration from dawn to noon would be less than from noon before sunset. Since all this is not observed, the Earth cannot be shifted east of the center of the world. Similarly, it is proved that the Earth cannot be shifted to the West. Further, if the Earth was located north or south of the center, the shadows at sunrise would extend in the northern or southern direction, respectively. Moreover, at dawn in the days of equinox, the shade are directed precisely in the direction of the sunset these days, and at sunrise on the day of the summer solstice, the shadows point to the sunset point on the day of the winter solstice. It also indicates that the land is not shifted to the north or south of the center. If the land was above the center, it would be possible to observe less than half of the sky, including less than six zodiac signs; As a result, the night would always be longer than the day. Similarly, it is proved that the Earth cannot be located below the center of the world. Thus, it can only be in the center. Approximately the same arguments in favor of the centrality of the Earth leads the Ptolemy in Almagesta, the book I. Of course, the arguments of the Adhesion and Ptolemy prove only that the Universe is much greater than the Earth, and therefore are also untenable.

Ptolemy is trying to also justify the immobility of the Earth (Almagest, Book I). First, if the earth had shifted from the center, they would have been observed just described effects, and since they are not, the Earth is always in the center. Another argument is the verticality of the trajectories of falling tel. The lack of axial rotation of the land of Ptolemy justifies as follows: if the Earth rotated, "then" ... All objects that do not rely on Earth should seem to be committed by the same movement in the opposite direction; Neither the clouds nor other flying or soaring objects will never see moving to the east, since the earth's movement to the east will always discard them, so that these objects will seem moving to the West in the opposite direction. " The failure of this argument was clear only after the opening of the fundamentals of mechanics.

The scheme of the geocentric system of the world (from the book of David Gansa "Nehmyad Vienim", the XVI century). Signed areas: air, moon, mercury, venera, sun, sphere of fixed stars, sphere that was responsible for the prevention of equinox


3. Explanation of astronomical phenomena from the standpoint of geocentrism

The greatest difficulty for the ancient Greek astronomy was the uneven movement of the skiing luminaries (especially the opponent movements of the planets), since in the Pythagorean-Platonian tradition (which, largely followed Aristotle), they were considered the deities that only uniform movements should be made. To overcome this difficulty, models were created in which complex visible movements of the planets were explained as a result of the addition of several uniform movements around the circles. The concrete incarnation of this principle was supported by Aristotle theory of homocentric spheres of Evdox Callippa and the theory of epicycles of Apollonia Perga, Hippark and Ptolemy. However, the latter was forced to partially abandon the principle of uniform movements by introducing an exfill model.


4. Refusal of geocentrism

During the scientific revolution of the XVII century, geocentrism is incompatible with astronomical facts and contradicts physical theory; Geliocentric system of the world gradually established. The main events that led to the abandonment of the geocentric system were the creation of a heliocentric theory of planetary movements by Copernicus, the telescopic discoveries of Galilee, the opening of the laws of Kepler and, most importantly, the creation of classical mechanics and the opening of the law of Newton worldwide.


5. Geocentrism and Religion

Already one of the first ideas, opposition geocentrism (Heliocentric Hypothesis of Aristarch Samossky) led to the reaction from representatives of religious philosophy: Cleanf Stoic called to attract Aristarha to the court for moving from the site "Foci of the World", having in mind the land; It is not known, however, whether the efforts of Cleanf were crowned with success. In the Middle Ages, since the Christian Church taught that the whole world was created by God for the sake of man (see Anthropocentrism), geocentrism was also successfully adapted to Christianity. This was also facilitated by the literal reading of the Bible.

Geocentric system of the world (from Dr.-Greek. Γῆ, γαῖα - Earth) - an idea of \u200b\u200bthe device of the universe, according to which the central position in the universe occupies a fixed land, around which the sun, moon, planets and stars rotate. Alternative to geocentrism is.

Development of geocentrism

From ancient times, the Earth was considered the center of the Universe. At the same time, the presence of the central axis of the universe and the asymmetry "Verkhnya" was assumed. The land from the fall retained some kind of support, as a giant mythical animal or animals (turtles, elephants, whales) thought in the early civilizations (turtles, elephants, whales). The first ancient Greek philosopher Falez Mieta as this support saw a natural object - the world ocean. Anaximandr Miletsky suggested that the universe is centrally symmetric and there is no dedicated direction in it. Therefore, in the center of space, the land is lacking grounds to move in any direction, that is, it is freely resting in the center of the universe without support. Anximandra's student Anaximen did not follow the teacher, believing that the Earth is held from falling with compressed air. Anaxahors adhered to the same opinion. Anximandra's point of view was divided, however, Pythagoreans, Parmenid and Ptolemy. The position of the democritus is not clear: according to various testimonies, he followed Anaximandra or Anaximen.


One of the earliest images of the images of a geocentric system (macrobius, a comment on Sodipion's sleep, a manuscript of the IX century)

Anaximandr considered the land having a form of a low cylinder with a height of three times less than the base diameter. Anaxeman, Anaksagor, Levkipp considered the land flat, like the table lid. A fundamentally new step made Pythagoras, who suggested that the earth has a ball shape. This was followed by not only Pythagoreans, but also Parmenid, Plato, Aristotle. So the canonical form of the geocentric system appeared, subsequently actively developed by the ancient Greek astronomers: the spherical land is located in the center of the spherical universe; The visible daily movement of celestial luminaries is a reflection of the rotation of the space around the world axis.

Medieval image of a geocentric system (from the cosmography of Peter Apiana, 1540)

As for the order of the shining, the Anaximander considered the stars located closest to the ground, then followed the moon and the sun. Anaximen first suggested that the stars are the most distant objects fastened on the outer sheath of space. In this he followed all subsequent scientists (with the exception of EmPedocla, who supported Anaximandra). There was an opinion (for the first time, Anaximna or Pythagoreans probably), that the larger the period of appealing the heavenly sphere, the higher. Thus, the layout of the Luminage turned out to be: Moon, Sun, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Stars. Mercury and Venus are not included here, because the Greeks had disagreements on their account: Aristotle and Plato placed them immediately behind the sun, Ptolemy - between the moon and the sun. Aristotle believed that there is nothing above the sphere of fixed stars, even space, while the Stoiki believed that our world was immersed in an infinite empty space; Atomists following the Democritus were believed that other worlds were found in the world (limited sphere of fixed stars). This opinion was supported by the epicuretes, he was brightly outlined by Lucretia in the poem "On the nature of things."


"The figure of heavenly bodies" is an illustration of a Geocentric system of the world Ptolemy, made by Portuguese cartographer Bartolome Velu in 1568.
Stored in the National Library of France.

Justification of geocentrism

Ancient Greek scientists in different ways, however, justified the central position and immobility of the Earth. Anaximandr, as already mentioned, as a reason indicated spherical symmetry of space. He did not support Aristotle, putting forward a countersdown, ascribed later to Buridan: in this case, a person who is in the center of the room, in which the walls have food, must die with the hunger (see dried borudanov). Aristotle himself justified geocentrism as follows: the Earth is a heavy body, and the center of the Universe is a natural place for heavy bodies; As the experience shows, all heavy bodies fall pointing, and since they move towards the center of the world, the land is in the center. In addition, the orbital movement of the Earth (which was assumed by Pythagoretz Philolay) Aristotle rejected on the grounds that it should lead to the parallactic displacement of stars, which is not observed.

Drawing of a geocentric system of the world from an Icelandic manuscript dated about 1750 year

A number of authors lead other empirical arguments. Plinles Senior in his encyclopedia "Natural History" justifies the central position of the earth by the equality of the day and night during the equinoxies and the fact that during the equinoxy, the sunrise and the occasion is observed on the same line, and the sunrise on the day of the summer solstice is on the same line As an approach on the day of the winter solstice. From an astronomical point of view, all these arguments, of course, are a misunderstanding. Low better and arguments given by the Advisor in the textbook "Lectures on Astronomy", where he justifies the centrality of the Earth from Nasty. In his opinion, if the Earth was east of the center of the Universe, then the shadows at dawn would be shorter than at sunset, the celestial bodies would seem to see more than when entering, and the duration from dawn to noon would be less than from noon before sunset. Since all this is not observed, the Earth cannot be shifted to the west of the center of the world. Similarly, it is proved that the Earth cannot be shifted to the West. Further, if the Earth was located north or south of the center, the shadows at sunrise would extend in the northern or southern direction, respectively. Moreover, at dawn in the days of equinox, the shade are directed precisely in the direction of the sunset these days, and at sunrise on the day of the summer solstice, the shadows point to the sunset point on the day of the winter solstice. It also indicates that the land is not shifted to the north or south of the center. If the land was above the center, it would be possible to observe less than half of the sky, including less than six zodiac signs; As a result, the night would always be longer than the day. Similarly, it is proved that the Earth cannot be located below the center of the world. Thus, it can only be in the center. Approximately the same arguments in favor of the centrality of the Earth leads the Ptolemy in Almagesta, the book I. Of course, the arguments of the Adhesion and Ptolemy prove only that the Universe is much greater than the Earth, and therefore are also untenable.


Pages from Sacrobosco "Tractatus de Sphaera" with Ptolemy's system - 1550

Ptolemy is trying to also justify the immobility of the Earth (Almagest, Book I). First, if the earth had shifted from the center, they would have been observed just described effects, and since they are not, the Earth is always in the center. Another argument is the verticality of the trajectories of falling tel. The lack of axial rotation of the land of Ptolemy justifies as follows: if the Earth rotated, "then" ... All objects that do not rely on Earth should seem to be committed by the same movement in the opposite direction; Neither the clouds nor other flying or soaring objects will never see moving to the east, since the earth's movement to the east will always discard them, so that these objects will seem moving to the West in the opposite direction. " The failure of this argument was clear only after the opening of the fundamentals of mechanics.

The Harmonia Macrocosmica of Andreas Cellarius - 1660/61

Explanation of astronomical phenomena from the standpoint of geocentrism

The greatest difficulty for the ancient Greek astronomy was the uneven movement of the skiing luminaries (especially the opponent movements of the planets), since in the Pythagorean-Platonian tradition (which, largely followed Aristotle), they were considered the deities that only uniform movements should be made. To overcome this difficulty, models were created in which complex visible movements of the planets were explained as a result of the addition of several uniform movements around the circles. The concrete incarnation of this principle was supported by Aristotle theory of homocentric spheres of Evdox Callippa and the theory of epicycles of Apollonia Perga, Hippark and Ptolemy. However, the latter was forced to partially abandon the principle of uniform movements by introducing an exfill model.

Refusal of geocentrism

During the scientific revolution of the XVII century, geocentrism is incompatible with astronomical facts and contradicts physical theory; Geliocentric system of the world gradually established. The main events that led to the abandonment of the geocentric system were the creation of a heliocentric theory of planetary movements by Copernicus, the telescopic discoveries of Galilee, the opening of the laws of Kepler and, most importantly, the creation of classical mechanics and the opening of the law of Newton worldwide.

Geocentrism and Religion

Already one of the first ideas, opposition geocentrism (Heliocentric Hypothesis of Aristarch Samossky) led to the reaction from representatives of religious philosophy: Cleanf Stoic called to attract Aristarha to the court for moving from the site "Foci of the World", having in mind the land; It is not known, however, whether the efforts of Cleanf were crowned with success. In the Middle Ages, since the Christian Church taught that the whole world was created by God for the sake of man (see Anthropocentrism), geocentrism was also successfully adapted to Christianity. This was also facilitated by the literal reading of the Bible. The scientific revolution of the XVII century was accompanied by attempts by the administrative ban of the heliocentric system, which led, in particular, to a lawsuit on a supporter and propaganda of Heliocentrism Galileo Galileem. Currently, geocentrism as a religious faith is found among some conservative Protestant groups in the United States.

Source: http://ru.wikipedia.org/




Geocentric system of the world (from Dr.-Greek. Γῆ, γαῖα - Earth) - an idea of \u200b\u200bthe device of the universe, according to which the central position in the universe occupies a fixed land, around which the sun, moon, planets and stars rotate. An alternative to geocentrism is the Heliocentric system of the world.

Development of geocentrism

From ancient times, the Earth was considered the center of the Universe. At the same time, the presence of the central axis of the universe and the asymmetry "Verkhnya" was assumed. The land from the fall retained some kind of support, as a giant mythical animal or animals (turtles, elephants, whales) thought in the early civilizations (turtles, elephants, whales). The first ancient Greek philosopher Falez Mieta as this support saw a natural object - the world ocean. Anaximandr Miletsky suggested that the universe is centrally symmetric and there is no dedicated direction in it. Therefore, in the center of space, the land is lacking grounds to move in any direction, that is, it is freely resting in the center of the universe without support. Anximandra's student Anaximen did not follow the teacher, believing that the Earth is held from falling with compressed air. Anaxahors adhered to the same opinion. Anximandra's point of view was divided, however, Pythagoreans, Parmenid and Ptolemy. The position of the democritus is not clear: according to various testimonies, he followed Anaximandra or Anaximen.

Anaximandr considered the land having a form of a low cylinder with a height of three times less than the base diameter. Anaxeman, Anaksagor, Levkipp considered the land flat, like the table lid. A fundamentally new step made Pythagoras, who suggested that the earth has a ball shape. This was followed by not only Pythagoreans, but also Parmenid, Plato, Aristotle. So the canonical form of the geocentric system appeared, subsequently actively developed by the ancient Greek astronomers: the spherical land is located in the center of the spherical universe; The visible daily movement of celestial luminaries is a reflection of the rotation of the space around the world axis.

As for the order of the shining, the Anaximander considered the stars located closest to the ground, then followed the moon and the sun. Anaximen first suggested that the stars are the most distant objects fastened on the outer sheath of space. In this he followed all subsequent scientists (with the exception of EmPedocla, who supported Anaximandra). There was an opinion (for the first time, Anaximna or Pythagoreans probably), that the larger the period of appealing the heavenly sphere, the higher. Thus, the layout of the Luminage turned out to be: Moon, Sun, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Stars. Mercury and Venus are not included here, because the Greeks had disagreements on their account: Aristotle and Plato placed them immediately behind the sun, Ptolemy - between the moon and the sun. Aristotle believed that there is nothing above the sphere of fixed stars, even space, while the Stoiki believed that our world was immersed in an infinite empty space; Atomists following the Democritus were believed that other worlds were found in the world (limited sphere of fixed stars). This opinion was supported by the epicuretes, he was brightly outlined by Lucretia in the poem "On the nature of things."


Stored in the National Library of France.

Justification of geocentrism

Ancient Greek scientists in different ways, however, justified the central position and immobility of the Earth. Anaximandr, as already mentioned, as a reason indicated spherical symmetry of space. He did not support Aristotle, putting forward a countersdown, ascribed later to Buridan: in this case, a person who is in the center of the room, in which the walls have food, must die with the hunger (see dried borudanov). Aristotle himself justified geocentrism as follows: the Earth is a heavy body, and the center of the Universe is a natural place for heavy bodies; As the experience shows, all heavy bodies fall pointing, and since they move towards the center of the world, the land is in the center. In addition, the orbital movement of the Earth (which was assumed by Pythagoretz Philolay) Aristotle rejected on the grounds that it should lead to the parallactic displacement of stars, which is not observed.

A number of authors lead other empirical arguments. Plinles Senior in his encyclopedia "Natural History" justifies the central position of the earth by the equality of the day and night during the equinoxies and the fact that during the equinoxy, the sunrise and the occasion is observed on the same line, and the sunrise on the day of the summer solstice is on the same line As an approach on the day of the winter solstice. From an astronomical point of view, all these arguments, of course, are a misunderstanding. Low better and arguments given by the Advisor in the textbook "Lectures on Astronomy", where he justifies the centrality of the Earth from Nasty. In his opinion, if the Earth was east of the center of the Universe, then the shadows at dawn would be shorter than at sunset, the celestial bodies would seem to see more than when entering, and the duration from dawn to noon would be less than from noon before sunset. Since all this is not observed, the Earth cannot be shifted to the west of the center of the world. Similarly, it is proved that the Earth cannot be shifted to the West. Further, if the Earth was located north or south of the center, the shadows at sunrise would extend in the northern or southern direction, respectively. Moreover, at dawn in the days of equinox, the shade are directed precisely in the direction of the sunset these days, and at sunrise on the day of the summer solstice, the shadows point to the sunset point on the day of the winter solstice. It also indicates that the land is not shifted to the north or south of the center. If the land was above the center, it would be possible to observe less than half of the sky, including less than six zodiac signs; As a result, the night would always be longer than the day. Similarly, it is proved that the Earth cannot be located below the center of the world. Thus, it can only be in the center. Approximately the same arguments in favor of the centrality of the Earth leads the Ptolemy in Almagesta, the book I. Of course, the arguments of the Adhesion and Ptolemy prove only that the Universe is much greater than the Earth, and therefore are also untenable.

Pages from Sacrobosco "Tractatus de Sphaera" with Ptolemy's system - 1550

Ptolemy is trying to also justify the immobility of the Earth (Almagest, Book I). First, if the earth had shifted from the center, they would have been observed just described effects, and since they are not, the Earth is always in the center. Another argument is the verticality of the trajectories of falling tel. The lack of axial rotation of the land of Ptolemy justifies as follows: if the Earth rotated, "then" ... All objects that do not rely on Earth should seem to be committed by the same movement in the opposite direction; Neither the clouds nor other flying or soaring objects will never see moving to the east, since the earth's movement to the east will always discard them, so that these objects will seem moving to the West in the opposite direction. " The failure of this argument was clear only after the opening of the fundamentals of mechanics.

Explanation of astronomical phenomena from the standpoint of geocentrism

The greatest difficulty for the ancient Greek astronomy was the uneven movement of the skiing luminaries (especially the opponent movements of the planets), since in the Pythagorean-Platonian tradition (which, largely followed Aristotle), they were considered the deities that only uniform movements should be made. To overcome this difficulty, models were created in which complex visible movements of the planets were explained as a result of the addition of several uniform movements around the circles. The specific embodiment of this principle was supported by Aristotle theory of the homocentric spheres of Evdox Callippa and the theory of epicycles of Apollonia Pergian, Hippark. However, the latter was forced to partially abandon the principle of uniform movements by introducing an exfill model.

Refusal of geocentrism

During the scientific revolution of the XVII century, geocentrism is incompatible with astronomical facts and contradicts physical theory; Geliocentric picture of the world was gradually established. The main events that led to the abandonment of the geocentric system were the creation of a heliocentric system of planetary movements by Copernicus, telescopic discoveries of gallilee, the opening of the laws of Kepler and, most importantly, the creation of classical mechanics and the opening of the law of Worldwide Newton.

Geocentrism and Religion

Already one of the first ideas, opposition geocentrism led to the reaction from representatives of religious philosophy: Stoic Cleanf called on to attract Aristarha to the court for moving from the site "The hearth of the world", having in mind the land; It is not known, however, whether the efforts of Cleanf were crowned with success. In the Middle Ages, since the Christian Church taught that the whole world was created by God for the sake of man (see Anthropocentrism), geocentrism was also successfully adapted to Christianity. This was also facilitated by the literal reading of the Bible. The scientific revolution of the XVII century was accompanied by attempts by an administrative prohibition of this system, which led, in particular, to a lawsuit on a supporter and propaganda of Heliocentrism Galileo Galileem. Currently geocentrism As a religious faith occurs among some conservative Protestant groups in the United States.