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Discovery and Exploration

For thousands of years, most people believed that Earth was at the center of the universe and that the sun and planets moved around it. Nicolaus Copernicus first developed a mathematically predictive model that placed the sun at the center of the solar system. His successors Galileo Galilei, Johannes Kepler and Isaac Newton further developed an understanding of physics that led to the acceptance that Earth and planets are governed by the same laws and that Earth orbits the sun. The invention of the telescope allowed for the discovery of additional planets and moons, and modern spacecraft have enabled in-depth investigations of geological and seasonal phenomena on other planets.

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Shadman Sadik
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17 views

Discovery and Exploration

For thousands of years, most people believed that Earth was at the center of the universe and that the sun and planets moved around it. Nicolaus Copernicus first developed a mathematically predictive model that placed the sun at the center of the solar system. His successors Galileo Galilei, Johannes Kepler and Isaac Newton further developed an understanding of physics that led to the acceptance that Earth and planets are governed by the same laws and that Earth orbits the sun. The invention of the telescope allowed for the discovery of additional planets and moons, and modern spacecraft have enabled in-depth investigations of geological and seasonal phenomena on other planets.

Uploaded by

Shadman Sadik
Copyright
© Attribution Non-Commercial (BY-NC)
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Discovery and exploration

Andreas Cellarius's illustration of the Copernican system, from the Harmonia Macrocosmica (1660). Main article: Discovery and exploration of the Solar System For many thousands of years, humanity, with a few notable exceptions, did not recognize the existence of the Solar System. People believed the Earth to be stationary at the centre of the universe and categorically different from the divine or ethereal objects that moved through the sky. Although the Greek philosopher Aristarchus of Samos had speculated on a heliocentric reordering of the cosmos, Nicolaus Copernicus was the first to develop a mathematically predictive heliocentric system. His 17th-century successors, Galileo Galilei, Johannes Kepler and Isaac Newton, developed an understanding of physics that led to the gradual acceptance of the idea that the Earth moves around the Sun and that the planets are governed by the same physical laws that governed the Earth. Additionally, the invention of the telescope led to the discovery of further planets and moons. In more recent times, improvements in the telescope and the use of unmanned spacecraft have enabled the investigation of geological phenomena, such as mountains and craters, and seasonal meteorological phenomena, such as clouds, dust storms, and ice caps on the other planets.

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