achieved a single system, whichwas not done by the others. "When Ptolemy achieved a single system, the sizes of theshells accommodating maximum and minimum planetary distances were settled on theprinciple that there must be no void, no wasted space, between them." (North, p.285) Hismisconception was he believed that if the Earth was not fixed entirely, it would shatter,even though Copernicus reveals that planets' distances from Earth and motions vary, andthat the Earth endlessly repeats in motion. (North, p.286) Despite the Catholic Church adopting Ptolemy's and Aristotle's beliefs ofgeocentrism, those theories did not correspond to the astronomical observations of thetime. A Polish astronomer by the name of Copernicus, documented his views on theheliocentric theory in his book Commentariolus in 1514, which sparked the time periodnow known as the Copernican Revolution. Copernicus liberated the human mind, whichhad been fettered up to his day by traditional conventions, and he opposed the basing ofscience solely on sensory experiences. Taking a stand against the entire world of thattime and against the supreme authority that he recognized—the church and the HolyScripture, against the views consolidated and sanctified by the knowledge of scholars ofmany previous centuries—he instilled into the minds of men boldness in thinking, but healso taught them humility in the quest for truth. Copernicus' science of the stars is also ascience of man and his place on an Earth which is spinning through the universe."(Adamczewski, p. 156-7) Copernicus published the first outline on heliocentrism in hisbook Commentary on the Hypothesis of the Movement of Celestial Orbs, in 1514. It wasthe first of its kind, without all of the mathematics. The Copernican theory explained theEarth-Sun line and gave a more plausible reason as to why the Sun's role is important inthe motions of the Moon and planets in the solar system when compared to Ptolemy'...
