s. Byintroducing the Sun into the theory of motion of every planet, Copernicus made itpossible to represent it all in a single system. The heliocentric system presented theplanets positions more logically, going around or below the Sun. It also explained therelative sizes of the planet's retrograde arcs and why outer-stellar planets are brightest inopposition. (North, p.287) Society's reaction to the heliocentric system was not afavorable one. Many people thought who would dare to place Copernicus' authorityhigher than the Holy Scripture? Believing that the Earth rotates on its axis, planetsrevolve around the Sun, and planetary orbits were elliptical due to the force of gravitywas then thought of as inconceivable. Copernicus was criticized by colleagues and peersfor his enthusiasm of the ancient philosophers, who were viewed as incorrect. The onlypoint that Copernicus was trying to makes was that "...there does not exist any commoncenter for all the celestial orbs or spheres; the center of the Earth is not the center of theuniverse; but only the center of gravity and the center of the Moon's path; all the planetsrevolve around the Sun, which is the center." (Adamczewski, p.115) As a result of thebad reaction towards Copernicus' views, he hesitated from publishing his famous bookDe Revolutionibus. Copernicus claims that "apprehension of the derision which I had tofear because of the hard-to- understand novelty of my theory." (Adamczewski, p.144)Prior to the March 21, 1543 publication of De Revolutionibus, a falsifier of Copernicus'work Andreas Osiander, added his own foreword to the book saying that it was " afictitious scheme for calculations," just an hypothesis. Osiander also had the audacity tochange Copernicus' title to De Revolutionibus Orbium Coelestium. (Adamczewski,p.153-4) To free himself from heresy, Copernicus dedicated his book to Pope Paul III: "Iam fully aware, Holy Father, that as soon as they hear that in these volume...
