Copernicus and Galileo: Science vs. the Catholic Church

Copernicus and the Heliocentric Model

Copernicus refuted earlier theories that the Earth was the center of the universe and became the stepping stone Galileo later used to advance the theory that Earth and the other planets revolve around the sun. These early scientists faced punishment from the Catholic Church, but in the secular future they opened the door to truth and knowledge.

Nicolaus Copernicus was born on February 19, 1473, in Poland. He was fortunate to have traveled to Italy at the young age of 18 to attend university and begin preparing for his career, which he thought at the time would be in the Roman Catholic Church. He became acquainted with the cosmos when, at the University of Bologna in Italy, he took an astrology class—attempting to read the stars in order to predict future events. "At that time it was felt to be important for priests and doctors…" to be aware of astrology and astronomy (Redd, 2013). Over the years, of course, scientists turned their backs on astrology, but astronomy and related research into the mysteries of the universe remain very much a part of rigorous ongoing scientific efforts.

Copernicus was the first scientist to posit that the Earth was not in fact the center of the universe. He made the bold proposal that the planets—Earth included—revolved around the sun. Scientists today understand that Copernicus did not have everything completely right, but he was certainly at the head of the class when it came to understanding the solar system, and his work proved to be a stepping stone for future research into how the universe works. He was also fortunate to have lived and worked with University of Bologna professor Domenico Maria de Novara, an astronomy professor. When he returned to Poland following his university studies, he went back as a Catholic cleric and was fortunate once again: he lived in a building with an observatory, allowing him to view the night sky and continue his long-held fascination with the movements of the stars and planets.

In his studies of the night sky, he noted that "…the planets, on occasion, would travel backward across the sky over several nights of observation"—a phenomenon that came to be known as "retrograde motion" (Redd, p. 3). In order to account for this phenomenon, he postulated—drawing in part on Ptolemy's understanding—a number of "circles within circles," or epicycles, inside a planet's path (Redd, p. 3). Up to seven circles were used to complete his model, and some observers viewed it as far too complicated, thus denying him the recognition he clearly deserved. With his model and his intuitive, creative mind, he proposed in a handwritten note that "…the center of the universe was not Earth, but that the sun lay near it." Additionally, Copernicus believed that the rising and setting of the sun was simply due to the Earth revolving—a concept called the "heliocentric ordering of the planets" (Redd, p. 3).

Moreover, Copernicus believed correctly that the seasons were caused by different aspects of the Earth's movement around the sun, and he proposed that the Earth's movement through space could explain why planets move across the sky "in the same direction as the stars" (Redd, p. 3). However, because Copernicus had not published anything in astronomy—producing only manuscripts—he did not achieve the literary standing he might have, and he was scorned in some circles. Martin Luther, the German religious reformer, called Copernicus "…the fool who will turn the whole science of astronomy upside down" (World Biography). Eventually, in 1539, a scholar named Georg Joachim (Rheticus) printed an account of Copernicus's unfinished book, which explained that "…the orbital motion of the earth fit perfectly into the sequence set by the periods of other planets with its period of 365 days" (World Biography).

Galileo's Conflict with the Catholic Church

The work of Copernicus certainly led to the discoveries and theories of Galileo. It was in 1543 that Copernicus first proposed that the Earth functioned within a sun-centered (heliocentric) system and that the Earth was not the center of the universe. Given that Copernicus had originally planned to become a priest but eventually settled in as a canon (cleric), when developing his ideas about the solar system he had "…recognized the possibility of trouble" with the Church, owing to the obvious conflict between scientific discovery and Church doctrine (Hellman, 1998). According to an article in the Washington Post, the reason Copernicus postponed publication of his work for so long was that he genuinely feared retribution from the Catholic hierarchy. His doctrine therefore "…lay shrouded in Latin, just another long-winded academic treatise" that hardly anyone read and few cared about—so he believed the Church "could safely ignore it" (Hellman, p. 3). Ptolemy's theory of the universe fit conveniently into Catholic and Christian doctrine: "heaven and hell…melded beautifully with the geocentric system" (Hellman, p. 4). Everything in heaven was considered "eternal and incorruptible," and because Ptolemy's ideas—adopted by Thomas Aquinas—had become "entrenched in Catholic Church teachings," when Galileo arrived with more advanced theories that built upon and extended Copernicus's work, it placed him directly at odds with the Church.

Galileo had always sought a unified theory of matter—a mathematical theory of the material stuff that constitutes the whole of the cosmos (Stanford University, 2010). To that end, he first challenged the critique of Aristotle in his 1590 manuscript, De Motu. Galileo also worked on theories concerning time, force, percussion, gravity, and momentum, hoping his efforts would lead to a "single proportional measuring scale" (Stanford University, 2010). By 1609, when he began his work with telescopes, and later in 1612 when he published Letters on the Sunspots, Galileo began to accept the Copernican system and used his telescope to support it—which, of course, went against Catholic Church doctrine. Galileo used his telescope to demonstrate that Venus revolved around the sun, directly contradicting Ptolemy's ordering of the planets. His new principles were grounded in evidence that all the planets revolve around the sun. In 1632, Galileo published Dialogues on the Two Chief World Systems, which brought him into direct conflict with Church teachings. He was charged with heresy and called before the Holy Office of the Inquisition and asked to repent (Stanford University, 2010).

The Scientific Revolution and Modern Thought

The scientific revolution—which began in the sixteenth century and extended through the seventeenth century—should be understood not merely as a scientific revolution (though it certainly was that) but also as a revolution "…in thought and practice" (Henry, 2004). In a very real sense, the scientific revolution challenged the doctrines of Aristotle, as those trained in "natural philosophy" began to recognize the value of alternative approaches to understanding the world beyond those put forward by the ancient Greeks. While the scientific revolution was not exclusively about science but rather about thought and practice, it is impossible not to connect the theories of Copernicus—described as the "last of the great medieval astronomers"—with the shift in thinking from an Earth-centered universe to a sun-centered planetary system (Henry, p. 2).

The answer to the question of whether the scientific revolution brought about a more modern way of thinking is clearly yes. Educated scholars, motivated in part by the economic stimulus of the Renaissance—described as "incipient capitalism"—began to seek new approaches to understanding the world (Henry, p. 2). Those who played a major role in ushering in the scientific revolution—Copernicus, Galileo, René Descartes, and others—deserve respect and reverence. They challenged existing ideas upheld by both Aristotle and the Catholic Church, and history honors them for their intelligence and persistence.

It is worth noting that at the dawn of the seventeenth century, there were no "scientists" in the modern sense of the word; even Isaac Newton was considered a "natural philosopher" (Kuhn, 2005). This underscores the fact that the work and wisdom of Aristotle, himself a philosopher, was still holding sway, and men with bold new revolutionary ideas were not yet considered scientists. Newton's work was greatly influenced by Galileo's mechanics and Kepler's laws of motion, making it clear that philosophy transcended into theory, which in turn transcended into science. Whether the scientific revolution was launched with the publication of Newton's Philosophiae Naturalis Principia Mathematica (1687) or with Copernicus's De revolutionibus orbium coelestium (1543) is almost beside the point; both works helped usher in a world focused more on science than on philosophy.

Conclusion

The remarkable insights and discoveries of Copernicus and Galileo led the way to a new understanding of the universe—and of how the solar system works—and today's more educated society owes a great debt to the courage of these remarkable men, who published their findings in the face of fierce opposition. Just as Copernicus's findings were the stepping stones for Galileo and others, so the scientific revolution became the stepping stones for today's discoverers, including those engineers who sent a spacecraft past Pluto and returned remarkable photographs that Galileo could only have dreamed of.

Works Cited

Hellman, Hal. "Galileo vs. the Pope." Washington Post. Retrieved October 17, 2015, from http://www.washingtonpost.com. 1998.

Henry, John. "Scientific Revolution." Encyclopedia.com. Encyclopedia of the Early Modern World. Retrieved October 17, 2015, from http://www.encyclopedia.com. 2004.

Kuhn, Thomas. "Scientific Revolution." Retrieved October 17, 2015, from http://www.fact-index.com. 2007.

Redd, Nola Taylor. "Nicolaus Copernicus Biography: Facts & Discoveries." Space.com. Retrieved October 17, 2015, from http://www.space.com. 2013.

Stanford University. "Galileo's Scientific Story." Retrieved October 17, 2015, from http://plato.stanford.edu. 2010.

World Biography. "Nicolaus Copernicus Biography." Retrieved October 17, 2015, from http://www.notablebiographies.com. 2008.