Copernican revolution
Also called: Heliocentric theory · Topic: Renaissance, Reformation and the Scientific Revolution · NCERT: Class 11, Ch 3 "Changing Traditions"; Class 11, Ch 5 "Changing Cultural Traditions"
Meaning
The Copernican revolution was the change from believing the earth is the centre of the universe to knowing that the earth goes round the sun. This sun-centred view is called the heliocentric theory. Christians had believed that the sinful earth stood still at the centre of the universe. Nicolaus Copernicus (1473–1543), a devout Christian and a contemporary of Luther, said that the planets, including the earth, rotate around the sun. It took more than half a century for scientists to accept his idea, and it began the Scientific Revolution.
Example
Copernicus feared what traditional clergymen would do, so he did not publish his book De revolutionibus. On his deathbed he gave the manuscript to his follower Joachim Rheticus, and it came out in 1543.
Don't confuse with
- Newton's theory of gravitation: Copernicus started the revolution by putting the sun at the centre. Newton completed it in 1687 by explaining why planets move as they do.