Finding our Place in the Solar System
The Scientific Story of the Copernican Revolution

Details the science behind the Copernican Revolution, the transition from the Earth-centered cosmos to a modern understanding of planetary orbits.

Todd Timberlake (Author), Paul Wallace (Author)

9781107182295, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 28 March 2019

392 pages, 110 b/w illus.
25.4 x 17.8 x 2.4 cm, 0.94 kg

'… the authors' ability to present complex scientific concepts in the history of astronomy and physics clearly and concisely is invaluable for undergraduate teaching. The figures, diagrams, and appendixes in the book enhance the clarity of their presentation, which was already impressive. This text will be very useful for those teaching the history of ancient, medieval, or early modern science. Even for those whose pedagogy differs markedly from that of Timberlake and Wallace, Finding Our Place in the Solar System could serve as a useful complement to the main themes of a course.' Nicholas A. Jacobson, Isis

Finding our Place in the Solar System gives a detailed account of how the Earth was displaced from its traditional position at the center of the universe to be recognized as one of several planets orbiting the Sun under the influence of a universal gravitational force. The transition from the ancient geocentric worldview to a modern understanding of planetary motion, often called the Copernican Revolution, is one of the great intellectual achievements of humankind. This book provides a deep yet accessible explanation of the scientific disputes over our place in the solar system and the work of the great scientists who helped settle them. Readers will come away knowing not just that the Earth orbits the Sun, but why we believe that it does so. The Copernican Revolution also provides an excellent case study of what science is and how it works.

Preface
1. Introduction: mysterious skies
2. Two spheres: modeling the heavens and the Earth
3. Wanderers: the Moon and the planets
4. An Earth-centered cosmos: astronomy and cosmology from Eudoxus to Regiomontanus
5. Moving the Earth: the revolutions of Copernicus
6. Instruments of reform: Tycho's restoration of observational astronomy
7. Physical causes: Kepler's new astronomy
8. Seeing beyond Aristotle: Galileo's controversies
9. The system of the world: Newton's universal physics
10. Confirming Copernicus: evidence for Earth's motions
Appendix A. Mathematical details
Notes
References
Index.

Subject Areas: Popular astronomy & space [WNX], Solar system: the Sun & planets [PGS], Astronomy, space & time [PG], Popular science [PDZ], History of science [PDX]