The Polish monk Nicolaus Copernicus suggested that the Sun was at the center of the universe. ![]() It was not seriously challenged until 1543, when TheĮarth-centered view of the universe was widely accepted for about 1500 years. This explained why planets sometimes appeared to travel backward in the sky. He thought that each space body moved in a small circle (an epicycle) Like most astronomers before him, he believed the Sun, Moon, and other planetsĬircled the Earth. Ptolemaeus (better known as Ptolemy of Alexandria), came along 300 years later. The first astronomer to make truly scientific maps of the heavens, Claudius ![]() He also calculated the Moon's distance from the Earth. Hipparchus, the most important Greek astronomer of his time, calculated the comparative brightness of as many as 1,000ĭifferent stars. The exception, a century later, was Aristarchus, one of the earliest believers in a Aristotle's ideas were widely accepted by the Greeks of his time. The Sun, Moon, planets, and all the fixed stars revolved around it. He thought Earth was the center of the universe and that Thalesīelieved the Earth was flat and floated on water like a log.Īristotle, who lived from 384 to 322 BC, believed the Earth was round. Predict a solar eclipse in the sixth century BC. He used the astronomical records of the Babylonians and Egyptians to accurately It is said that Thales provided the bridgeīetween the world of myth and the world of reason. Questions about the universe that were not based on the actions of gods or demons. Thales, often called the father of Greek science and mathematics, asked Like early astronomers from around the world, theĪncient Greeks struggled to understand the universe. ![]() Recent observations have shown the universe to be about 13.7 billion years old!
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