Contribution of Copernicus

M.A History First Year Courses Assignments

For July 2015 and January 2016 Sessions

ANCIENT & MEDIEVAIL SOCITIES

Course Code: MHI-01

Assignment Code: MHI-01/AST/TMA/2015-16

Total Marks: 100

Q10:- Write short notes on any two of the following in 250 words each:

 

Contribution of Copernicus

Ans: Nicolaus Copernicus (1473-1543), the Polish clergyman and astronomer studied Church law and astronomy in various European universities such as Krakow, Bologna, Padua and Ferrara. He was bothered by many inconsistencies in the Ptolemaic (geo-centric) model of the universe. The earth-centered model of Ptolemy, the last great astronomer, who lived in Alexandria in the second century A.D, did not fit with many actual observed facts about planets and stars. It was also a complex and unwieldy system of spheres and epicycles. In order to explain the apparent retrograde motion of planets, Ptolemy explained that each planet moved in small circles around an invisible centre, which in term moved in a larger circle orbiting the Earth. This basic concept, which he called epicycles, served roughly to reconcile the differences between observation and Aristotle’s earlier theory that all heavenly objects rotated around the Earth in concentric spheres, set one within the other. The great medieval scholar, William of Ockham (1285-1349) had cautioned against adopting such complicated theories.

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