Scientists who developed the heliocentric system in astronomy. Geocentric model of the solar system. Heliocentric system of N. Copernicus and its further development in the works of J. Bruno, G. Galileo and I. Kepler

INTRODUCTION

Claudius Ptolemy - the famous Alexandrian astronomer, mathematician and geographer of the 2nd century AD, one of the greatest scientists of antiquity. For a whole millennium in the field of astronomy, no one could compare with Ptolemy. There is no surviving any mention of his life and work among the historians of this period. Also, even the approximate dates of birth and death of Ptolemy remained unknown, as well as any facts of his biography.

But thanks to his labors, he remained in history. To the great luck of modern historians, almost all of his major works have survived. The main work of Ptolemy - "Almagest" - until the beginning of the XVII century was the main textbook of astronomy.

In the Almagest, Ptolemy makes extensive use of the observations of his great predecessor Hipparchus (II century BC). Hipparchus followed and observed celestial bodies and sought to discover the patterns of movement of the planets, since they presented a great mystery to astronomers of that time. The planets, as they moved across the sky, seemed to be describing loops. This difficulty is associated with the movement of the Earth itself. When the Earth seems to "catch up" with another planet, then at first glance it may seem that the planet seems to pause and then moves backward. However, ancient astronomers thought that the planets actually make such complex movements around the Earth and based on this they built their theories.

Chapter I. Geocentric system of the world of Ptolemy

1.1. Development of geocentrism

Since ancient times, the Earth has been considered the center of the universe. In this case, the existence of the central axis of the Universe and the asymmetry "up-down" were assumed. Some kind of support saved the earth from falling. In early civilizations, a huge mythical animal or animals (elephants, whales, turtles) acted as a support. The first ancient Greek thinker and philosopher Thales of Miletus, as this support, represented a natural object - the world's ocean. Anaximander of Miletus admitted the idea that the Universe is centrally symmetric and does not have any definite direction. For this reason, the Earth, located in the center of the Cosmos, has no reason to move in any direction, that is, it directly rests freely in the center of the Universe without support. Anaximander's student Anaximenes disagreed with his teacher's theory, believing that compressed air keeps the Earth from falling. Anaxagoras also adhered to this point of view. Anaximander's position was shared, however, by the Pythagoreans, Parmenides and Ptolemy. The position of Democritus was not clear: according to various testimonies, he followed Anaximander or Anaximenes.

Anaximander suggested that the Earth has the shape of a low cylinder with a height three times less than the diameter of the base. Anaximenes, Anaxagoras, Leucippus assumed that the Earth is flat, something like a table top. A completely new step was taken by Pythagoras, who admitted that the Earth has the shape of a ball. In this assumption, not only the Pythagoreans followed him, but also Plato, Parmenides, Aristotle. This is how the canonical form of the geocentric system appeared, which was later developed by ancient Greek astronomers: a spherical Earth at the center of a spherical universe; the visible daily movement of celestial bodies is a reflection of the rotation of the Cosmos around the world axis.

Anaximander believed that the stars are closest to the Earth, then the Moon and the Sun were located. Anaximenes was the first to suggest that the stars are the most distant objects from the Earth, which are fixed on the outer shell of the Cosmos. In this he was followed by all subsequent scientists (Exception: Empedocles; he adhered to the theory of Anaximander). A judgment appeared (for the first time, most likely, in Anaximenes or the Pythagoreans) that the longer the period of revolution of the star along the celestial sphere, the higher it is and, therefore, is further away. Thus, the order of the arrangement of the luminaries turned out to be as follows: the Moon, the Sun, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn and, then, the stars. This list does not include Mercury and Venus, since the Greeks had disputes over them: 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, including space, while the Stoics believed that our world is immersed in an infinite empty space; following the judgments of Democritus, it was assumed that there are other worlds behind our world (which is limited to the sphere of fixed stars). This opinion was supported by the Epicureans, and it was also vividly expressed by Lucretius in the poem "On the Nature of Things".

1.2 Rationale for geocentrism

Ancient Greek scientists had different opinions, substantiating the central location and immobility of the Earth. Anaximander indicated the spherical symmetry of the Cosmos as the reason. He was not supported by Aristotle, who put forward a counter-argument: in this case, the person located in the center of the room, near the walls of which there is food, should die of hunger. This argument was later attributed to Buridan. Aristotle himself, directly, substantiated 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 heavy bodies fall vertically, and since they move towards the center of the world, the Earth is in the center. In addition, the orbital motion of the Earth (this was assumed by the Pythagorean Philolaus) was denied by Aristotle on the grounds that it should lead to a parallax displacement of the stars, which is not observed.

Several other authors provide other empirical arguments. Pliny the Elder in his encyclopedia "Natural History" argues the central location of the Earth by the equality of day and night during the equinoxes, and also by the fact that during the equinox, sunrise and sunset can be observed on the same line, and sunrise on the summer solstice is located on the same line as the setting on the winter solstice. From an astronomical point of view, these arguments and arguments are naturally fallacious. The arguments that Cleomedes gave in the textbook "Lectures on Astronomy" are no better. He explains the centrality of the Earth by contradiction. 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, celestial bodies at sunrise would appear larger than at sunset, and the duration from dawn to noon would be shorter than from noon to sunset. But since all this is not there, we can conclude that the Earth cannot be shifted west of the center of the world. By analogy, it is argued 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 be, respectively, in the north or south direction. In addition, at dawn on the equinox days, the shadows would point exactly in the direction of the sunset on those days, and at sunrise on the summer solstice, the shadows would point to the point of sunset on the winter solstice. This also makes it clear that the Earth is not offset north or south of the center. If the Earth were located above the center, then less than half of the firmament could be observed, including less than six signs of the zodiac; which would cause the night to always be longer than the day. By analogy: the Earth cannot be below the center of the world. From the foregoing, we can conclude that it can only be located in the center. Approximately similar arguments in favor of the centrality of the Earth were also expressed by Ptolemy in the Almagest, Book I. Of course, the arguments of Cleomedes and Ptolemy only confirm that the Universe is incomparably much larger than the Earth, and for this reason they are also unfounded.

1.3 Geocentric system of the world of Ptolemy

Ptolemy, focusing and based on the achievements of Hipparchus, explored the movable celestial bodies. He made a significant contribution to the addition and refinement of the concept of the movement of the moon, and also improved the theory of eclipses. However, the really great scientific feat of the scientist was the formation by him of the mathematical theory of the apparent motion of the planets. This theory was based on the following principles:

· Sphere of the Earth;

· Great distance from the sphere of stars;

· The uniformity and circular nature of the movements of celestial bodies;

· Immobility of the Earth;

· The central position of the Earth in the Universe.

Ptolemy's theory combined the concepts of epicycles and eccentrics. He made an assumption in favor of the fact that a circle (deferent) with a center slightly displaced relative to the center of the Earth (eccentric) is located around the stationary Earth. According to the deferent, the center of the smaller circle - the epicycle - moves with an angular velocity that is unchanged with respect to the deferent's own center and not to the Earth itself, but to a point that is located symmetrically to the center of the deferent relative to the earth (equant). The planet itself in the Ptolemy system moves evenly along the epicycle. In order to describe the newly discovered irregularities in the motions of the planets and the Moon, new additional epicycles were introduced - the second, third, etc. The planet was located on the latter. Ptolemy's theory made it possible to predict the complex loop-like motions of the planets (their acceleration and deceleration, standing and backward movements). Based on the astronomical tables formed by Ptolemy, the position of the planets could be calculated with a very high accuracy for those times (there was an error of less than 10 ").

From the basic properties of planetary movements, the concept of which was defined by Ptolemy, several very important regularities can be distinguished:

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

2. A characteristic role for the movement of both those and other planets is the Sun.

The stages of revolution of the planets either by deferents (at the lower planets) or by epicycles (at the upper ones) will be equal to the period of the Sun's revolution, that is, the length of a year. The direction of the deferents of the lower planets and the epicycles of the upper ones is in connection with the plane of the ecliptic. A careful study of these properties of planetary motion would lead Ptolemy to a simple conclusion, which would be as follows: the Sun, not the Earth, is the center of the planetary system. This conclusion was advanced by Aristarchus of Samos long before Ptolemy. He argued that the Earth is several times smaller than the Sun. Without a doubt, it is clear that the smaller body moves around the larger one, and not vice versa. Although the scales of other planets were not directly determined by Ptolemy, it was nevertheless clear that they were all much smaller than the Sun.

Ptolemy's system not only clarified the apparent motions of the planets, but also made it possible to calculate their positions for the future with an accuracy that was quite satisfactory to imperfect studies with the naked eye. That is why, although fundamentally wrong, the system at first did not provoke serious contradictions, and later open objections in spite of it were brutally suppressed by the Christian Church.

Discrepancies between this concept and observations, which appeared as the accuracy of observations increased, were eliminated by increasing the complexity of the system. For example, some inaccuracies in the apparent motions of the planets, revealed by subsequent observations, were explained by the fact that it is not the planet that revolves around the center of the first epicycle, but the center of the second epicycle, around which the planet is already moving. When inaccuracies appeared in such a construction for a planet, then a third, fourth, etc. were introduced. epicycles, until the position of the planet on the circumference of the last of them did not give more or less acceptable agreement with observations and research.

By the beginning of the XVI century. Ptolemy's system was so difficult that it could no longer satisfy the conditions and requirements that were imposed on astronomy by practical life, and primarily by navigation. Simpler methods were needed to calculate the position of the planets. And thanks to the creation of the brilliant Polish scientist Nicolaus Copernicus, who later developed and laid the foundation for astronomy, such methods were created and without them modern astronomy could not have appeared and developed.

Geocentric system of the world

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 has been considered the center of the universe. In this case, the presence of the central axis of the Universe and the asymmetry "up-down" were assumed. The earth was kept from falling by some kind of support, which in early civilizations was thought of as some kind of giant mythical animal or animals (turtles, elephants, whales). The first ancient Greek philosopher Thales of Miletus saw a natural object - the world's ocean - as this support. Anaximander of Miletus suggested that the Universe is centrally symmetric and there is no preferred direction in it. Therefore, the Earth, located in the center of the Cosmos, has no reason to move in any direction, that is, it freely rests in the center of the Universe without support. Anaximander's disciple Anaximenes did not follow the 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 testimonies, he followed Anaximander or Anaximenes.

One of the earliest extant images of the geocentric system (Macrobius, Commentary on the Dream of Scipio, 9th century manuscript)
Anaximander considered the Earth to be in the form of a low cylinder with a height three times less than the diameter of the base. Anaximenes, Anaxagoras, Leucippus considered the Earth flat, like a table top. A fundamentally new step was taken by Pythagoras, who suggested that the Earth has the shape of a ball. In this he was followed not only by the Pythagoreans, but also by Parmenides, Plato, Aristotle. This is how the canonical form of the geocentric system arose, which was subsequently actively developed by ancient Greek astronomers: the spherical Earth is at the center of the spherical Universe; the visible daily movement of the 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 stars, Anaximander considered the stars to be closest to the Earth, followed by the Moon and the Sun. Anaximenes was the first to suggest that the stars are the most distant objects from the Earth, fixed on the outer shell of the Cosmos. In this he was followed by all subsequent scientists (with the exception of Empedocles, who supported Anaximander). The opinion arose (for the first time, probably, among Anaximenes or the Pythagoreans) that the longer the period of revolution of the star in the celestial sphere, the higher it is. Thus, the order of the arrangement of the luminaries turned out to be as follows: the Moon, the Sun, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, stars. This does not include Mercury and Venus, 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 fixed stars, not even space, while the Stoics believed that our world was immersed in an infinite empty space; the atomists, following Democritus, believed that behind our world (limited by the sphere of fixed stars) there are other worlds. This opinion was supported by the Epicureans, it was vividly stated by Lucretius in the poem "On the Nature of Things".

The "Figure of Celestial Bodies" is an illustration of the geocentric system of the world of Ptolemy, made by the Portuguese cartographer Bartolomeu Velho in 1568.
Stored at the National Library of France.
Rationale for geocentrism
Ancient Greek scientists in different ways, however, substantiated the central position and immobility of the Earth. Anaximander, as already indicated, indicated 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, the person in the center of the room, in which there is food near the walls, must die of hunger (see Buridan's donkey). Aristotle himself substantiated geocentrism as follows: the Earth is a heavy body, and the center of the Universe is a natural place for heavy bodies; as experience shows, all heavy bodies fall vertically, and since they move to the center of the world, the Earth is in the center. In addition, the orbital motion of the Earth (which was assumed by the Pythagorean Philolaus) was rejected by Aristotle on the grounds that it should lead to a parallax displacement of the stars, which is not observed.

Drawing of the geocentric system of the world from an Icelandic manuscript dated about 1750
A number of authors provide other empirical arguments. Pliny the Elder in his encyclopedia "Natural History" substantiates 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 sunrise on the summer solstice is on the same line as the setting on the winter solstice. From an astronomical point of view, all these arguments are, of course, a misunderstanding. Slightly better are the arguments given by Cleomedes in the textbook "Lectures on Astronomy", where he substantiates the centrality of the Earth by contradiction. In his opinion, if the Earth were to the east of the center of the Universe, then the shadows at dawn would be shorter than at sunset, celestial bodies at sunrise would appear larger than at sunset, and the duration from dawn to noon would be shorter than from noon to sunset. Since none of this is observed, the Earth cannot be shifted west of the center of the world. Similarly, it is argued that the Earth cannot be shifted to the west. Further, if the Earth were located north or south of the center, the shadows at sunrise would extend north or south, respectively. Moreover, at dawn on the equinox days, the shadows are directed exactly in the direction of the sunset on these days, and at sunrise on the summer solstice, the shadows indicate the point of sunset on the winter solstice. It 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 firmament could be observed, including less than six signs of the zodiac; as a consequence, 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 are given by Ptolemy in the Almagest, Book I. Of course, the arguments of Cleomedes and Ptolemy only prove that the Universe is much larger than the Earth, and therefore are also untenable.

Pages from SACROBOSCO "Tractatus de Sphaera" with Ptolemy's system - 1550
Ptolemy also tries to substantiate the immobility of the Earth (Almagest, Book I). First, if the Earth were displaced from the center, then the effects just described would be observed, and since they are not, the Earth is always in the center. Another argument is the verticality of the trajectories of the falling bodies. Ptolemy justifies the absence of axial rotation of the Earth as follows: if the Earth rotated, then “... all objects that do not rely on the Earth should seem to make the same movement in the opposite direction; no clouds or other flying or hovering objects will ever be seen moving eastward, as the earth’s eastward movement will always throw them away, so that these objects will appear to be moving westward, in the opposite direction. ” The inconsistency of this argument became clear only after the discovery of the foundations of mechanics.
Explanation of astronomical phenomena from the standpoint of geocentrism
The greatest difficulty for ancient Greek astronomy was the unevenness of the movement of the heavenly bodies (especially the backward movements of the planets), since in the Pythagorean-Platonic tradition (which Aristotle largely followed), they were considered deities who were supposed to make only uniform movements. To overcome this difficulty, models were created in which the complex apparent motions of the planets were explained as the result of the addition of several uniform motions 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 motions by introducing the equant model.
Rejection 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 was gradually established. The main events that led to the rejection of the geocentric system were the creation of the heliocentric theory of planetary motion 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 to bring Aristarchus to court for moving the “Heart of the World” out of place, meaning the Earth; it is not known, 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 also successfully adapted to Christianity. A literal reading of the Bible also contributed to this. 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 as a religious belief is found among some conservative Protestant groups in the United States.
Bibliography
Source: http://ru.wikipedia.org/

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

A. Einstein: “a person seeks to somehow adequately 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, to a certain extent, try to replace this world with the picture he created. An artist, a poet, a theorizing philosopher and a naturalist are engaged in this, each in his own way ”.

In the structure of the scientific picture of the world, 2 main components are distinguished: conceptual-conceptual and sensually-shaped .

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 - the 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.

Sensual-shaped component Is a collection of visual representations of the world. For example, the idea of ​​the atom as Thomson's “porridge with raisins”, Rutherford's planetary model of the atom, the image of the Metagalaxy as an inflating sphere, the idea of ​​the electron spin as a spinning top, etc.

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

1. heuristic , that is, sets the program for scientific research;
2. systematizing , that is, it unites the knowledge obtained by various sciences within the framework of a single scientific program;
3. 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 education, but a constantly changing one. In the process of development of scientific and technical knowledge, qualitative transformations take place in it, which lead to the replacement of the old picture of the world with a new one.

This process is considered in his work by a 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 one, it is still impossible to talk about "normal" science, based on a number of generally accepted scientific positions. On the contrary, the second is 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 in the development of science.

Scientific paradigm Is a set of methods, methods, principles of scientific knowledge, as well as theories and hypotheses approved by the scientific community in a certain historical period of time. Scientific paradigm - it is also a sample, a standard, a template used to solve the scientific problems and problems facing them.

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

A scientific description of the paradigm shift is impossible in terms of logic - it requires an appeal to the psychology of scientific creativity and sociology. The new and the 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, one cannot speak of 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 the paradigm within the framework of a given science may not be “global” in nature, but be associated with some particular section 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 this science, but also the rules for their successful application, standard measuring 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 natural?

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

Different scientific pictures of the world are not “things in themselves”, that is, systems completely isolated from each other. They include, along with the excellent ones, some general concepts and principles (for example, the provision on three-dimensionality and continuity of space, the principle of conservation of energy, etc.) Although a number of elements of the 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

Over the centuries, man has sought to unravel the mystery of the world order of the Universe, which the ancient Greek philosophers called the Cosmos (translated from the Greek “space” means order, beauty), in contrast to Chaos, which preceded the appearance of the Cosmos. People asked themselves the question, why are celestial movements and phenomena so correct and periodic (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 questions like them, 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, a person 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. So, in the "Rig Veda", 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 studded with stars, and between them there is luminous air. In ancient times, astronomy had only applied, practical value, it solved, first of all, the pressing problems of people. The stationary Pole Star served as a Guide to people on land and at sea, the rising of the star Sirius foreshadowed the flood of the Nile to the inhabitants of Egypt, and the seasonal appearance of certain constellations in the sky indicated to people the approach of agricultural work.

The first natural scientific ideas about the world around us that have come down to us were formulated by ancient Greek philosophers and scientists in the 7-5th 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 world's phenomena. The fundamental provisions of these teachings can be formulated as the basic principles of the ancient picture of the world.

The basic principles of the ancient picture of the world

The principle of circular shapes, movements and cyclicality... Observation of the round discs of the Sun and the Moon, the rounded horizon on the sea, the rising and setting of the luminaries, the change of seasons, rest and work, etc. led the Greeks to the idea of ​​circular shapes, movements, cycles of development.

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

The concept of the firmament... It was assumed that the Earth is in the center of the world, and the solid firmament serves as a support for the stars and separates the sky from the Earth. The stars are fixedly attached to the firmament, and the planets (to which the sun and the moon were attributed) move relative to the background of fixed stars. The word “planet” comes from the ancient Greek word for “wandering”. Moving around the Earth, the planets made complex, loop-like movements. The point is that each planet was attached to a transparent solid sphere. The sphere revolved evenly around the Earth in a regular circular orbit, and the planet itself also moved around the sphere. The concept of the firmament (the sphere of fixed stars) was preserved even in the Copernicus system, although he transferred the center of the world from the Earth to the Sun.

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

The principle of heavenly perfection... Plato, Aristotle, and other philosophers believed that heaven is perfect in every way. Based on this, they believed that celestial bodies, their spheres and orbits along 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, all points of the surface of which are equidistant from the center. The sphere (circle) was considered by the Greeks to be an ideal, perfect figure.

The principle of the music of the celestial spheres... For the Pythagoreans, musical harmony and the movement of the planets were determined by the same mathematical laws. Pythagoras discovered a remarkable connection between numbers and the laws of musical harmony. He found that the pitch of an oscillating string, the ends of which are fixed, directly depends on its length. Reducing the length of the vibrating part of the violin string by half leads to an increase in the tone of the sound generated by it by an octave. Decreasing the string length by one third raises the tone by a fifth, by one quarter by a fourth, and by one fifth by a third. The Pythagoreans also discovered the regularity of the change in pitch from the size of the rotating object and from the distance from the object to the observer. Thus, a stone tied to a rope and rotated overhead will emit a sound of a certain height. If you change the size of the stone and the length of the rope, then the height of the sound emitted 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, the ancient Greek philosophers were divided into two opposing schools. The head of one of them, Democritus, believed that the substance of the cosmos consists of tiny, invisible, indivisible particles - atoms moving in the surrounding empty space. In the opinion of their opponents (for example, Parmenides), the world is filled with one or more substances that form a continuous medium.

The principle of centrism or homogeneity... Are we in 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 with the Earth in the middle, while a sphere of fixed stars made up its outer shell. Atomists thought differently. In particular, Lucretius Carus wrote: "The universe has no center and contains an infinite number of inhabited worlds."

Despite the variety of principles and models of the Universe in the ancient world, the cultural atmosphere that had developed by that time, and the scientific paradigm led to the approval of the 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 of the universe are closely intertwined with physical and philosophical views.

Under The universe Aristotle understood all existing matter, which, from his point of view, consists 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, outside of which there is nothing material. There is no and space, which is thought of as something filled with matter. There is no time outside the universe. Time Aristotle defined it as a measure of motion (momentum) and associated it with matter, explaining that “there is no movement without a physical body”. Outside the universe was placed immaterial, eternal, immovable, perfect prime mover (deity), who communicated to the world, and in particular to cosmic bodies, a perfect uniform circular motion.

Since the sphericity of the Universe was visible with the naked eye in the shape of the firmament, the circular daily movement of celestial bodies (the Sun, the Moon, etc.), in the observation of lunar eclipses, when the Earth's round shadow crawled onto the disk of the Moon (which was also confirmed by the sphericity of our Earth), then in In such a limited universe, there should have been a center as a singular point equidistant from the periphery. Thus, the central position of the Earth followed from the general properties of the Universe: the heaviest element - the earth, which mainly constitutes the globe, could not but always be in the center of the world. The less heavy element gravitating towards the earth was water, and the light was fire and air. In the superlunar world, the only element - the ether - was in eternal circular motion in the world space. Ether, according to Aristotle, consisted of all celestial bodies, ideal spherical shape, each fastened with its own sphere, solid and crystal-transparent, with which they moved together across the sky. More precisely, the spheres were moving, and with them the planets. Aristotle considered the movement of celestial bodies from east to west to be natural and best (“nature always realizes the best of 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 the heavenly bodies.

The immobility of the earth at the center of the world Aristotle simply postulated to justify the diurnal rotation of the entire firmament (“if the earth is stationary, then the sky is moving”). According to the scientist, The universe did not arise and is fundamentally indestructible, it is eternal, since it is the only and embraces all possible matter, it has nothing to arise from and nothing to transform into. "It is not the Cosmos that arises and is destroyed, but its states."

The cosmological system of Aristotle was a theory based on the experimental data of the sciences of that time (the visible circular motions of the planets, the Sun, the Moon, the rounded horizon on the sea, etc.). Aristotle believed that the Earth soars freely in space, and does not go back to infinity (Xenophanes), or does not float on water (Thales). But along with the erroneous ideas of his predecessors, Aristotle 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 strove to clear the picture of the world from the mythological element. He sharply criticized the ancient teachings, according to which the sky and celestial bodies, in order not to fall to the Earth, had to rely on the shoulders of mighty heroes - Atlanteans.

Aristotle's model of the universe can be called teleological , based on the highest ultimate goals and reasons and explaining everything by them (prime mover, ideal divine circular forms, the 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. Dogmatized in medieval Europe and the Arab East, Aristotle's picture of the world survived until the 16th century.

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

The creation of the first mathematical theory of the apparent motion of planets, "Mathematical System", was devoted to 5 of the 13 books of Ptolemy under the general title "Almagest". “Almagest” translated from Arabic means “the greatest”. The fact is that the Greek original was lost, and only the Arabic translation of K. Ptolemy's works has come down to 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 remoteness of the Earth from the sphere of fixed stars .

Ptolemy believed that the faster a planet moves across the sky (that is, we are talking about visible motion), the closer it is to Earth. Hence 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 well-known ideas and observations. So, he believed that from the surface of the rotating Earth (if there was such a thing) all bodies freely lying on it would have to be torn off and thrown into world space in the direction opposite to the direction of rotation of the Earth (clouds, birds, people, houses, etc.) etc.). In part, Ptolemy was right. However, he did not take into account the colossal mass of the Earth in comparison with all living and non-living objects on its surface. But even today no one is surprised by the fact that the weight of the same objects at the equator is less due to centrifugal force than at the pole.

The theory of K. Ptolemy was a tremendous success of human thought in the mathematical analysis of natural phenomena. Thus, the intricate apparent motions of the planets were presented as the result of the addition of simple elements - uniform movements along a circle. In Ptolemy's scheme, the 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 ( defernt ). The center of the smaller circle moves along the deferent - epicycle - with an angular velocity that is constant with respect not to the deferent's own center and not to the Earth itself, but to a point located symmetrically to the deferent center relative to the Earth. This auxiliary point, from which the movement of the planet will seem uniform (aligned), like the corresponding circle, was introduced by Ptolemy for a more accurate description of the observed irregularities in the apparent motions of the planets and called equant (leveling). The planet itself in the Ptolemy system moved evenly along the epicycle. To describe the newly discovered irregularities in the motions of the Moon or planets, new additional epicycles were introduced - the second, third, etc. By introducing the equant, Ptolemy violated the principle of the structure and properties of the Universe in the physical picture of the world of Aristotle. But N. Copernicus understood this and drew attention to this only after one and a half thousand years.

K. Ptolemy's theory made a huge impression not only on his contemporaries. Until the 16th century, its geocentric system reigned supreme over the minds of people. However, Ptolemy himself considered his theory only a way of describing phenomena, without pretending that his complex construction expressed the true essence of things (the structure of the Universe). Meanwhile, the church and the scholastic science of the Middle Ages turned the geocentric picture of the world into the ultimate truth, elevated it into an official doctrine, to the rank of an indisputable religious dogma.

In fairness, it should be noted that the Greek thinkers who created models of the movement of the celestial spheres could be divided into two rival camps. They disagreed on the role of mathematics and mathematical models.

The representatives of the first camp, led by Aristotle, considered mathematics as the servant of philosophy and common sense. They believed that mathematics can be useful in describing phenomena, but it is not able to reflect their depth and essence.

Representatives of another camp, the Pythagoreans, believed that mathematical laws lay at the heart of all phenomena. They believed that the laws of mathematical harmony are a more appropriate guide to comprehending the mysteries of heaven than experience and common sense. The Pythagoreans believed that it would be more natural to assume that the motion of the stars we observe is a consequence of the motion of the Earth, which we cannot perceive in a circle, 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 its geometric center, just like the wheel of a carriage turns on its axis.

The highest achievement of the Pythagoreans was the heliocentric model of the world proposed by Aristarchus of Samos (III century BC). He considered the Sun to be 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 stay away from the mainstream of the development of ideas about the world. The revival of heliocentrism took place only in the 16th century.

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

N. Copernicus (1473 - 1543) is rightfully considered the founder of heliocentrism. Copernicus was born on the territory of Poland in the city of Torun. Graduated from Krakow University, one of the oldest in Europe, where he studied mathematics, physics, astronomy, the works of Hipparchus, Ptolemy, etc.

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

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

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

Copernicus system was based on 2 principles: the assumption of the mobility of the Earth and the recognition of the central position of the Sun in the system.

The advantage of Copernicus' theory in comparison with the theory of K. Ptolemy consisted in logical simplicity, harmony and practical applicability. Copernicus believed that "nature abhors superfluous" and seeks, perhaps with a smaller number of reasons to provide, perhaps a larger number of consequences and phenomena. Thanks to the Copernican system, on October 5, 1582, a new (Gregorian) style of time reckoning was introduced in Europe at 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 dimensions of the sphere of stars and its remoteness from the solar system are so colossal that the entire solar system, together with the now moving Earth, can practically be considered as the center of the Universe, as single point.

Thanks to the Copernican system, movement came to be seen as natural property of celestial objects, including the Earth. The movement was subject to general laws, uniform mechanics. Therefore, Aristotle's concept of the prime mover, which had existed for centuries, "collapsed".

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

Copernicus is one of the first critical minds showed the limitations of our sensory knowledge and proved the need to supplement it.

The work started by N. Copernicus was continued by the 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 Nikolai Kuzansky, in which the possibility for any body to be the center of the Universe was denied, since the Universe is infinite, and infinity has no center. Combining the philosophical and cosmological views of N. Kuzansky and the clear heliocentric conclusions of N. Copernicus (whose doctrine was Bruno), J. Bruno creates his own natural-philosophical picture of the infinite Universe. Bruno's concept is clearly visible in his main works: “ About the reason, the beginning and one ”,“ On infinity, the universe and the 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 the distances to different stars and concluded that the ratio of their apparent brightness can be deceiving.

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

Interesting and promising was the statement of the scientist about commonality of elements constituting the Earth, like all other celestial bodies. Moreover, all things are based on the unchanging, non-disappearing , primary material substance ... Based on this unity, Bruno logically suggested that in an endlessly evolving universe there should exist infinite hearths of mind, many inhabited worlds.

For the expressed seditious ideas contrary to 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 entailed revolution in mechanics founded by G. Galileo of Padua (1564 - 1642). Galileo was interested in mechanical processes throughout his life. He was the first to build an experimental mathematical motion science – dynamics, the laws of which he deduced as a result of generalization of specially set scientific experiments. Galileo proposed a new understanding of motion - motion by inertia. Previously dominated aristotelian understanding movement, according to which the body moves due to external influence on him, and when the latter stops, the body stops. Galileo suggested the principle of inertia, according to which the body is either at rest or in motion, without changing the direction and speed of its movement for an arbitrarily long time, if there is no external influence on it.

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

Galileo developed a theory of uniformly accelerated motion.

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

Galileo discovered the laws of oscillation of a pendulum.

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

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

• A huge cluster of stars has been discovered in the pale clouds of the Milky Way.
• The stars are immeasurably distant from us in comparison with the planets, since the planets in the telescope increased and looked like circles, while the stars remained points, 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 represents irregularities and elevations, like the earth's surface is covered with huge mountains, deep chasms and cliffs. Galileo first estimated the height of the largest lunar mountain (about 7 km).
• The discovery by Galileo in 1612 on the disk of the Sun of small dark formations (spots), which moved along the disk of the Sun, was extremely important. This allowed Galileo to assert that the sun rotates on its axis. The sun has ceased to be a symbol of purity and perfection, because even there were spots on it (“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 in Jupiter to date. Thus, the Moon ceased to be an exception, and the Earth ceased to be the only planet with a satellite.

With all his discoveries, G. Galileo irrefutably proved the correctness of N. Copernicus's heliocentric system. Galileo's sympathies for heliocentrism were reflected in the work "Dialogue about two systems of the world - Ptolemaeva and Copernicus." The Holy Inquisition was not asleep either. In 1633, Galileo was summoned to Rome and thrown into the dungeons of the Inquisition for several weeks. Under the threat of torture, the 69-year-old scientist was forced to recant his "delusions." After that, Galileo left Italy and went to the Protestant Netherlands, where he continued to work and republished his works, which were already very popular among scholars at that time.

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

The search for the exact laws of planetary motion became the main business of the life of the German astronomer I. Kepler (1571 - 1630). The main works of I. Kepler “New astronomy seeking reasons or physics of the sky” (“Astronomy is new”), “Reduction of Copernican astronomy”, “Harmony the world ”,“ Rudolph's tables ”and others were associated with the idea of ​​world harmony and with the search for simple numerical relations expressing it.

I. Kepler was a Neo-Pythagorean mathematician who believed in the harmony of the world. Nature is created according to mathematical rules and it is the responsibility of the scientist to understand them. Kepler was convinced that the structure of the world can be determined mathematically, because 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 correlate with the structure of the Universe. “The Earth's orbit is the measure of all other orbits. Describe a dodecahedron around it (a regular 12-sided), then the sphere, which in turn will describe it, will be the sphere of Mars. Around the sphere of Mars, describe a tetrahedron (regular 4-sided), 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. Include an icosahedron (regular 20-sided) in the Earth's orbit, the sphere inscribed in it will be the sphere of Venus, in the sphere of Venus, inscribe an octahedron (regular 8-sided), the sphere of Mercury will be inscribed in it. So you will understand the reason for the number of planets ”.

The idea of ​​a connection between planets and polyhedrons soon found its inconsistency, but a future research program was manifested in it.

Neither K. Ptolemy, nor N. Copernicus, nor T. Brage could explain the “irregular” movement of Mars. I. Kepler took up this problem and solved it. The scientist came to the conclusion that theoretical calculations of the motion of the planets coincide with the 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. Paskvinelli).

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

Kepler's first law. Each planet moves along an ellipse, in one of the focuses of which is the Sun. Thus, the principle of circular motions in space was destroyed.

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

Р1Р2 - the distance covered by the planet in time t1.

Р3Р4 - distance traveled by the planet in time t2.

SP1P2 and SP3P4 - describe sectors of equal areas at equal intervals of time.

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

Kepler's third law ... The squares of the periods of revolution of the planets around the Sun are referred to as cubes of the semi-major axes of their orbits. (The squares of the periods of revolution of the planets around the Sun are referred to as 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 the planets decreases.

On the basis of these laws, Kepler developed the concept of the mechanism of action of the force driving the planet as about the whirlwind , arising in the etheric medium, from the rotation of the magnetic field of the Sun and enthralling the surrounding bodies.

Kepler also developed the theory of solar and lunar eclipses and methods of their prediction are proposed.

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

Thanks to Kepler, the problem of the structure of the planetary world moved from the field of mythological and hypothetical constructions to the field 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 paved the way for the formation of a mechanistic picture of the world.

Questions for self-control

1. What kind of science existed in antiquity?
2. Who gave the first classification of sciences?
3. What are the main historical stages of its development that science has gone through?
4. What is classical science and when does it start to take shape?
5. What is a scientific revolution and how many were there in the history of science?
6. What is non-classical science?

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16. Isachenko A.G. Development of geographical ideas. M., 1971.
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20. Vernadsky V.I. Selected works on the history of science. M., 1981.
21. P.P. Gaidenko Evolution of the concept of science. Formation and development of the first scientific programs. M., 1980.
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32. Vorontsov N.N. Development of evolutionary ideas in biology. M., 1999.
33. Verginsky V.S. Essays on the history of science and technology in the 16th - 19th centuries. M., 1984.

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HELIOCENTRIC AND GEOCENTRIC SYSTEMS OF THE WORLD

two opposite doctrines about the structure of the solar system and the movement of its bodies. According to heliocentric. system of the world (from the Greek. ἥλιος -Sun), the Earth revolving around its own. axis, is one of the planets and revolves around the Sun with them. This is geocentric. the world (from the Greek. γῆ -Earth) is based on the statement about the immobility of the Earth, resting in the center of the Universe; The sun, planets and all celestial bodies revolve around the Earth. The struggle between these two concepts, which led to the triumph of heliocentrism, fills the history of astronomy and has the collision of two opposing philosophies. directions.

Certain ideas close to heliocentrism developed already in the Pythagorean school. So, even Philolaus (5th century BC) taught about the movement of the planets, the Earth and the Sun around the central fire. Among the genius naturalphilos. conjectures related to the teachings of Aristarchus of Samos (late 4th - early 3rd centuries BC) about the rotation of the Earth around the Sun and around its own. axis. This teaching was so contrary to the whole system of antiquity. thinking, antique. a picture of the world, which was not understood by contemporaries and was criticized even by such a scientist as Archimedes. Aristarchus of Samos was declared an apostate, and for a long time he was overshadowed by a very skillful, but also very arts. the construction of Aristotle. Aristotle and Ptolemy are the creators of the classic. geocentrism in its most consistent and complete form. If Ptolemy created the end. kinematic scheme, then Aristotle laid the physical. foundations of geocentrism. The synthesis of the physics of Aristotle and the astronomy of Ptolemy gives what is usually called the Ptolemaic-Aristotelian system of the world.

The conclusions of Aristotle and Ptolemy were based on the analysis of the apparent motions of celestial bodies. This one immediately discovered the so-called. "inequalities" in the motion of the planets, to-rye in ancient times were isolated from the general picture of the starry sky. The first inequality is that the speed of the apparent motion of the planets does not remain constant, but changes periodically. The second inequality is the complexity, the looping of the lines described by the planets in the sky. These inequalities were in sharp contradiction with the ideas about the harmony of the world, about the uniformly circular motion of celestial bodies, which had been established since the time of Pythagoras. In this regard, Plato clearly formulated the task of astronomy - to explain the visible planets using a system of uniformly circular motions. The solution to this problem using the concentric system. studied ancient Greek. astronomer Eudoxus of Cnidus (c. 408 - c. 355 BC), and then Aristotle. Aristotle's system of the world is based on the impassable chasm between the earthly elements (earth, water, air, fire) and the heavenly element (quinta essentia). The heavenly is opposed to the imperfection of everything earthly. One of the expressions of this perfection is the concentric uniform circular movement. spheres, to which the planets and other celestial bodies are attached. The universe is limited. The Earth rests in its center. Centre. the position and immobility of the Earth were explained by Aristotle's peculiar "theory of gravitation". The disadvantage of Aristotle's concept (from the point of view of geocentrism) was the lack of quantities. approach, research of pure qualities. description. Meanwhile, the practice (and partly the requests of astrology) required the ability to calculate, for any moment, the position of the planets on the celestial sphere. This problem was solved by Ptolemy (2nd century). Perceiving the physics of Aristotle, Ptolemy rejected his doctrine of concentric. spheres. In the main work of Ptolemy "Almagest" is given a harmonious and thoughtful geocentric. system of the world. All planets move uniformly in circular orbits - epicycles. In turn, the centers of the epicycles slide uniformly along the circumference of the deferents - large circles, almost in the center of which the Earth is located. By placing the Earth off the center of the deferents, Ptolemy recognized the latter's eccentricities. Such a complex system was needed in order to explain the apparent uneven and non-circular motion of the planets by adding uniformly circular motions. For almost one and a half thousand years, Ptolemy's system served as a theoretical. base for calculating celestial movements. Rotate. and will do. the movement of the Earth was rejected on the grounds that at a high speed of such a movement, all bodies on the surface of the Earth would break away from it and fly away. Centre. the position of the earth was explained by natures. the striving of all earthly elements towards the center. Only correct ideas about inertia and gravitation could finally break the chain of Ptolemy's proofs.

Thus, as a result of the poor development of natures. sciences of heliocentrism and geocentrism in antich. science ended with the victory of geocentrism. Attempts dep. scientists to question geocentrism met with hostility and were discredited by Aristotle, Ptolemy. Means. I owe some of my victories to religion. It is wrong to consider geocentrism only as kinematic. the scheme of the world; in classic form it was a natural consequence, astronomical. a form of anthropocentrism and teleology.

The doctrine of the center inevitably followed from the idea that it was the crown of creation. the position of the Earth, its uniqueness, the service role of all celestial bodies in relation to the Earth. Geocentrism was a kind of "scientific" foundation of religion, and therefore fought zealously against heliocentrism. True, geocentrism is materialistic. systems of Democritus and his successors was free of religious-idealistic. concepts of anthropocentrism and teleology. The earth was recognized as the center of the world, but only "our" world. The universe is infinite. There are endless worlds in it. Naturally so materialistic. interpretation reduced geocentrism to the level of a private astronomical. theory. The divide between geocentrism and heliocentrism did not always coincide with the border separating from materialism.

The development of technology required more and more astronomical precision. calculations. This caused the complexity of Ptolemy's system: epicycles were piled on epicycles, causing bewilderment and anxiety even among orthodox geocentrists. New in astronomy was discovered by Copernicus. His book "On the Circulation of the Celestial Spheres" (1543) was the beginning of the revolution. revolution in natural science.

Copernicus put forward the position that most of the visible celestial motions are only the movements of the Earth both around its axis and around the Sun. By this, the immobility and exclusivity of the Earth was destroyed. However, Copernicus could not finally break with the physics of Aristotle. Hence the errors in his system. First, having reversed the Earth and the Sun, Copernicus began to regard the Sun as abs. center of the universe. Secondly, Copernicus retained the illusion of uniformly circular motions of the planets, which required the introduction of epicycles to explain the first inequality. Third, to explain the change of seasons, Copernicus introduced the third motion of the Earth - "declination". However, these shortcomings of the system do not diminish the merits of Copernicus. Copernicus' teachings were initially accepted without much enthusiasm. He was rejected by F. Bacon, Tycho Brahe and cursed by M. Luther. G. Bruno (1548-1600) overcame Copernicus. He showed that the Universe is infinite and has no center, and the Sun is an ordinary star in an infinite number of stars and worlds. Having done a gigantic work of generalization, observe. material collected by Tycho Brahe, Kepler (1571-1630) discovered the laws of planetary motion. This broke the Aristotelian idea of ​​their uniformly circular motion; elliptic orbits finally explained the first inequality in the motion of the planets. The work of Galileo (1564-1642) destroyed the foundation of the Ptolemy system. The law of inertia made it possible to discard the "declination movement" and to prove the inconsistency of the arguments of the opponents of heliocentrism. "Dialogue on the two main systems of the world - Ptolemaic and Copernicus" (1632) brought Copernicus's ideas to a relatively wide audience, and Galileo was brought before the court of the Inquisition.

Catholic. the upper classes at first greeted the book of Copernicus without much alarm and even with interest. This was facilitated as a purely mathematical. the exposition, as well as the preface of Osiander, in which he argued that the entire construction of Copernicus does not at all pretend to be an image is valid. the world, in essence unknowable, that in the book of Copernicus the movement of the Earth serves only as a hypothesis, only as a formal basis for mathematical. calculations. This was accepted with approval by Rome. J. Bruno exposed Osiander's falsification. Scientific and propaganda Bruno and Galileo dramatically changed the Catholic. church to the teachings of Copernicus. In 1616 it was condemned, and the book of Copernicus was banned "until correction" (the ban was lifted only in 1822).

In the works of Bruno, Kepler, Galileo, the Copernican system was freed from the remnants of Aristotelianism. A further step forward was made by Newton (1643-1727). His book "Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosophy" (1687, see Russian translation 1936) gave a physicist. the teachings of Copernicus. This finally eliminated the gap between earthly and celestial mechanics and created the first human in history. knowledge scientific. ... The victory of heliocentrism meant the defeat of religion and the triumph of the materialistic. science that seeks to know and explain from itself.

The dispute between Copernicus and Ptolemy was finally settled in favor of Copernicus. However, with the advent of general relativity in the bourgeois. science has widely spread (expressed in a general form by E. Mach) that the Copernican system and the Ptolemy system are equal and that the struggle between them was meaningless (see A. Einstein and L. Infeld, Evolution of Physics, Moscow, 1956, p. 205 –10; M. Born, Einstein's theory of relativity and its physical foundations, M.–L., 1938, pp. 252–54). The position of physicists on this issue was supported by some idealist philosophers. "The doctrine of relativity does not assert," writes G. Reichenbach, "that Ptolemy's view is correct; it rather refutes the meaning of each of these two views. This understanding could have arisen only due to the fact that the historical passed through both concepts, due to the fact that laid the foundation for a new mechanics, which ultimately clarified the one-sidedness of Copernicus's very worldview. The road to truth here went through three dialectical stages, which Hegel regarded as stages necessary in any historical development, leading from the thesis through to the higher synthesis "(" From Copernicus to Einstein ", NY, 1942, p. 83). This "higher" of the ideas of Ptolemy and Copernicus is based on a misinterpretation of the general principle of relativity: since acceleration (and not just speed, as in the special theory of relativity) loses abs. character, since the fields of inertial forces are equivalent to gravity and the general laws of physics are formulated covariantly with respect to any transformations of coordinates and time, then all possible frames of reference are equal and the preferred (privileged) frame of reference loses. Hence, geocentric. the world has the same existence as the heliocentric. The choice of a reference frame associated with the Sun is not a principle, but a matter of convenience. So, under the flag of the further development of science, the significance of that revolution in science and worldview, which was produced by the works of Copernicus, is essentially denied. This kind of raises objections from many scientists. Moreover, the nature of the objections, the way of argumentation are different, reflecting the understanding or understanding of the essence of the general theory of relativity. Proceeding from the fact that the general theory is in essence the theory of gravitation, Acad. VA Fock in a number of works ("Some applications of the ideas of non-Euclidean geometry of Lobachevsky to physics", in the book: Kotelnikov A.P. and Fock V.A., Some applications of Lobachevsky's ideas in mechanics and physics, M. -L., 1950; "Copernicus system and Ptolemy's system in the light of the modern theory of gravitation", in collection of articles. "Nicolaus Copernicus", M., 1955) denies the relativity of acceleration as the main one. Fock argues that if certain conditions are met, it is possible to select a privileged coordinate system (the so-called "harmonic"). Acceleration in such a system is absolute, i.e. it does not depend on the choice of the system, but is due to the physical. reasons. This directly implies the objective truth of the heliocentric. systems of the world. But Fock's point of departure is by no means generally recognized and is subject to criticism (see, for example, Μ. Φ. Shirokov, General theory of relativity or the theory of gravitation ?, J. Experimental and Theoretical Phys., 1956, vol. 30, Issue 1; H. Keres, Some questions of the general theory of relativity, "Proceedings of the Institute of Physics and Astronomy of the Academy of Sciences of the Estonian SSR", Tartu, 1957, No. 5). In contrast to Fock, Μ. Φ. Shirokov believes that the recognition of the general principle of relativity is compatible with the recognition of the existence of preferential frames of reference for an isolated accumulation of matter, since the center of inertia holds in any frame of reference with Galilean conditions at infinity (see Μ. Φ. Shirokov, On preferential frames of reference in Newtonian mechanics and the theory of relativity, in collection: Dialectical materialism and modern, Moscow, 1957). Such a system is characterized by the fact that its center of inertia is at rest or moves uniformly and rectilinearly and that the laws of conservation of mass, energy, momentum and angular momentum are fulfilled. A non-inertial system cannot be predominant, because in it these are not fulfilled. Obviously, for our planetary system, it will be preferable to be associated with the Sun as with the center of inertia of the considered material formation.

Thus, with both of these approaches to the general theory of relativity, the recognition of the equivalence of the systems of Copernicus and Ptolemy turns out to be untenable. This will become even more obvious if we take into account that equality, frames of reference cannot be reduced to the possibility of transition from one to. Since it is not about formally mathematical. ideas, but about material, objective systems, must be taken into the origin of the system, and the role that various material bodies play in it, and other physical. system characteristics. Only this approach is correct. Compare consideration of the role and place occupied by the Sun and the Earth in the development of the solar system shows with sufficient clarity that it is the Sun that is natures. the predominant reference body for the entire system.

Heliocentric. the system of the world is an integral part of the modern. scientific. pictures of the world. She has become habitual, included even in the fact. The simplest with the Foucault pendulum and gyroscopic. compasses clearly demonstrate the rotation of the Earth around its axis. Light aberration and parallax of fixed stars prove the Earth's rotation around the Sun. But behind this simplicity, behind this obviousness, lie two millennia of intense and fierce struggle between the forces of progress and reaction. This struggle once again testifies to the complexity and inconsistency of the process of cognition.

Wikipedia - Image of the solar system from the book by Andreas Cellarius Harmonia Macrocosmica (1708) The heliocentric system of the world the idea that the Sun is the central celestial body around which the Earth and others revolve ... Wikipedia

The idea of ​​the structure of the solar system that emerged during the Renaissance (N. Copernicus): the sun is the central body around which the planets revolve. The heliocentric system of the world has changed the idea of ​​the Earth as the center of the universe ... ... encyclopedic Dictionary

The idea of ​​the structure of the solar system that arose in the Renaissance (N. Copernicus): the Sun center. the body, the planets turn around to the horn. G. s. m. changed the idea of ​​the Earth as the center of the universe (see Geocentric system of the world), that ... ... Natural science. encyclopedic Dictionary

The geocentric system of the world (from the other 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. ... ... Wikipedia

The celestial sphere is divided by the celestial equator. The celestial sphere is an imaginary auxiliary sphere of an arbitrary radius onto which the celestial bodies are projected: it serves to solve various astrometric problems. For the center of the celestial sphere, like ... ... Wikipedia

The world system is heliocentric- the idea of ​​the structure of the solar system that arose during the Renaissance: the Sun is the central body around which the planets revolve. Justified by the Polish astronomer N. Copernicus (1473-1543). The heliocentric system has changed the idea of ​​... ... Concepts of modern natural science. Glossary of basic terms

The geocentric system of the world is such a concept of the structure of the universe, according to which our Earth is the central body in the entire Universe, 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, which has a central axis and asymmetry "top - bottom". According to these ideas, the Earth is held in space by means 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 represented the world ocean as a support for the Earth and assumed that the Universe has a centrally symmetric structure and does not have any designated direction. For this reason, the Earth, located in the center of the Cosmos, is in a state of rest without any support. The student of Anaximander of Miletus, Anaximenes of Miletus, somewhat moved away from conclusions, 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 Anaxogoros, Ptolemy and Parmenides. What point of view Democritus adhered to is unknown to history. Anaximander assured that it corresponds to a cylinder whose height is three times less than the diameter of its base. Anaxogoros, Anaximenes, and Leucillus argued that the earth was flat. The first to suggest that the Earth has the shape of a ball 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, its canonical form appeared.

Later, the canonical form of geocentric representations 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 that the Cosmos rotates around the world axis, causing the movement of celestial bodies. The geocentric system is constantly being improved with new discoveries.

So Anaximenes had 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 in their location. Aristotle and Plato placed Venus and Mercury behind the Sun, and Ptolemy argued that they are between the Moon and the Sun.

The geocentric coordinate system is used in the modern world to study the motion 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 Sun is the central celestial body, and the Earth and other planets revolve around it.