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How Did Figures Like Copernicus and Galileo Challenge Established Views During the Scientific Revolution?

The Scientific Revolution happened during the 16th and 17th centuries. It was a time when people's thinking changed a lot. People began to move away from old beliefs that were mostly based on religious teachings. Instead, they started to focus on what could be seen and proven through experiments. Important figures like Nicolaus Copernicus and Galileo Galilei played big roles in this change. They questioned old ideas about space and helped shape modern science.

Nicolaus Copernicus and the Heliocentric Model
Nicolaus Copernicus was a Polish mathematician and astronomer. He had a bold idea: the Earth is not the center of the universe. In 1543, he published a book called De revolutionibus orbium coelestium. In this book, he suggested a new model, where the Earth and other planets move around the Sun.

This idea was very different from the older belief that the Earth was the center, which was mainly supported by an ancient thinker named Ptolemy and the church. Copernicus’s theory said that:

  • The Earth spins on its axis once every day.
  • It travels around the Sun once every year.

What was great about Copernicus's model is that it could explain how planets moved in a simpler way than the old model. The old way needed complicated circles called epicycles to explain the movement of planets.

Galileo Galilei and Empirical Evidence
Galileo Galilei built on what Copernicus had started. In the early 17th century, he made important discoveries using a telescope. He looked at things like:

  • The moons of Jupiter.
  • The phases of Venus.
  • Sunspots.

These discoveries gave strong proof for Copernicus's ideas and challenged the long-standing beliefs from a thinker named Aristotle that had been accepted in Europe for many years.

Galileo was known for his focus on observation and experiments. He showed that:

  • Objects in motion stay in motion unless something else stops them (this idea is called inertia).
  • The speed at which things fall does not depend on how heavy they are.

His approach to science was new for that time. He believed in testing ideas in the real world, which helped create a new way of doing science.

The Impact on Modern Science
The work of Copernicus and Galileo changed a lot of things. They not only made big advancements in understanding space but also sparked discussions about how we know things and authority. Their ideas encouraged people to:

  • Trust what they could see and measure instead of only old books.
  • Use the scientific method, which is a key part of modern science.

In the end, Copernicus and Galileo helped start a new era in science. They showed that questioning old beliefs was important for making progress. Their work still inspires scientists today and reminds us that challenging old ideas is necessary for learning more about our world.

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How Did Figures Like Copernicus and Galileo Challenge Established Views During the Scientific Revolution?

The Scientific Revolution happened during the 16th and 17th centuries. It was a time when people's thinking changed a lot. People began to move away from old beliefs that were mostly based on religious teachings. Instead, they started to focus on what could be seen and proven through experiments. Important figures like Nicolaus Copernicus and Galileo Galilei played big roles in this change. They questioned old ideas about space and helped shape modern science.

Nicolaus Copernicus and the Heliocentric Model
Nicolaus Copernicus was a Polish mathematician and astronomer. He had a bold idea: the Earth is not the center of the universe. In 1543, he published a book called De revolutionibus orbium coelestium. In this book, he suggested a new model, where the Earth and other planets move around the Sun.

This idea was very different from the older belief that the Earth was the center, which was mainly supported by an ancient thinker named Ptolemy and the church. Copernicus’s theory said that:

  • The Earth spins on its axis once every day.
  • It travels around the Sun once every year.

What was great about Copernicus's model is that it could explain how planets moved in a simpler way than the old model. The old way needed complicated circles called epicycles to explain the movement of planets.

Galileo Galilei and Empirical Evidence
Galileo Galilei built on what Copernicus had started. In the early 17th century, he made important discoveries using a telescope. He looked at things like:

  • The moons of Jupiter.
  • The phases of Venus.
  • Sunspots.

These discoveries gave strong proof for Copernicus's ideas and challenged the long-standing beliefs from a thinker named Aristotle that had been accepted in Europe for many years.

Galileo was known for his focus on observation and experiments. He showed that:

  • Objects in motion stay in motion unless something else stops them (this idea is called inertia).
  • The speed at which things fall does not depend on how heavy they are.

His approach to science was new for that time. He believed in testing ideas in the real world, which helped create a new way of doing science.

The Impact on Modern Science
The work of Copernicus and Galileo changed a lot of things. They not only made big advancements in understanding space but also sparked discussions about how we know things and authority. Their ideas encouraged people to:

  • Trust what they could see and measure instead of only old books.
  • Use the scientific method, which is a key part of modern science.

In the end, Copernicus and Galileo helped start a new era in science. They showed that questioning old beliefs was important for making progress. Their work still inspires scientists today and reminds us that challenging old ideas is necessary for learning more about our world.

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