Who discovered the geocentric system of the world? Geocentric and heliocentric systems of the world - a little of good

Geocentric system peace

The geocentric system of the world (from ancient Greek Γῆ, Γαῖα - Earth) is an idea of the structure of the universe, according to which the central position in the Universe is occupied by the stationary Earth, around which the Sun, Moon, planets and stars revolve. An alternative to geocentrism is the heliocentric system of the world.
Development of geocentrism
Since ancient times, the Earth was considered the center of the universe. In this case, the presence of a central axis of the Universe and “top-bottom” asymmetry were assumed. The earth was kept from falling by some kind of support, which in early civilizations was thought to be some kind of giant mythical animal or animals (turtles, elephants, whales). The first ancient Greek philosopher Thales of Miletus saw this as a support natural object- world Ocean. Anaximander of Miletus suggested that the Universe is centrally symmetric and does not have any distinguished direction. Therefore, the Earth, located in the center of the Cosmos, has no reason to move in any direction, that is, it rests freely in the center of the Universe without support. Anaximander's student Anaximenes did not follow his teacher, believing that the Earth was kept from falling by compressed air. Anaxagoras was of the same opinion. Anaximander's point of view was, however, shared by the Pythagoreans, Parmenides and Ptolemy. The position of Democritus is not clear: according to various evidence, he followed Anaximander or Anaximenes.

One of the earliest images of the geocentric system that have come down to us (Macrobius, Commentary on the Dream of Scipio, 9th century manuscript)
Anaximander considered the Earth to be in the shape of a low cylinder with a height three times less than the diameter of the base. Anaximenes, Anaxagoras, Leucippus believed that the Earth was flat, like a table top. Fundamentally new step made by Pythagoras, who suggested that the Earth is spherical. In this he was followed not only by the Pythagoreans, but also by Parmenides, Plato, and Aristotle. This is how the canonical form of the geocentric system arose, subsequently actively developed by ancient Greek astronomers: the spherical Earth is located in the center of the spherical Universe; visible diurnal movement celestial bodies is a reflection of the rotation of the Cosmos around the world axis.

Medieval depiction of the geocentric system (from the Cosmography of Peter Apian, 1540)
As for the order of the luminaries, Anaximander considered the stars located closest to the Earth, followed by the Moon and the Sun. Anaximenes was the first to suggest that stars are the objects farthest from Earth, fixed on the outer shell of the Cosmos. In this, all subsequent scientists followed him (with the exception of Empedocles, who supported Anaximander). An opinion arose (for the first time, probably, among Anaximenes or the Pythagoreans) that the longer the period of revolution of a luminary in the celestial sphere, the higher it is. Thus, the order of the luminaries was as follows: Moon, Sun, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, stars. Mercury and Venus are not included here because the Greeks had disagreements about them: Aristotle and Plato placed them immediately behind the Sun, Ptolemy - between the Moon and the Sun. Aristotle believed that there was nothing above the sphere of the fixed stars, not even space, while the Stoics believed that our world is immersed in endless empty space; atomists, following Democritus, believed that beyond our world (limited by the sphere of fixed stars) there are other worlds. This opinion was supported by the Epicureans; it was vividly expounded by Lucretius in his poem “On the Nature of Things.”

"Figure of the Celestial Bodies" is an illustration of Ptolemy's geocentric system of the world, made by Portuguese cartographer Bartolomeu Velho in 1568.
Stored in National Library France.
Justification for geocentrism
Ancient Greek scientists, however, substantiated the central position and immobility of the Earth in different ways. Anaximander, as already indicated, pointed out the spherical symmetry of the Cosmos as the reason. Aristotle did not support him, putting forward a counter-argument, later attributed to Buridan: in this case, a person located in the center of a room in which there is food near the walls should die of hunger (see Buridan's donkey). Aristotle himself substantiated geocentrism in the following way: The Earth is a heavy body, and the natural place for heavy bodies is the center of the Universe; as experience shows, all heavy bodies fall vertically, and since they move towards the center of the world, the Earth is in the center. Besides, orbital movement Aristotle rejected the earth (which was proposed by the Pythagorean Philolaus) on the grounds that it should lead to a parallactic displacement of stars, which is not observed.

Drawing of the geocentric system of the world from an Icelandic manuscript dated around 1750
A number of authors provide other empirical arguments. Pliny the Elder in his encyclopedia " Natural history"justifies the central position of the Earth by the equality of day and night during the equinoxes and the fact that during the equinox, sunrise and sunset are observed on the same line, and the sunrise on the summer solstice is on the same line as the sunset on the winter solstice . From an astronomical point of view, all these arguments are, of course, a misunderstanding. Little better are the arguments given by Cleomedes in the textbook “Lectures on Astronomy”, where he proves the centrality of the Earth by contradiction. In his opinion, if the Earth were east of the center of the Universe, then the shadows at dawn would be shorter than at sunset, celestial bodies at sunrise they would appear larger than at sunset, and the duration from dawn to noon would be shorter than from noon to sunset. Since all this is not observed, the Earth cannot be shifted to the west from the center of the world. Similarly, it is proved that the Earth cannot be shifted to the west. Further, if the Earth were located north or south of center, the shadows at sunrise would extend in a north or south direction, respectively. Moreover, at dawn on the days of the equinoxes, the shadows are directed exactly in the direction of sunset on these days, and at sunrise on the day of the summer solstice, the shadows point to the point of sunset on the day of the winter solstice. This also indicates that the Earth is not offset north or south of center. If the Earth were above the center, then less than half of the sky could be observed, including less than six signs of the zodiac; as a consequence, there would always be night longer than a day. It is similarly proven that the Earth cannot be located below the center of the world. Thus, it can only be in the center. Ptolemy gives approximately the same arguments in favor of the centrality of the Earth in the Almagest, Book I. Of course, the arguments of Cleomedes and Ptolemy only prove that the Universe is much more more than Earth, and are therefore also insolvent.

Pages from SACROBOSCO "Tractatus de Sphaera" with the Ptolemaic system - 1550
Ptolemy also tries to justify the immobility of the Earth (Almagest, book I). Firstly, if the Earth were displaced from the center, then the effects just described would be observed, but since they are not, the Earth is always in the center. Another argument is the verticality of the trajectories of falling bodies. Absence axial rotation Ptolemy justifies the Earth as follows: if the Earth rotated, then “... all objects that do not rest on the Earth should seem to make the same movement in the opposite direction; neither clouds nor other flying or hovering objects will ever be seen to move eastward, since the eastward movement of the earth will always throw them off, so that these objects will appear to move westward, in the opposite direction.” The inconsistency of this argument became clear only after the discovery of the foundations of mechanics.
Explanation astronomical phenomena from the position of geocentrism
The greatest difficulty for ancient Greek astronomy was the uneven movement of the celestial bodies (especially the retrograde movements of the planets), since in the Pythagorean-Platonic tradition (which Aristotle largely followed), they were considered deities who should only make uniform movements. To overcome this difficulty, models were created in which complex visible movements planets were explained as the result of the addition of several uniform movements in circles. The concrete embodiment of this principle was the theory of homocentric spheres of Eudoxus-Callippus, supported by Aristotle, and the theory of epicycles of Apollonius of Perga, Hipparchus and Ptolemy. However, the latter was forced to partially abandon the principle of uniform motion, introducing the equant model.
Refusal of geocentrism
During the scientific revolution of the 17th century, it became clear that geocentrism is incompatible with astronomical facts and contradicts physical theory; The heliocentric system of the world gradually established itself. The main events that led to the abandonment of the geocentric system were the creation of the heliocentric theory of planetary motions by Copernicus, the telescopic discoveries of Galileo, the discovery of Kepler's laws and, most importantly, the creation of classical mechanics and the discovery of the law of universal gravitation by Newton.
Geocentrism and religion
Already one of the first ideas opposed to geocentrism (the heliocentric hypothesis of Aristarchus of Samos) led to a reaction from representatives of religious philosophy: the Stoic Cleanthes called for bringing Aristarchus to trial for moving the “Hearth of the World”, meaning the Earth; it is unknown, however, whether Cleanthes’ efforts 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 a literal reading of the Bible. The scientific revolution of the 17th century was accompanied by attempts to administratively ban the heliocentric system, which led, in particular, to the trial of the supporter and promoter of heliocentrism Galileo Galilei. Currently, geocentrism is religious faith found among some conservative Protestant groups in the United States.
Bibliography
Source: http://ru.wikipedia.org/

Another no less famous scientist of antiquity, Democritus - the founder of the concept of atoms, who lived 400 years BC - believed that the Sun is many times larger than the Earth, that the Moon itself does not glow, but only reflects sunlight, and the Milky Way consists of a huge number of stars. Summarize all the knowledge that had been accumulated by the 4th century. BC e., was able to the outstanding philosopher of the ancient world Aristotle (384-322 BC).

Rice. 1. Geocentric system of the world of Aristotle-Ptolemy.

His activities covered all natural sciences - information about the sky and Earth, about the patterns of movement of bodies, about animals and plants, etc. Aristotle's main merit as an encyclopedist scientist was the creation of a unified system of scientific knowledge. For almost two thousand years, his opinion on many issues was not questioned. According to Aristotle, everything heavy tends to the center of the Universe, where it accumulates and forms a spherical mass - the Earth. The planets are located on special areas that revolve around the Earth. Such a system of the world was called geocentric (from the Greek name for the Earth - Gaia). It was not by chance that Aristotle proposed to consider the Earth as the immovable center of the world. If the Earth moved, then, according to the fair opinion of Aristotle, a regular change would be noticeable relative position stars on the celestial sphere. But none of the astronomers observed anything like this. Only at the beginning of the 19th century. The displacement of stars (parallax) resulting from the movement of the Earth around the Sun was finally discovered and measured. Many of Aristotle's generalizations were based on conclusions that could not be verified by experience at that time. Thus, he argued that the movement of a body cannot occur unless a force acts on it. As you know from your physics course, these ideas were refuted only in the 17th century. during the times of Galileo and Newton.

Heliocentric model of the Universe

Among ancient scientists, Aristarchus of Samos, who lived in the 3rd century, stands out for the boldness of his guesses. BC e. He was the first to determine the distance to the Moon, calculated the size of the Sun, which, according to his data, turned out to be 300 s one more time larger than the Earth in volume. Probably, these data became one of the grounds for the conclusion that the Earth, along with other planets, moves around this largest body. Nowadays, Aristarchus of Samos has come to be called the “Copernicus of the ancient world.” This scientist introduced something new into the study of the stars. He believed that they were immeasurably further from the Earth than the Sun. For that era, this discovery was very important: from a cozy little home, the Universe was turning into an immense giant world. In this world, the Earth with its mountains and plains, with forests and fields, with seas and oceans became a tiny speck of dust, lost in a grandiose empty space. Unfortunately, the works of this remarkable scientist have practically not reached us, and for more than one and a half thousand years, humanity was sure that the Earth is fixed center peace. This was facilitated to a large extent mathematical description visible movement of the luminaries, which was developed for the geocentric system of the world by one of outstanding mathematicians antiquity - Claudius Ptolemy in the 2nd century. AD Most challenging task turned out to be an explanation for the loop-like motion of the planets.

Ptolemy, in his famous work “Mathematical Treatise on Astronomy” (better known as “Almagest”) argued that each planet moves uniformly along an epicycle - a small circle, the center of which moves around the Earth along a deferent - big circle. Thus he was able to explain special character the movements of the planets, in which they differed from the Sun and Moon. The Ptolemaic system gave a purely kinematic description of the motion of the planets - the science of that time could not offer anything else. You have already seen that using a model of the celestial sphere to describe the movement of the Sun, Moon and stars allows you to carry out many calculations useful for practical purposes, although in reality such a sphere does not exist. The same is true for epicycles and deferents, on the basis of which the positions of the planets can be calculated with a certain degree of accuracy.

Rice. 2.

However, over time, the requirements for the accuracy of these calculations constantly increased, and more and more new epicycles had to be added for each planet. All this complicated the Ptolemaic system, making it unnecessarily cumbersome and inconvenient for practical calculations. Nevertheless, the geocentric system remained unshakable for about 1000 years. After all, after the heyday of ancient culture in Europe, there came a long period, during which not a single significant discovery was made in astronomy and many other sciences. Only during the Renaissance did a rise in the development of sciences begin, in which astronomy became one of the leaders. In 1543, a book by the outstanding Polish scientist Nicolaus Copernicus (1473-1543) was published, in which he substantiated a new - heliocentric - system of the world. Copernicus showed that the daily motion of all the stars can be explained by the rotation of the Earth around its axis, and the loop-like motion of the planets by the fact that all of them, including the Earth, revolve around the Sun.

The figure shows the movement of the Earth and Mars during the period when, as it seems to us, the planet is describing a loop in the sky. The creation of the heliocentric system marked new stage in the development of not only astronomy, but also all natural science. Especially important role played by the idea of Copernicus that behind the visible picture of occurring phenomena, which seems true to us, we must look for and find the essence of these phenomena, inaccessible to direct observation. The heliocentric system of the world, substantiated but not proven by Copernicus, was confirmed and developed in the works of such outstanding scientists as Galileo Galilei and Johannes Kepler.

Galileo (1564-1642), one of the first to point a telescope at the sky, interpreted the discoveries made as evidence in favor of the Copernican theory. Having discovered the change of phases of Venus, he came to the conclusion that such a sequence can only be observed if it revolves around the Sun.

Rice. 3.

The four satellites of the planet Jupiter that he discovered also refuted the idea that the Earth is the only center in the world around which other bodies can rotate. Galileo not only saw mountains on the Moon, but even measured their height. Along with several other scientists, he also observed sunspots and noticed their movement across the solar disk. On this basis, he concluded that the Sun rotates and, therefore, has the kind of motion that Copernicus attributed to our planet. Thus, it was concluded that the Sun and Moon have a certain similarity with the Earth. Finally, observing many faint stars in and outside the Milky Way, inaccessible to the naked eye, Galileo concluded that the distances to the stars are different and that no “sphere of fixed stars” exists. All these discoveries became a new stage in understanding the position of the Earth in the Universe.

The geocentric system of the world is a concept of the structure of the universe, according to which the central body in the entire Universe is our Earth, and the Sun, Moon, as well as all other stars and planets revolve around it.

Since ancient times, the earth has been considered the center of the universe, having a central axis and asymmetry “top - bottom”. According to these ideas, the Earth is held in space with the help of a special support, which in early civilizations was represented by giant elephants, whales or turtles.

The geocentric system as a separate concept appeared thanks to the ancient Greek mathematician and Miletus. He imagined the world ocean as the support of the Earth and assumed that the Universe has a centrally symmetrical structure and does not have any designated direction. For this reason, the Earth, located in the center of the Cosmos, is at rest without any support. A student of Anaximander of Miletus, Anaximenes of Miletus, somewhat moved away from the conclusions by suggesting that the Earth is held in the space of the Cosmos due to

For many centuries, the geocentric system was the only correct idea of the structure of the world. The point of view of Anaximenes of Miletus was shared by Anaxagoras, Ptolemy and Parmenides. Exactly what point of view Democritus adhered to is unknown to history. Anaximander claimed that he corresponded to a cylinder whose height was three times less than the diameter of its base. Anaxogoras, Anaximenes and Leucillus argued that the Earth is flat. The first to suggest that the Earth is spherical was the ancient Greek mathematician, mystic and philosopher - Pythagoras. Further, the Pythagoreans, Parmenides and Aristotle joined his point of view. Thus, the geocentric system was framed in a different context, and its canonical form appeared.

Subsequently, the canonical form of geocentric concepts was actively developed by astronomers of ancient Greece. They believed that the Earth has the shape of a ball and occupies a central position in the Universe, which also has the shape of a sphere, and also that the Cosmos rotates around the world axis, causing the movement of the celestial bodies. The geocentric system was constantly improved by new discoveries.

So Anaximenes came up with the assumption that the higher the position of the star, the longer the period of its revolution around the Earth. The order of the luminaries was arranged as follows: the Moon came first from the Earth, followed by the Sun, followed by Mars, Jupiter and Saturn. There were disagreements regarding Venus and Mercury based on the contradiction of their location. Aristotle and Plato placed Venus and Mercury behind the Sun, and Ptolemy argued that they were between the Moon and the Sun.

Geocentric coordinate system is used in modern world when studying the movement of the Moon and spacecraft around the Earth, as well as to determine the geocentric positions of those moving around the Sun. An alternative to the geocentric theory is according to which the central celestial body is the Sun, and the Earth and other planets revolve around it.

Scientific picture of the world is a holistic view of the world at this stage development of scientific knowledge and development social relations. It synthesizes knowledge of specific sciences with philosophical generalizations.

A. Einstein: “a person strives in some adequate way to create in himself a simple and clear picture of the world; and this is not only in order to overcome the world in which he lives, but also in order, to a certain extent, to try to replace this world with the picture he created. This is what the artist, the poet, the theorizing philosopher and natural scientist do, each in his own way.”

In structure scientific picture the world there are 2 main components: conceptual And sensual-figurative .

Conceptual presented philosophical concepts , such as matter, motion, space, time, etc., principles – the principle of universal interconnection and interdependence of phenomena and processes, the principle of development, the principle of the material unity of the world, etc. and laws - laws of dialectics. Also general scientific concepts , such as field, matter, energy, universe, etc., general scientific laws – the law of conservation and transformation of energy, the law of evolutionary development, etc., general scientific principles - the principle of determinism, verification, etc.

Sensory-figurative component is a collection visual representations about the world. For example, the idea of the atom as “porridge with raisins” by Thomson, the planetary model of the atom by Rutherford, the image of the Metagalaxy as an inflating sphere, the idea of the electron’s spin as a rotating top, etc.

The scientific picture of the world fulfills a number of functions:

heuristic , that is, it sets a scientific research program;
systematizing , that is, it combines the knowledge obtained various sciences within the framework of a unified scientific program;
ideological , that is, it develops a certain view of the world, a certain attitude towards the world.

The scientific picture of the world is not a frozen formation, but a constantly changing one. In the process of development of scientific and technical knowledge qualitative transformations occur in it, which lead to the replacement old painting world to a new one.

This process is considered in his work by the famous American scientist, historian of science Thomas Kuhn . According to T. Kuhn, there are two periods in the development of any science: “pre-paradigmatic” and “post-paradigmatic”. During the first, it is still impossible to talk about “normal” science, based on a number of generally accepted scientific principles. On the contrary, the second one takes place under the sign of a model of scientific knowledge that is uniform for the entire community of scientists (paradigms). This is the period of the “normal” stage of scientific development.

Scientific paradigm is a set of methods, methods, principles scientific knowledge, as well as theories and hypotheses approved scientific community at a certain historical period time. Scientific paradigm – this is also a sample, a standard, a template used to solve problems scientific problems and tasks.

Over time, the development of science within the framework of this paradigm becomes more difficult, and anomalies arise in theories. Ultimately this leads to a crisis requiring paradigm shifts , i.e. scientific revolution . As a result of a paradigm shift, the scientific community begins to see the world differently. The basis of scientific knowledge is based on a different set of initial principles, new period development of science.

A scientific description of a paradigm shift is impossible in terms of logic - it requires an appeal to psychology scientific creativity and to sociology. The new and old paradigms are essentially incomparable and therefore it cannot be assumed that the development of science proceeds through the gradual accumulation of scientific knowledge. Consequently, in this sense it is impossible to talk about a single line of development of science.

The difference between the concept of a paradigm and the concept of a scientific picture of the world is that a paradigm within a given science may not be of a “global” nature, but may be associated with some particular branch of science or even with one group of problems. On the other hand, the concept of a paradigm includes not only the basic principles of a given science, but also the rules for their successful application, standard measurement procedures, etc. Thus, the concept of a paradigm and the scientific picture of the world coincide only partially.

But the main problem posed by T. Kuhn is the following: is there a certain continuity in the change of paradigms and scientific pictures of the world, or is this change not of a natural nature?

Principle of correspondence scientific theories assumes that the new theory does not completely reject the old one, but only beyond the scope of its applicability. Therefore, one should not agree with the statement of T. Kuhn and his followers that a theory formulated in one paradigm can neither contradict nor correspond to a theory from another paradigm due to the different meaning of the terms used in these theories.

Various scientific pictures of the world are not “things in themselves,” that is, systems completely isolated from each other. They include, along with excellent, some general concepts and principles (for example, the position of three-dimensionality and continuity of space, the principle of conservation of energy, etc.) Although a number of elements of old pictures of the world are replaced by new, more fruitful ones, many fundamental principles and laws retain their force and are “woven” into the fabric of the new science.

The emergence of a scientific picture of the world

For centuries, man has sought to unravel the mystery of the world order of the Universe, which ancient Greek philosophers called Cosmos (translated from Greek “cosmos” means order, beauty) in contrast to Chaos, which preceded the appearance of Cosmos. People asked themselves why they were so regular and periodic celestial movements and phenomena (change of day and night, winter and summer, ebb and flow, etc.) and, finally, how did the world around us arise? Looking for answers to these similar questions, people discovered patterns in nature on the basis of which they could predict certain events (for example, solar and lunar eclipses, the appearance of certain constellations in the sky, etc.). Thus, since ancient times, man has tried to comprehend the integrity of the world, to create in his imagination an ordered system of objects, phenomena and their causes, defining for himself his own worldview and picture of the world.

The content of the historically first pictures of the world was determined by astronomical science - one of the oldest sciences. It originates in the Ancient East: in Egypt, India, China, Babylon. Thus, in the Rigveda, the oldest monument of ancient Indian philosophical and religious thought, we can find a description of one of the first pictures of the world: the Earth is a flat, boundless surface, the sky is a blue vault dotted with stars, and between them is luminous air. In ancient times, astronomy had only applied practical significance, she solved, first of all, the pressing problems of people. motionless Polar Star served as a guide to people on land and sea, the rising of the star Sirius foreshadowed the flooding of the Nile to the inhabitants of Egypt, and seasonal appearances in the sky of certain constellations indicated to people that agricultural work was approaching.

The first natural scientific ideas about the world around us that have reached us were formulated by ancient Greek philosophers and scientists in the 7th-5th centuries. BC. Their teachings were based on the previously accumulated knowledge and religious experience of the Egyptians, Sumerians, Babylonians, Syrians, but differed from the latter in their desire to penetrate into the essence, into the hidden mechanism of the phenomena of the world. The fundamental provisions of these teachings can be formulated as the basic principles of the ancient picture of the world.

Basic principles of the ancient picture of the world

The principle of circular shapes, movements and cyclicity. Observation of the round disks of the Sun and Moon, the rounded horizon line on the sea, sunrises and sunsets, the change of seasons, rest and work, etc. prompted the Greeks to think about circular forms, movements, and development cycles.

Principle the existence of a principle underlying the diversity of phenomena in the world. The first ideas about such a beginning were reduced to the primary elements, such as water, air, earth and fire. Subsequently, abstract ideas appear that are not reducible to sensory perception, such as the atom of Democritus or the matter of Plato and Aristotle.

The idea of the firmament. It was assumed that the Earth was at the center of the world, and the solid firmament served as a support for the stars and separated the sky from the Earth. The stars are fixedly attached to the firmament, and the planets (which included the Sun and Moon) move relative to the background of the fixed stars. The word “planet” comes from the ancient Greek word “wandering.” Moving around the Earth, the planets made complex, loop-like movements. The fact is that each planet was attached to a transparent solid sphere. The sphere rotated evenly around the Earth in a regular circular orbit, and the planet itself also moved around the sphere. The idea of the firmament (sphere of fixed stars) was preserved even in the system of N. Copernicus, although he moved the center of the world from the Earth to the Sun.

The principle of spirituality of celestial bodies. Plato believed that planets, like other bodies moving for no apparent reason, have a soul. Plato's student Aristotle considered the primary cause of the movement of bodies to be the prime mover, which is immaterial, motionless, eternal, perfect.

The principle of heavenly perfection. Plato, Aristotle and other philosophers believed that heaven was perfect in every way. Based on this, they believed that celestial bodies, their spheres and the orbits in which they move should consist of an indestructible eternal substance - ether. The shape of celestial bodies must be spherical, since a sphere is the only geometric body whose surface points are all equidistant from the center. The sphere (circle) was considered by the Greeks to be an ideal, perfect figure.

The principle of music of the celestial spheres. For the Pythagoreans, musical harmony and the motion of the planets were determined by the same mathematical laws. Pythagoras discovered a remarkable connection between numbers and the laws of musical harmony. He discovered that the pitch of a vibrating string, the ends of which are fixed, directly depends on its length. Reducing the length of the vibrating part of a violin string by half leads to an increase in the tone of the sound generated by it by an octave. Reducing the length of the string by one third increases the tone of the sound by a fifth, by one quarter by a fourth, by one fifth by a third. The Pythagoreans also discovered a pattern of changes in the pitch of sound depending on the size of the rotating object and the distance from the object to the observer. Thus, a stone tied to a rope and rotated above your head will produce a sound of a certain pitch. If you change the size of the stone and the length of the rope, then the height of the sound produced by the stone will change. Following this logic of reasoning, Pythagoras assumed the musical-numerical structure of the cosmos and the music of the celestial spheres.

The principle of emptiness or fullness of space. On this issue, ancient Greek philosophers were divided into two opposing schools. The head of one of them, Democritus, believed that the matter of space consists of tiny, invisible, indivisible particles– atoms moving in the surrounding empty space. According to their opponents (for example, Parmenides), the world is filled with one or more substances that form a continuous environment.

The principle of centrism or homogeneity. Are we at the center of the Universe or does the Universe have a center in principle and cannot exist? The world of Plato and Aristotle resembled an onion, in the middle of which was the Earth, while the sphere of the fixed stars made up its outer shell. Atomists thought differently. In particular, Lucretius Carus wrote: “The Universe has no center and contains infinite set inhabited worlds."

Despite the diversity of principles and models of the Universe in ancient world, the cultural atmosphere that had developed by that time, and scientific paradigm led to the adoption of a geocentric picture of the world, the author of which was the great ancient Greek scientist of the 4th century. BC Aristotle.

Geocentric picture of the world of Aristotle - Ptolemy

Aristotle of Stagira (384 – 322 BC) is known as a versatile scientist with encyclopedic knowledge. He was a famous philosopher, physicist, biologist, logician, psychologist, and public figure. As a biologist, he and his students defined the concept of life, described and classified more than 1000 species of animals and plants. Thus, Aristotle was the first to prove that the whale is not a fish, but a mammal.

In his treatise “On Heaven,” Aristotle describes his physical and cosmological picture of the world. Here we see how his astronomical views on the Universe are closely intertwined with physical and philosophical views.

Under Universe Aristotle understood all existing matter, consisting from his point of view of 4 ordinary elements: earth, water, air and fire, as well as the 5th element - ether, which, unlike others, has neither lightness nor heaviness. The Universe is a finite limited sphere, beyond the boundaries of which there is nothing material. There is no space, which is thought of as something filled with matter. Time does not exist outside the Universe. Time Aristotle defined it as a measure of movement (quantity of movement) and associated it with matter, explaining that “there is no movement without a physical body.” Outside the Universe was placed the immaterial, eternal, motionless, perfect prime mover (deity), who imparted to the world, and in particular to cosmic bodies, perfect uniform circular motion.

Since the spherical shape of the Universe was visible to the naked eye in the shape of the sky, the circular daily movement of the celestial bodies (Sun, Moon, etc.), in observation lunar eclipses, when the round shadow of the Earth crawled onto the disk of the Moon (which also confirmed the sphericity of our Earth), then in such a limited Universe there should have been a center, as a special point, equidistant from the periphery. Thus, the central position of the Earth followed from general properties Universe: the heaviest element is earth, which mainly makes up Earth, could not help but always be at the center of the world. The less heavy element, gravitating towards the earth, was water, and the light elements were fire and air. In the superlunar world, the only element - the ether - was in eternal circular motion in world space. All celestial bodies, of an ideal spherical shape, were made of ether, according to Aristotle, each attached to its own sphere, solid and crystal-transparent, with which they moved together across the sky. More precisely, the spheres moved, and with them the planets. Aristotle considered the movement of celestial bodies from east to west to be natural and best (“nature always carries out the best of its possibilities”). Aristotle identified 8 spheres in the Universe. He believed that for celestial bodies it is natural exactly circular, eternal , uniform motion, which was postulated as a sign of the perfection of celestial bodies.

The stillness of the Earth at the center of the world Aristotle simply postulated to justify daily rotation the entire sky (“if the Earth is motionless, then the sky moves”). According to the scientist, The universe did not originate and is fundamentally indestructible, it is eternal because it is unique and embraces all possible matter; it has nothing to arise from and nothing to turn into. “It is not the Cosmos that arises and is destroyed, but its states.”

Aristotle's cosmological system was a theory based on experimental data from the sciences of that time (visible circular movements of the planets, the Sun, the Moon, a rounded horizon line at sea, etc.). Aristotle believed that the Earth floats freely in space, and does not have its roots in infinity (Xenophanes), or does not float on water (Thales). But along with the erroneous ideas of his predecessors, Aristotle also rejected the correct guesses of the Pythagoreans about the rotation of the Earth around its imaginary geometric axis, since this rotation was not felt in everyday experience.

Aristotle sought to clear the picture of the world from the mythological element. He sharply criticized ancient teachings, according to which the sky and celestial bodies, in order not to fall to Earth, had to rest on the shoulders of mighty heroes - the Atlanteans.

Aristotle's model of the Universe can be called teleological , based on the highest final goals and causes and explaining everything with them (prime mover, ideal divine circular forms, best opportunity etc.) This model became the first organizing factor on the path of further development of science. Within its framework, specific scientific ideas were formed over the course of 1.5 thousand years. Being dogmatized, in medieval Europe and on Arab East, Aristotle's picture of the world survived until the 16th century.

The Aristotelian geocentric picture of the world was mathematically substantiated 4 centuries later by the Alexandrian astronomer, a Roman by birth, Claudius Ptolemy (87 - 165 AD)

The creation of the first mathematical theory of the apparent motion of planets, the “Mathematical System,” was devoted to 5 of Ptolemy’s 13 books under common name"Almagest". “Almagest” translated from Arabic means “the greatest.” The fact is that the Greek original was lost, but only the Arabic translation of the works of C. Ptolemy has reached us.

Ptolemy based his theory on several postulates: the sphericity of the Earth, its immobility and central position in the Universe, the uniform circular motion of celestial bodies, the colossal distance of the Earth from the sphere of fixed stars .

Ptolemy believed that what faster planet moves across the sky (that is we're talking about about visible motion), the closer to the Earth it is located. This resulted in the location of the planets relative to the Earth: Moon, Mercury, Venus, Sun, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn.

Ptolemy not only followed Aristotle's statements, but tried to substantiate them based on famous performances and observations. Thus, he believed that from the surface of the rotating Earth (if such a thing had taken place), all freely lying bodies on it would have to be torn off and thrown aside into outer space, opposite direction rotation of the Earth (clouds, birds, people, houses, etc.). Ptolemy was partly right. However, he did not take into account the colossal mass of the Earth compared to all living and inanimate objects on its surface. But even today no one is surprised by the fact that at the equator the weight of the same objects due to centrifugal force is less than at the pole.

C. Ptolemy's theory was a great success human thought in mathematical analysis of natural phenomena. Thus, the intricate apparent movements of the planets were presented as the result of the addition simple elements– uniform movements around the circle. In Ptolemy's diagram movement every planet was described as follows. It was assumed that there is a circle around the stationary Earth, the center of which is placed somewhat away from the center of the Earth ( deferent ). The center of the smaller circle moves along the deferent – epicycle – with an angular velocity that is constant in relation not to the deferent’s own center and not to the Earth itself, but to a point located symmetrically to the center of the deferent relative to the Earth. Ptolemy introduced this auxiliary point, from which the movement of the planet will seem uniform (aligned), like the corresponding circle, for more accurate description observed irregularities in the apparent movements of the planets and called equant (leveling). The planet itself in the Ptolemaic system moved uniformly along the epicycle. To describe newly discovered irregularities in the movements of the Moon or planets, new additional epicycles were introduced - second, third, etc. By introducing the equant, Ptolemy violated the principle of the structure and properties of the Universe in Aristotle’s physical picture of the world. But N. Copernicus understood this and paid attention to it only after one and a half thousand years.

The theory of C. Ptolemy made a huge impression not only on his contemporaries. Until the 16th century, his geocentric system reigned supreme over the minds of people. However, Ptolemy himself considered his theory only a way of describing phenomena, without claiming that his complex structure expressed the true essence of things (the structure of the Universe). Meanwhile, the church and scholastic science of the Middle Ages turned the geocentric picture of the world into truth in last resort, raised her to official doctrine, to the rank of indisputable religious dogma.

To be fair, it should be noted that the Greek thinkers who created models of the movement of the celestial spheres could be divided into two competing camps. They differed in their views on the role of mathematics and mathematical models.

Representatives of the first camp, led by Aristotle, considered mathematics to be the handmaiden of philosophy and common sense. They believed that mathematics can be useful in describing phenomena, but it is not capable of reflecting their depth and essence.

Representatives of another camp, the Pythagoreans, believed that mathematical laws underlie all phenomena. They believed that the laws of mathematical harmony were a more suitable guide to understanding the heavenly mysteries than experience and common sense. The Pythagoreans believed that it would be more natural to assume that the motion of the stars that we observe is a consequence of the motion of the Earth in a circle that we cannot perceive, but in the direction opposite to the motion of the stars. In the center of this circle is the “central fire”. It was also assumed that the Earth rotates around an axis passing through it geometric center, just as a cart wheel turns on its axis.

The highest achievement of the Pythagoreans was the heliocentric model of the world, proposed by Aristarchus of Samos (3rd century BC). He considered the Sun motionless, located in the center of the world, and the Earth revolving around the Sun and around its axis. Aristarchus also assumed that the entire orbit of the Earth, compared to the sphere of stars, is nothing more than a point.

However, all these ideas were destined to remain aloof from the main stream of development of ideas about the world. The revival of heliocentrism occurred only in the 16th century.

The heliocentric system of N. Copernicus and its further development in the works of G. Bruno, G. Galileo and I. Kepler

N. Copernicus (1473 – 1543) is rightfully considered the founder of heliocentrism. Copernicus was born in Poland in the city of Torun. He graduated from the University of Krakow, one of the oldest in Europe, where he studied mathematics, physics, astronomy, the works of Hipparchus, Ptolemy and others.

By the beginning of the 16th century, the problem of revising and clarifying the calendar became acute. The fact is that the date of the vernal equinox, which in the 4th century fell on March 21 (approved by the 2nd Council of Nicaea in 325), from which the Christian holiday of Easter was calculated, by the 16th century already fell on March 11. Spring religious holiday Easter inevitably moved towards winter, which the church leadership could not allow. According to church custom, Easter is celebrated on the first Sunday after the spring equinox (March 21) and the first full moon in March. Easter occurs between April 3 and May 2.

Famous astronomers of that time, including N. Copernicus, were asked to solve the calendar problem. The latter managed to overcome admiration for authorities and the dogma into which geocentrism was elevated. Copernicus sought beauty and harmony in nature as a key to explaining many problems. The result of his long thoughts was the work “On the Rotations of the Celestial Spheres,” which was published in 1543, that is, the year of the scientist’s death.

Copernicus's revolutionary idea was that he's at the center of the world places the Sun around which the planets move - and among them the Earth with its satellite the Moon. At a great distance from the solar system there is a sphere of stars. The earth was thus reduced to rank of an ordinary planet, and the visible movements of the planets and stars were explained by the daily rotation of the Earth around its axis and its annual revolution around the Sun . However, as with ancient scientists, the movements of celestial bodies remained uniform and circular . Copernicus was helped to accept heliocentrism by the idea of the relative nature of motion, known in antiquity and used by the Pythagoreans.

The Copernican system was based on 2 principles: assumption of the Earth's mobility and recognition central position Suns in the system.

The advantage of Copernicus's theory compared to the theory of C. Ptolemy was its logical simplicity, harmony and practical applicability. Copernicus believed that “nature does not tolerate excess” and strives, perhaps with a smaller number of reasons, to provide, perhaps, larger number consequences and phenomena. Thanks to the Copernican system, on October 5, 1582, a new (Gregorian) style of calculating time was introduced in Europe on the initiative of Pope Gregory 13, which we still use today.

However, in order to somehow soften the impression of his innovation, Copernicus pointed out that the size of the sphere of stars and its distance from the solar system are so colossal that the entire solar system together with the now mobile Earth, can practically be considered as the center of the Universe, as a single point.

Thanks to the Copernican system, the movement began to be seen as a natural property of celestial objects, including the Earth. The movement obeyed general patterns, unified mechanics. Therefore, Aristotle’s idea of the prime mover, which had existed for centuries, “collapsed.”

Thanks to Copernicus, The “perishable Earth” ceased to be opposed to the divine planets and stars and acquired equal status with them.

Copernicus one of the first critical mind showed the limitations of our sensory knowledge and proved the need for its addition.

The work begun by N. Copernicus was continued by a monk of one of the Neapolitan monasteries, the Italian scientist Giordano Bruno (1548 - 1600). The development of his views was greatly influenced by the natural philosophy of Nicholas of Cusa, which denied the possibility for any body to be the center of the Universe, since the Universe is infinite, and infinity has no center. Combining the philosophical and cosmological views of N. Cusanus and the clear heliocentric conclusions of N. Copernicus (whose teaching was a supporter of Bruno), G. Bruno creates his own natural-philosophical picture infinite universe. Bruno's concept is clearly visible in his main works: “ About the reason, the beginning and the one”, “On infinity, the universe and worlds”, etc.

Following N. Kuzansky Bruno denied the existence of any was the center of the universe . He asserted the infinity of the Universe in time and space. Bruno wrote about the colossal differences in distances to different stars and concluded that their apparent brightness ratios could be deceptive.

The scientist argued variability (evolution) of all celestial bodies, believing that there is a continuous exchange between them cosmic matter. He extended the idea of changeability to Earth , arguing that the surface of our Earth changes only through large gaps eras and centuries, during which seas turn into continents, and continents into seas.

The scientist’s statement about common elements making up the Earth, like all other celestial bodies. Moreover, at the basis of all things lies the unchanging, non-disappearing , primary material substance . Based on this unity, Bruno logically assumed that in an infinitely developing Universe there should be infinite number centers of the mind, many inhabited worlds.

For expressing seditious ideas that contradicted church dogmas, G. Bruno was sentenced by the Inquisition to be burned at the stake, which was carried out in Rome in 1600.

The Copernican Revolution led to revolution in mechanics , the founder of which was G. Galileo from Padua (1564 - 1642). Mechanical processes interested Galileo throughout his life. He was the first to build an experimental mathematical science of motion – dynamics, the laws of which were derived as a result of generalization of specially formulated scientific experiments. Galileo proposed a new understanding of motion - motion by inertia. Previously dominated Aristotelian understanding of movement, according to which the body moves due to external influence on it, and when the latter stops, the body stops. Galileo suggested the principle of inertia, according to which a body is either at rest or in motion, without changing the direction and speed of its movement for as long as desired, if no external influence is exerted on it.

Galileo discovered the laws of free fall of bodies: the independence of the time of such a fall from the mass of the body in vacuum, determined that the path traveled by a falling body is proportional to the square of the time of fall (l~t2).

Galileo developed the theory of uniformly accelerated motion.

The scientist showed that the trajectory of an thrown body moving under the influence of the initial push and the force of gravity is a parabola.

Galileo discovered the laws of pendulum oscillation.

G. Galileo's research method is called experimental-theoretical . Its essence lies in quantitative analysis observed particular phenomena and the gradual mental approximation of these phenomena to some ideal conditions in which the laws governing these phenomena could manifest themselves in their pure form.

In addition to discovering the laws of motion, Galileo also made a number of astronomical discoveries using new methods of observation. G. Galileo on his own designed a telescope based on the telescope invented in Holland. This telescope gave direct image and acted on the principle of binoculars. At first the increase was 3 times, and soon it was 32 times. Galileo used a telescope to study the sky. With Galileo, a new optical era in observational astronomy began. What did Galileo discover with his telescope?

In pale clouds milky way A huge cluster of stars was discovered.
The stars are immeasurably distant from us compared to the planets, since the planets in the telescope grew larger and looked like circles, while the stars remained dots, only increasing in brightness.
He described the real surface of the Moon, which, as it turned out, does not have a smooth “polished” surface, but consists of unevenness and hills, like the earth’s surface, it is covered with huge mountains, deep abysses and cliffs. Galileo first estimated the height of the largest lunar mountain (about 7 km).
Extremely important was the discovery by Galileo in 1612 of small dark formations (spots) on the disk of the Sun that moved across the disk of the Sun. This allowed Galileo to claim that the Sun rotates on its axis. The sun ceased to be a symbol of purity and perfection, because even it had spots (“and there are spots on the Sun”).
Galileo discovered 4 satellites of Jupiter in 1610 (Io, Europa, Ganymede, Callisto). In total, 15 satellites have been discovered around Jupiter to date. Thus, the Moon ceased to be an exception, and the Earth ceased to be the only planet having a satellite.

With all his discoveries, G. Galileo irrefutably proved the correctness of N. Copernicus’ heliocentric system. Galileo's sympathies for heliocentrism were reflected in his work “Dialogue on the Two Systems of the World – Ptolemaic and Copernican.” The Holy Inquisition did not sleep either. In 1633, Galileo was summoned to Rome and thrown into the dungeons of the Inquisition for several weeks. Under threat of torture, the 69-year-old scientist was forced to renounce his “misconceptions.” After this, Galileo leaves Italy and travels to the Protestant Netherlands, where he continues to work and republishes his works, which were already very popular among scientists at that time.

350 years after the death of G. Galileo, in October 1992 he was rehabilitated Catholic Church. Galileo's condemnation was found to be erroneous, but his teaching was found to be correct.

The search for the exact laws of planetary motion became the main work of the life of the German astronomer I. Kepler (1571 - 1630). The main works of I. Kepler are “New, Cause-Seeking Astronomy or Physics of the Sky” (“Astronomy Nova”), “Reduction of Copernican Astronomy”, “Harmony world”, “Rudolph’s tables”, etc. were associated with the idea of world harmony and with the search for simple numerical relations expressing it.

I. Kepler was a mathematician - a neo-Pythagorean who believed in the harmony of the world. Nature is created according to mathematical rules and it is the scientist's duty to understand them. Kepler was convinced that the structure of the world could be determined mathematically, for when creating the world, God was guided by mathematical considerations, that simplicity is a sign of truth, and mathematical beauty is identified with harmony and beauty. Kepler used the fact that there are 5 regular polyhedra, which must somehow relate to the structure of the Universe. “The Earth's orbit is the measure of all other orbits. Describe a dodecahedron (regular 12-sided side) around it, then the sphere that in turn describes it will be the sphere of Mars. Describe a tetrahedron (regular tetrahedron) around the sphere of Mars, then the sphere that embraces it will be the sphere of Jupiter. Around the sphere of Jupiter, describe a cube (regular 6-sided), the enclosing sphere will be the sphere of Saturn. Insert an icosahedron (regular 20-hedron) into the Earth’s orbit, the sphere inscribed into it will be the sphere of Venus, write an octahedron (regular 8-hedron) into the sphere of Venus, and the sphere of Mercury will be inscribed into it. So you you'll understand the reason number of planets."

The idea of a connection between planets and polyhedra soon revealed its inconsistency, but it revealed a future research program.

Neither C. Ptolemy, nor N. Copernicus, nor T. Brahe could explain the “irregular” movement of Mars. I. Kepler took on this problem and solved it. The scientist came to the conclusion that theoretical calculations of the motion of the planets coincide with observations, if we assume the motion of the planets in elliptical orbits with varying speed. “By introducing the elliptical hypothesis instead of the centuries-old dogma about the circular nature and uniformity of planetary movements, Kepler carried out a profound revolution within the Copernican revolution itself” (A. Pasquinelli).

Kepler's search for world harmony led him to create three laws of planetary motion. The first two laws were discovered in 1605.

Kepler's first law. Each planet moves in an ellipse, with the Sun at one focus. Thus the principle was destroyed circular movements in space.

Kepler's second law. Each planet moves in a plane passing through the center of the Sun, and the line connecting the Sun with the planet describes equal areas in equal periods of time. Thus, the nature of the change in speed as the planet moves in orbit was shown (the closer the planet is in this moment to the sun). In connection with this law, the principle of uniformity of celestial movements collapsed.

P1P2 is the distance the planet travels during time t1.

P3P4 is the distance the planet travels during time t2.

SP1Р2 and SP3P4 – describe sectors of equal areas for equal periods of time.

Ten years later, in 1615, Kepler derived the third law of planetary motion.

Kepler's third law . The squares of the periods of revolution of the planets around the Sun are related to the cubes of the semimajor axes of their orbits. (The squares of the periods of revolution of the planets around the Sun are proportional to the cubes of the distance of each of them from the Sun).

Thus, a universal relationship was established between the periods of revolution of the planets and their average distance from the Sun. With distance from the Sun, the speed of planetary motion decreases.

Based on these laws, Kepler developed an idea of the mechanism of action of the force that moves the planets, like about the whirlwind , arising in the ethereal environment, from rotation magnetic field The sun and entrains surrounding bodies.

Kepler also developed theory of solar and lunar eclipses and proposed methods for predicting them.

The scientist compiled the so-called Rudolph tables , with the help of which it was possible to high accuracy determine the position of the planets at any given time.

Thanks to Kepler, the problem of the structure of the planetary world moved from the area of mythological and hypothetical constructions to the area of scientific knowledge and became the subject of exact sciences. Kepler's celestial mechanics was a consequence of Copernicus' theory and at the same time it prepared the ground for the formation of a mechanistic picture of the world.

Questions for self-control

What science existed in antiquity?
Who gave the first classification of sciences?
What are the main historical stages Has science completed its development?
What is classical science and when did it begin to take shape?
What are scientific revolutions and how many of them have there been in the history of science?
What is non-classical science?

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It is well known that in Ancient Greece (and Rome) the geocentric system of the world prevailed. In the descriptions of different philosophers it differs in detail. The most famous is the system of Aristotle, who apparently generalized the data known before him. Ptolemy also used this system (adding it with trims and epicycles). In this form it was accepted Christian Church and medieval science and had a significant influence on the entire European culture. Figure 1 shows a diagram of Aristotle's geocentric system. Below we give its description according to A. Pannekoek.

Fig.1. Geocentric system of Aristotle-Ptolemy

“In the system of Aristotle, who united physics and astronomy into one harmonious system of the universe, all heavy elements tend to the center of the world and accumulate around it, forming a spherical mass of the Earth; lighter elements (water, air, fire) are collected in layers successively located one above the other. The word "down" means to the center of the world, the word "up" - to the surrounding celestial sphere. In addition to the four earthly elements, there is a fifth - perfect ether, from which the heavenly bodies are composed. Where the earth's elements end, there, according to Aristotle, is the orbit of the Moon. The planets and the Sun rotate behind the orbit of the Moon. The sphere of the Sun rotates throughout the year, the spheres of the planets each have their own rotation period. Celestial sphere, carrying stars, rotates around the axis of the world in a day. It carries with it all the internal spheres, and this explains the daily setting and rising of all the luminaries.”

I have always been surprised by the naivety and at the same time complexity of this system, reminiscent of the gears of a clock mechanism. The rotation of the firmament can be considered an observational fact, and the explanation for the daily movement of the luminaries seems quite natural. But to represent the annual movement of the Sun and the angular movement of the planets, it was necessary to introduce additional spheres - each luminary had its own sphere, and it was also necessary to link them all with the rotation of the sphere of the fixed stars (not to mention the trims and epicycles that appeared later). Apparently, some ancient philosophers felt this artificiality. Thus, Heraclides of Pontus explained the daily movement of the luminaries by the rotation of the Earth around its axis; Venus and Mercury in his system revolved around the Sun, but he still placed the Earth at the center of the universe. But Aristarchus of Samos, whom F. Engels rightly called Copernicus Ancient world, taught that the Sun is at the center of the universe, and the Earth and planets revolve around it.

This means that they knew about the heliocentric system already in ancient times, but it was not found widespread. As H. P. Blavatsky notes in “Isis Unveiled,” the heliocentric system, as well as the sphericity of the Earth, was known to the Egyptians from time immemorial.