copernicus

- Martin Luther (1483-1546) [Criticizing Copernicus' heliocentric theory of planetary motion.] Because Copernicus wasn't the first astronomer to suggest this.

It's a cheap hack, and it's the flaw that drove Copernicus away from Ptolemy in the first place.

Nicholas Copernicus waited until he was on his death bed before risking the publication of his life's work.

> Example Nicolaus Copernicus Where is it [falsely] written that Copernicus was attacked?

The point still stands that Copernicus transcended his time, but he was really riding on the coattails of Ptolemy's genius.

Occasionally you find a Copernicus that manages to proves an entire civilization wrong and their ideas stand the test of time.

I was never taught that Copernicus was persecuted...but I can see why some people could get it mixed up.

Before Copernicus system, describing the movements of planets was very complex too.

The field hasn't really had its Copernicus yet, let alone its Newton.

Well, Copernicus died before the book became widely available, didn't he?

The HN version of fora would have burned Copernicus at the stake for daring to suggest that the Earth was not the center of the universe.

From the mid 15th century when Copernicus first proposed heliocentrism, to the mid 17th century when Kepler's theories became widely accepted is a long time though.

Not to be a jerk, but "[Copernicus] was forced into it, because it was the only way to make the numbers come out right" just isn't correct.

There's a record of Luther dismissing Copernicus, or at least geocentrism, though it's from four years before On the Revolutions of the Heavenly Spheres was published: "So it goes now.

Abbot mocked Bruno for supporting "the opinion of Copernicus that the earth did go round, and the heavens did stand still; whereas in truth it was his own head which rather did run round, and his brains did not stand still",[23] and reports accusations that Bruno plagiarized Ficino's work.

"However, just as the Church eventually made accommodations after Copernicus and Galileo showed that the Earth was not the centre of the universe, and when it belatedly accepted the truth of Darwin's theory of evolution, Catholic leaders say that alien life can be aligned with the Bible’s teachings." Well, colour me surprised!

Really, Copernicus' accomplishment was that his model worked very well yet left out a huge heap of epicycles.

Copernicus's big win is getting rid of the equant, easily the most mathematically ugly thing in the Ptolemaic system.

Example Nicolaus Copernicus, was persecuted by the Catholic Church for writing his sun centered book and arrested.