1 00:00:01,160 --> 00:00:04,120 Speaker 1: Welcome to Stuff You Missed in History Class from how 2 00:00:04,160 --> 00:00:13,680 Speaker 1: Stuff Works dot Com. Hello, and welcome to the podcast. 3 00:00:13,720 --> 00:00:18,000 Speaker 1: I'm Holly Fry and I'm Tracy B. Wilson. Tracy, I 4 00:00:18,040 --> 00:00:20,479 Speaker 1: had an interesting discussion with one of our colleagues recently 5 00:00:20,480 --> 00:00:23,239 Speaker 1: where I mentioned this person that we're covering today, and 6 00:00:23,280 --> 00:00:25,080 Speaker 1: so no, I'm thinking about doing that, but I'm worried 7 00:00:25,120 --> 00:00:27,320 Speaker 1: it will be one of those things that everybody grows 8 00:00:27,360 --> 00:00:32,600 Speaker 1: and says, I know that, huh, And she said astronomer 9 00:00:33,080 --> 00:00:35,080 Speaker 1: and I said, Okay, we need to do that episode 10 00:00:38,360 --> 00:00:40,800 Speaker 1: because it is one of those things that Copernicus has 11 00:00:40,880 --> 00:00:43,360 Speaker 1: name recognition. Some people even know some of the basics 12 00:00:43,400 --> 00:00:46,480 Speaker 1: of his work, like his big claim to fame historically 13 00:00:46,560 --> 00:00:48,640 Speaker 1: is that he placed the Sun more or less at 14 00:00:48,640 --> 00:00:50,400 Speaker 1: the center of the Solar system and at the center 15 00:00:50,400 --> 00:00:54,080 Speaker 1: of the universe in astronomical modeling. But for the record, uh, 16 00:00:54,160 --> 00:00:55,760 Speaker 1: we should point out that he was not the first 17 00:00:55,800 --> 00:00:57,560 Speaker 1: person to think of that. That was going on as 18 00:00:57,600 --> 00:01:00,520 Speaker 1: far back as the third century BC went as Starkus 19 00:01:00,560 --> 00:01:04,039 Speaker 1: of Samos, who was an ancient Greek mathematician and astronomer, 20 00:01:04,440 --> 00:01:08,560 Speaker 1: made the same assertion. But while Aristarchus is writing on 21 00:01:08,600 --> 00:01:11,720 Speaker 1: the sizes and distances of the Sun and moon survived 22 00:01:11,720 --> 00:01:14,839 Speaker 1: the perils of time. His work on a heliocentric model 23 00:01:14,880 --> 00:01:17,360 Speaker 1: of the solar system did not. So we only know 24 00:01:17,400 --> 00:01:20,640 Speaker 1: about that part of of his work because Plutarch referenced 25 00:01:20,640 --> 00:01:23,319 Speaker 1: it in his writing. So that's why Copernicus gets a 26 00:01:23,319 --> 00:01:25,280 Speaker 1: lot of the attention in this arena, because we have 27 00:01:25,480 --> 00:01:28,000 Speaker 1: his writings. Uh. And we're going to talk today about 28 00:01:28,040 --> 00:01:31,560 Speaker 1: Copernicus and his life and his work, how his science 29 00:01:31,600 --> 00:01:33,520 Speaker 1: was in some ways very dangerous, and there are also 30 00:01:33,600 --> 00:01:37,040 Speaker 1: probably some surprising aspects of his life because it was 31 00:01:37,120 --> 00:01:41,000 Speaker 1: really a lot more varied than just astronomy. So the 32 00:01:41,000 --> 00:01:44,240 Speaker 1: man we eventually came to know as Kapernicus was born 33 00:01:44,520 --> 00:01:48,440 Speaker 1: Mikolai Kopernik Uh. He was named after his father and 34 00:01:48,640 --> 00:01:53,600 Speaker 1: was born in Taurun, Poland, on February fourteen, seventy three. 35 00:01:54,000 --> 00:01:55,920 Speaker 1: As we said, he was named after his father. His 36 00:01:56,000 --> 00:01:59,640 Speaker 1: mother's name was Barbara Watson Road. He was their fourth 37 00:01:59,720 --> 00:02:03,520 Speaker 1: child wild and the family was quite comfortable. Their family 38 00:02:03,560 --> 00:02:08,200 Speaker 1: business wasn't competrating. Yeah, they did quite well. But when 39 00:02:08,520 --> 00:02:11,040 Speaker 1: and I'm gonna go ahead and switch to the more 40 00:02:11,120 --> 00:02:15,040 Speaker 1: standard pronunciation of his name, Nicolaus Copernicus. It will get 41 00:02:15,080 --> 00:02:17,080 Speaker 1: to when he changed that in just a moment, But 42 00:02:17,120 --> 00:02:19,320 Speaker 1: when he was still a young boy. In fourteen eight three, 43 00:02:19,360 --> 00:02:23,239 Speaker 1: his father died and his maternal uncle, Lucas vatsen Rode, 44 00:02:23,320 --> 00:02:26,760 Speaker 1: who would eventually become Bishop of Varmia, took over the 45 00:02:26,840 --> 00:02:29,799 Speaker 1: role of patriarch. And this was a really significant turn 46 00:02:29,840 --> 00:02:32,880 Speaker 1: of events for Copernicus. Obviously, the loss of a parent 47 00:02:33,000 --> 00:02:36,160 Speaker 1: is immense, but it was also important because his uncle 48 00:02:36,280 --> 00:02:39,080 Speaker 1: really prized education and made it one of his goals 49 00:02:39,080 --> 00:02:42,360 Speaker 1: that Nicolas would be well educated. And he was also 50 00:02:42,560 --> 00:02:44,880 Speaker 1: very well respected in the church, and he would use 51 00:02:44,960 --> 00:02:48,400 Speaker 1: his position to ensure that Copernicus had a stable career. 52 00:02:49,160 --> 00:02:51,800 Speaker 1: At the age of eighteen, Copernicus went to the University 53 00:02:51,800 --> 00:02:54,600 Speaker 1: of Krakau, but even though he would become a famous 54 00:02:54,720 --> 00:02:59,480 Speaker 1: historical figure in astronomy, his studies also included mathematics and painting. 55 00:03:00,040 --> 00:03:01,880 Speaker 1: This was also the period where he made the switch 56 00:03:01,880 --> 00:03:04,079 Speaker 1: to using the Latin version of his name that we're 57 00:03:04,080 --> 00:03:07,240 Speaker 1: more familiar with. As Latin was the language of European 58 00:03:07,360 --> 00:03:10,799 Speaker 1: universities at the time, this was not an uncommon practice, 59 00:03:11,200 --> 00:03:17,639 Speaker 1: not as one might originally conclude, a mark of pretentiousness. Yeah, 60 00:03:17,680 --> 00:03:20,800 Speaker 1: you'll see parttically a lot of scientists and astronomers like 61 00:03:20,840 --> 00:03:22,960 Speaker 1: they'll be listed by a name that sounds like their 62 00:03:23,000 --> 00:03:26,440 Speaker 1: Latin name, and then you'll see their their birth name, 63 00:03:26,440 --> 00:03:29,040 Speaker 1: which is you know, some as more European or or 64 00:03:29,080 --> 00:03:33,959 Speaker 1: whatnotum very very common. So, thanks to his uncle's connections 65 00:03:34,000 --> 00:03:37,280 Speaker 1: as well as his own education, Copernicus who got a 66 00:03:37,360 --> 00:03:39,600 Speaker 1: job at the Cathedral Chapter and from Bourg as a 67 00:03:39,640 --> 00:03:43,840 Speaker 1: canon in fo and the Cathedral Chapter was basically a 68 00:03:43,880 --> 00:03:47,120 Speaker 1: corporate entity that managed the various needs and duties and 69 00:03:47,160 --> 00:03:51,200 Speaker 1: finances associated with governing the diocese, and the clerics who 70 00:03:51,200 --> 00:03:54,160 Speaker 1: worked there served under the bishop in fulfilling that mission. 71 00:03:54,680 --> 00:03:58,160 Speaker 1: This was basically an ideal job for Copernicus that allowed 72 00:03:58,240 --> 00:04:02,360 Speaker 1: him to continue academic richment with no limitations, although he 73 00:04:02,360 --> 00:04:05,200 Speaker 1: had to astend to his duties as his primary focus, 74 00:04:05,680 --> 00:04:08,560 Speaker 1: but any free time he had he could devote to study, 75 00:04:08,920 --> 00:04:11,360 Speaker 1: and he was able to take leaves of absence to 76 00:04:11,400 --> 00:04:16,320 Speaker 1: focus exclusively on learning. Perhaps not surprisingly, he hung onto 77 00:04:16,320 --> 00:04:19,919 Speaker 1: this job for the rest of his life. Yeah. I 78 00:04:19,960 --> 00:04:22,640 Speaker 1: don't know why, but when I was doing the research 79 00:04:22,680 --> 00:04:25,159 Speaker 1: for this, that seemed so sort of mind blowing to 80 00:04:25,240 --> 00:04:28,440 Speaker 1: me that can you imagine getting one job when you're eighteen, 81 00:04:28,440 --> 00:04:30,960 Speaker 1: and that being your job forever. Yeah, I feel like 82 00:04:31,000 --> 00:04:33,080 Speaker 1: my job has been my job forever, even though I 83 00:04:33,120 --> 00:04:38,680 Speaker 1: was thirty when I started. Yeah, but that is really 84 00:04:38,720 --> 00:04:40,960 Speaker 1: it speaks a lot to his uncle's influence and his 85 00:04:41,080 --> 00:04:45,240 Speaker 1: uncle's um ability to kind of set these things up 86 00:04:45,279 --> 00:04:47,000 Speaker 1: for him, that he was set for life because of 87 00:04:47,000 --> 00:04:49,719 Speaker 1: the work of his uncle. But before he moved into 88 00:04:49,760 --> 00:04:53,000 Speaker 1: that position, he spent two years in schooling. So in 89 00:04:53,040 --> 00:04:56,000 Speaker 1: four he went to the University of Bologna, where his 90 00:04:56,080 --> 00:04:58,320 Speaker 1: uncle had also gone, and he was there to study 91 00:04:58,360 --> 00:05:01,960 Speaker 1: religious law, and this made sense given his job, of course, 92 00:05:02,040 --> 00:05:05,279 Speaker 1: But this time at Bologna would also lead to a 93 00:05:05,320 --> 00:05:08,599 Speaker 1: really pivotal meeting in his life, because he met Italian 94 00:05:08,640 --> 00:05:12,480 Speaker 1: scientist and astronomer Domenico Maria Navara, who was a professor 95 00:05:12,520 --> 00:05:16,560 Speaker 1: at the university and who was also boarding Copernicus. Not 96 00:05:16,680 --> 00:05:19,440 Speaker 1: only did this form a close friendship, but it also 97 00:05:19,760 --> 00:05:25,440 Speaker 1: undoubtedly influenced Copernicus is thinking about astronomy. Malvara thought differently 98 00:05:25,480 --> 00:05:28,839 Speaker 1: than a lot of other astronomers at times, specifically about 99 00:05:28,880 --> 00:05:32,279 Speaker 1: the work of Claudius Ptolemy. Novara may have been the 100 00:05:32,320 --> 00:05:37,640 Speaker 1: first person Copernicus was exposed to who actually questioned Ptolemy's work, 101 00:05:38,560 --> 00:05:40,440 Speaker 1: Which isn't to say that no one else was doing it, 102 00:05:40,480 --> 00:05:43,960 Speaker 1: but there wasn't a lot of people doing it, and 103 00:05:44,000 --> 00:05:46,400 Speaker 1: they certainly weren't talking about it openly very often. It 104 00:05:46,440 --> 00:05:49,880 Speaker 1: was kind of a dangerous subject to bring up. Yeah. Uh. 105 00:05:49,920 --> 00:05:52,480 Speaker 1: And he also began learning Greek while he was at Bologna, 106 00:05:52,480 --> 00:05:54,919 Speaker 1: which would serve him later on when he began to 107 00:05:54,920 --> 00:05:57,880 Speaker 1: study the work of Ptolemy and other Greek astronomers, because 108 00:05:57,880 --> 00:06:00,280 Speaker 1: a lot of their work had not been trans lated 109 00:06:00,320 --> 00:06:04,040 Speaker 1: into Latin at that time. His ongoing Greek studies included 110 00:06:04,080 --> 00:06:07,280 Speaker 1: translating a collection of letters in Greek that were written 111 00:06:07,320 --> 00:06:11,520 Speaker 1: by author Aphilactus Semicada, and he would eventually publish his 112 00:06:11,560 --> 00:06:14,360 Speaker 1: translation after a decade of work on it, which was 113 00:06:14,440 --> 00:06:18,880 Speaker 1: his only other published work outside of his astronomy writing. Ever, 114 00:06:19,040 --> 00:06:22,520 Speaker 1: a curious learner, Copernicus also studied medicine for a time. 115 00:06:22,680 --> 00:06:26,440 Speaker 1: He attended the University of Padua beginning in fifteen o one, 116 00:06:26,680 --> 00:06:29,600 Speaker 1: but he couldn't finish his work there belief of absence 117 00:06:29,600 --> 00:06:32,559 Speaker 1: that he had taken to do it actually ended before 118 00:06:32,560 --> 00:06:34,800 Speaker 1: he could finish his studies, so he basically ran out 119 00:06:34,800 --> 00:06:39,000 Speaker 1: of time. Yeah, he actually didn't finish most of his 120 00:06:39,160 --> 00:06:42,600 Speaker 1: educational courses, like he never graduated from any of these schools, 121 00:06:42,640 --> 00:06:46,000 Speaker 1: but he got enough learning that he was still considered 122 00:06:46,000 --> 00:06:49,599 Speaker 1: pretty much uh adequate, if not expert, in most of 123 00:06:49,600 --> 00:06:52,560 Speaker 1: those fields. One of the points of note, however, was 124 00:06:52,600 --> 00:06:54,640 Speaker 1: that the study of the heavens was still part of 125 00:06:54,680 --> 00:06:59,200 Speaker 1: his curriculum while he was in medical school. Sort of. Uh. 126 00:06:59,240 --> 00:07:01,280 Speaker 1: It was at that point its standard to include the 127 00:07:01,320 --> 00:07:04,400 Speaker 1: study of astrology in Italy's medical schools. This was in 128 00:07:04,440 --> 00:07:08,400 Speaker 1: the early sixteenth century, as medical astrology was at that 129 00:07:08,440 --> 00:07:11,600 Speaker 1: time believed to be a valuable diagnostic and treatment tool. 130 00:07:12,520 --> 00:07:15,600 Speaker 1: The idea there was that doctors could use their knowledge 131 00:07:15,600 --> 00:07:18,840 Speaker 1: of the patient's birthdate to make determinations about their constitution 132 00:07:19,360 --> 00:07:22,600 Speaker 1: and to determine courses of treatment based on celestial conditions 133 00:07:22,600 --> 00:07:26,120 Speaker 1: at any given time, and to predict how individual cases 134 00:07:26,160 --> 00:07:30,160 Speaker 1: and even larger scale issues like epidemics might behave based 135 00:07:30,160 --> 00:07:33,120 Speaker 1: on positions of heavenly bodies. So I imagine he did 136 00:07:33,200 --> 00:07:35,880 Speaker 1: very well in that course, considering that he probably already 137 00:07:35,960 --> 00:07:39,920 Speaker 1: understood how the cosmos is working better than most other students. 138 00:07:39,960 --> 00:07:43,880 Speaker 1: But I am just conjecturing there. Even as he tackled 139 00:07:43,920 --> 00:07:47,080 Speaker 1: new subjects such as medicine and astronomy. He continued to 140 00:07:47,120 --> 00:07:50,360 Speaker 1: study canon law and he attended the University of Ferrara 141 00:07:50,520 --> 00:07:53,440 Speaker 1: in fifteen o three to get his doctorate on the subject. 142 00:07:53,960 --> 00:07:56,640 Speaker 1: After this, he returns to Poland and lived with his uncle. 143 00:07:56,760 --> 00:08:00,320 Speaker 1: He was elderly at this point and required care, who 144 00:08:00,400 --> 00:08:03,680 Speaker 1: lived in the bishop's episcopal palace and served as his 145 00:08:03,720 --> 00:08:06,960 Speaker 1: uncle's physician while also busying himself with the work of 146 00:08:07,000 --> 00:08:11,120 Speaker 1: the church. And while his uncle may have thought that 147 00:08:11,200 --> 00:08:14,239 Speaker 1: he was grooming Copernicus to take over the position of bishop, 148 00:08:14,840 --> 00:08:19,000 Speaker 1: Copernicus chosen instead to leave the episcopal palace in because 149 00:08:19,000 --> 00:08:21,720 Speaker 1: the many jobs that were required of him there were 150 00:08:21,720 --> 00:08:24,880 Speaker 1: cutting too deeply into his astronomy studies, which were really 151 00:08:24,920 --> 00:08:28,240 Speaker 1: really kind of the focus of his heart. He stayed 152 00:08:28,280 --> 00:08:30,360 Speaker 1: at his residence that he moved to in the chapter 153 00:08:30,440 --> 00:08:33,360 Speaker 1: of Fromborg for the rest of his life. Those years 154 00:08:33,400 --> 00:08:36,200 Speaker 1: living in his uncle's court were formative in terms of 155 00:08:36,200 --> 00:08:40,080 Speaker 1: his understanding of the cosmos. He stayed there for seven years, 156 00:08:40,120 --> 00:08:43,200 Speaker 1: and throughout he was studying astronomy, although not enough for 157 00:08:43,320 --> 00:08:46,240 Speaker 1: his taste. He wanted more. The exact date that he 158 00:08:46,320 --> 00:08:49,720 Speaker 1: began working on his heliocentric theory is unknown, but there 159 00:08:49,720 --> 00:08:52,840 Speaker 1: have been some theories that his exit from his uncle's 160 00:08:52,920 --> 00:08:56,880 Speaker 1: home was concurrent with this idea. And we know that 161 00:08:56,960 --> 00:09:00,079 Speaker 1: at some point he came into contact with Epitome of 162 00:09:00,200 --> 00:09:04,960 Speaker 1: the Almagest, which was a book written by Reggio Montanas, 163 00:09:05,240 --> 00:09:09,679 Speaker 1: who was born Johannes Mueller von Koenigsberg. And that's another 164 00:09:09,720 --> 00:09:12,520 Speaker 1: case where we know him as Reggio Montana's because he 165 00:09:12,559 --> 00:09:14,640 Speaker 1: took his Latin name for a lot of his publishing 166 00:09:14,679 --> 00:09:18,560 Speaker 1: and his his formal training. Uh. Yeah, there are some 167 00:09:18,640 --> 00:09:20,480 Speaker 1: theories that he kind of got this idea in his 168 00:09:20,520 --> 00:09:23,320 Speaker 1: head about heliocentrism and was like, I gotta get out 169 00:09:23,320 --> 00:09:24,800 Speaker 1: of here. I gotta go work on my own stuff 170 00:09:24,800 --> 00:09:26,520 Speaker 1: on my own and I can't be focused on everybody 171 00:09:26,559 --> 00:09:30,320 Speaker 1: else's needs. Um, and that's what potentially catalyzed his his 172 00:09:30,360 --> 00:09:36,360 Speaker 1: desire to move out. Totally different interpretation was that he, uh, 173 00:09:36,400 --> 00:09:39,440 Speaker 1: he wanted to start studying a helio centric view of 174 00:09:39,440 --> 00:09:41,719 Speaker 1: the universe and his uncle threw him out. M M. 175 00:09:43,040 --> 00:09:45,079 Speaker 1: We don't know, and we'll talk a little bit about 176 00:09:45,080 --> 00:09:47,479 Speaker 1: why we don't know at the end of the podcast. 177 00:09:47,559 --> 00:09:51,040 Speaker 1: But yeah, there's a there's some some some question marks 178 00:09:51,040 --> 00:09:54,360 Speaker 1: around sort of what really catalyzed that exit. And we 179 00:09:54,400 --> 00:09:56,080 Speaker 1: are going to take a little side trip because we 180 00:09:56,120 --> 00:09:58,800 Speaker 1: have to lay some groundwork and talk about Ptolemy and 181 00:09:58,840 --> 00:10:01,640 Speaker 1: the Almagest for con text. But first we are going 182 00:10:01,679 --> 00:10:03,240 Speaker 1: to pause and have a word from one of our 183 00:10:03,240 --> 00:10:11,520 Speaker 1: fantastic sponsors. So at this point, as I said before 184 00:10:11,559 --> 00:10:13,200 Speaker 1: the break, we're doing a little side trip. We're going 185 00:10:13,240 --> 00:10:16,560 Speaker 1: to talk about Ptolemy. So, working in Alexandria in the 186 00:10:16,600 --> 00:10:19,640 Speaker 1: second century, Ptolemy developed a model of the universe that's 187 00:10:19,679 --> 00:10:23,800 Speaker 1: called the geocentric or earth centric model. And the idea 188 00:10:23,840 --> 00:10:26,440 Speaker 1: of the Ptolemic system was that our planet Earth was 189 00:10:26,480 --> 00:10:29,319 Speaker 1: the center of the known universe, and that it was stationary, 190 00:10:29,880 --> 00:10:32,960 Speaker 1: and that the Sun, Moon, Stars, and other planets revolved 191 00:10:33,000 --> 00:10:36,960 Speaker 1: around it. Beginning from the Earth at the center. Ptolemy's 192 00:10:37,000 --> 00:10:40,200 Speaker 1: model placed the Moon in the tightest orbit around the planet, 193 00:10:40,679 --> 00:10:44,560 Speaker 1: and then Mercury, Venus, the Sun, Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn, 194 00:10:45,280 --> 00:10:49,040 Speaker 1: planets beyond that had not yet been identified, yeah, and 195 00:10:49,080 --> 00:10:51,800 Speaker 1: then the stars were kind of out past that. And 196 00:10:51,840 --> 00:10:55,080 Speaker 1: Ptolemy felt that mathematics could unravel the mysteries of the 197 00:10:55,120 --> 00:10:57,640 Speaker 1: movements of the heavenly bodies so while his model was 198 00:10:57,679 --> 00:11:00,360 Speaker 1: not correct, he really did make some re the big 199 00:11:00,360 --> 00:11:03,840 Speaker 1: strides in terms of analyzing and measuring astronomical data and 200 00:11:03,880 --> 00:11:05,800 Speaker 1: how we should be doing it. And keep in mind 201 00:11:05,880 --> 00:11:08,120 Speaker 1: he was doing all of this work without the benefit 202 00:11:08,120 --> 00:11:11,080 Speaker 1: of a telescope. So over the course of about twenty 203 00:11:11,120 --> 00:11:15,680 Speaker 1: five years, Ptolemy made astronomical observations and compiled data, which 204 00:11:15,679 --> 00:11:18,000 Speaker 1: culminated in the writing of his book known as The 205 00:11:18,040 --> 00:11:23,720 Speaker 1: Almagist circa one fifty uh C. Having studied astronomy, I 206 00:11:23,760 --> 00:11:26,679 Speaker 1: want to note that the math and the explanation you 207 00:11:26,679 --> 00:11:28,840 Speaker 1: have to come up with to make the movements of 208 00:11:28,840 --> 00:11:31,880 Speaker 1: the planet you can see match this theory is freely 209 00:11:31,920 --> 00:11:36,960 Speaker 1: convoluted and complicated, like just it's absurd, which is what 210 00:11:37,160 --> 00:11:41,040 Speaker 1: really drove a lot of astronomers after him to be like, wait, wait, 211 00:11:41,160 --> 00:11:44,760 Speaker 1: something's messed up here. We're having to do a lot 212 00:11:44,800 --> 00:11:50,959 Speaker 1: of weirdness to make this model work. Uh, it's bizarre. Um. So, 213 00:11:51,000 --> 00:11:54,439 Speaker 1: while there had been some questions and criticism raised about 214 00:11:54,480 --> 00:11:58,240 Speaker 1: the accuracy of Ptolemy's observational claims over the centuries, he's 215 00:11:58,240 --> 00:12:01,200 Speaker 1: really continued to be lauded throughout history as a math 216 00:12:01,400 --> 00:12:04,680 Speaker 1: master mathematician because as I said, the maths required to 217 00:12:04,800 --> 00:12:10,280 Speaker 1: explain his planetary model is complicated. Yeah, it makes me 218 00:12:10,360 --> 00:12:13,480 Speaker 1: wonder if math wasn't so sort of natural to him 219 00:12:13,520 --> 00:12:15,400 Speaker 1: that he was like, oh, we can figure this out. 220 00:12:15,440 --> 00:12:17,880 Speaker 1: And it's kind of like if you ever recall doing 221 00:12:17,880 --> 00:12:21,600 Speaker 1: proofs in geometry and school, there was all that always 222 00:12:21,640 --> 00:12:24,280 Speaker 1: that kid sometimes me that was not smart. But like 223 00:12:24,320 --> 00:12:26,520 Speaker 1: I did the proof the long, weird way, and to 224 00:12:26,600 --> 00:12:28,640 Speaker 1: me that made more sense than often the shorter way, 225 00:12:28,640 --> 00:12:31,480 Speaker 1: because it's like, no, no, that doesn't. I feel like 226 00:12:31,559 --> 00:12:33,200 Speaker 1: his was kind of like that, like no, no, no, 227 00:12:33,280 --> 00:12:35,240 Speaker 1: we'll just work this out. We'll add in some more 228 00:12:35,320 --> 00:12:39,199 Speaker 1: numbers over here and it'll all be fine. But there 229 00:12:39,280 --> 00:12:42,040 Speaker 1: was a more elegant way, and that's what people were 230 00:12:42,040 --> 00:12:44,640 Speaker 1: intuiting and what drove them to do their work. Uh. 231 00:12:44,640 --> 00:12:47,080 Speaker 1: And we have to mention the fact that it wasn't 232 00:12:47,120 --> 00:12:50,560 Speaker 1: as though these concepts of celestial arrangement were happening in 233 00:12:50,640 --> 00:12:53,200 Speaker 1: big bursts, as one astronomer or another would pick up 234 00:12:53,240 --> 00:12:55,160 Speaker 1: the idea and advance things like we have the big 235 00:12:55,240 --> 00:12:58,400 Speaker 1: names of astronomy we'll talk about like Ptolemy and Copernicus 236 00:12:58,440 --> 00:13:01,240 Speaker 1: and Galileo will come up. It's not as though like 237 00:13:01,400 --> 00:13:03,959 Speaker 1: nothing is going on in between the work of any 238 00:13:04,000 --> 00:13:08,280 Speaker 1: of these men. They're always entire societies happening. And before 239 00:13:08,280 --> 00:13:11,760 Speaker 1: Ptolemy there had been Aristotle who really established the principles 240 00:13:11,760 --> 00:13:14,640 Speaker 1: by which classical astronomy was observed, and there were other 241 00:13:14,640 --> 00:13:17,800 Speaker 1: Greek astronomers working during the time of Ptolemy. And while 242 00:13:17,840 --> 00:13:21,400 Speaker 1: Europe was going through its Middle Ages period, astronomy was 243 00:13:21,480 --> 00:13:24,200 Speaker 1: continuing to be studied and advanced in the Islamic world. 244 00:13:24,280 --> 00:13:28,040 Speaker 1: So it's always been on the table for scientists and mathematicians, 245 00:13:28,080 --> 00:13:30,120 Speaker 1: but we tend to kind of group it in these 246 00:13:30,160 --> 00:13:33,560 Speaker 1: big moments associated with certain people. Yeah. Well, and they're 247 00:13:33,600 --> 00:13:38,560 Speaker 1: also uh astronomical schools of thought in other parts of 248 00:13:38,600 --> 00:13:41,520 Speaker 1: the world too. But what we're talking, yeah, we're What 249 00:13:41,559 --> 00:13:45,200 Speaker 1: we're really talking about are the things that uh, that 250 00:13:45,679 --> 00:13:48,839 Speaker 1: these these particular scholars would have known about and had 251 00:13:48,880 --> 00:13:53,200 Speaker 1: access to Readio Montanas was a fifteenth century astronomer who 252 00:13:53,280 --> 00:13:58,040 Speaker 1: had been tasked with writing an abridged version of Ptolemy's Almagists, 253 00:13:58,160 --> 00:14:01,079 Speaker 1: But in his work on that prod deck, he recognized 254 00:14:01,160 --> 00:14:06,359 Speaker 1: inconsistencies in it, and he proposed alternative models to Mercury's 255 00:14:06,400 --> 00:14:11,280 Speaker 1: and Venus's orbits than those that Ptolemy had described. Yes, 256 00:14:11,640 --> 00:14:13,600 Speaker 1: as we were saying, he kind of went, this seems 257 00:14:13,640 --> 00:14:15,800 Speaker 1: like something's not right. There's a lot of math we 258 00:14:15,840 --> 00:14:17,600 Speaker 1: got to do to make this work. There's a whole 259 00:14:17,640 --> 00:14:22,720 Speaker 1: thing of like little epicycles within the orbits. It's very 260 00:14:22,720 --> 00:14:25,960 Speaker 1: co it's it is, it's very complicated. And so we 261 00:14:26,000 --> 00:14:30,080 Speaker 1: had talked before we went into that sidebar about Kapernicus 262 00:14:30,200 --> 00:14:33,480 Speaker 1: coming in contact with Reggio Montanus's work, and that work 263 00:14:33,560 --> 00:14:36,400 Speaker 1: shaped the way Kapernicus thought about astronomy, and it may 264 00:14:36,440 --> 00:14:39,760 Speaker 1: have been the key to the formation of his heliocentric 265 00:14:40,000 --> 00:14:43,200 Speaker 1: model of the Solar system. It's pretty widely believed that 266 00:14:43,480 --> 00:14:46,160 Speaker 1: sometime by fifteen o eight this approach to modeling the 267 00:14:46,160 --> 00:14:50,160 Speaker 1: Solar system was under development by Kapernicus. So, as we said, 268 00:14:50,200 --> 00:14:54,240 Speaker 1: he left his uncle's at so somewhere in those two years, 269 00:14:54,280 --> 00:14:56,480 Speaker 1: it does seem like he was really starting to feel 270 00:14:56,480 --> 00:14:59,320 Speaker 1: like he was onto something. And even as he worked, 271 00:14:59,400 --> 00:15:01,760 Speaker 1: he had to have known that this work, which was 272 00:15:01,800 --> 00:15:06,320 Speaker 1: a departure from Ptolemy, was radical in nature. Not only 273 00:15:06,440 --> 00:15:11,160 Speaker 1: was Ptolemy's view of the heavens a longstanding accepted scientific fact, 274 00:15:11,200 --> 00:15:14,320 Speaker 1: it was also what was endorsed by the Roman Catholic Church, 275 00:15:15,040 --> 00:15:18,840 Speaker 1: the very same church that employed Copernicus and for which 276 00:15:18,880 --> 00:15:22,280 Speaker 1: his uncle was a prominent bishop. Yeah, that seems like 277 00:15:23,080 --> 00:15:28,240 Speaker 1: awkwards um. And that employment, though, did continue to make 278 00:15:28,280 --> 00:15:31,080 Speaker 1: demands on his time. So even while he was working 279 00:15:31,120 --> 00:15:34,640 Speaker 1: all of that astronomy out, he was still serving as canon, 280 00:15:35,040 --> 00:15:39,280 Speaker 1: seeing to both the political and administrative and financial issues 281 00:15:39,320 --> 00:15:42,120 Speaker 1: for the church. And he even wrote an essay. This 282 00:15:42,160 --> 00:15:43,880 Speaker 1: is one of those factoids about him that I think 283 00:15:43,880 --> 00:15:46,480 Speaker 1: goes unnoticed a lot. He wrote this essay on the 284 00:15:46,520 --> 00:15:49,440 Speaker 1: debasement of currency as it related to coinage, which was 285 00:15:49,440 --> 00:15:52,840 Speaker 1: a problem that he constantly ran into while managing funds 286 00:15:52,880 --> 00:15:55,520 Speaker 1: as part of his job. And that work that he 287 00:15:55,560 --> 00:15:58,480 Speaker 1: wrote was later referenced by leaders in Poland and Prussia 288 00:15:58,520 --> 00:16:01,960 Speaker 1: as both of those countries world with their currencies destabilization. 289 00:16:02,720 --> 00:16:06,040 Speaker 1: In fifteen twelve, his uncle, the bishop died, and the 290 00:16:06,080 --> 00:16:10,080 Speaker 1: following year Copernicus, still devoted to learning more, built himself 291 00:16:10,120 --> 00:16:14,520 Speaker 1: an observatory. Yeah, that was completed in fifteen thirteen, and 292 00:16:14,560 --> 00:16:18,880 Speaker 1: then the following year he completed writing commentariolists, which translates 293 00:16:18,880 --> 00:16:21,920 Speaker 1: to small commentary. And this was not a lengthy tomb 294 00:16:21,920 --> 00:16:24,440 Speaker 1: It clocked in at just forty pages, but it gave 295 00:16:24,440 --> 00:16:26,840 Speaker 1: a description of what Copernicus believed to be a more 296 00:16:26,920 --> 00:16:29,640 Speaker 1: accurate model of the universe than what had come before it, 297 00:16:29,960 --> 00:16:33,280 Speaker 1: and he described that in seven axioms. The first was 298 00:16:33,320 --> 00:16:35,720 Speaker 1: that there is no one fixed point that is the 299 00:16:35,760 --> 00:16:39,680 Speaker 1: center of the universe. The second, which is pretty groundbreaking, 300 00:16:39,760 --> 00:16:42,240 Speaker 1: was that the Earth is not the center of the universe. 301 00:16:43,440 --> 00:16:46,920 Speaker 1: The third is that the Sun is near the center 302 00:16:46,960 --> 00:16:50,080 Speaker 1: of the universe. The fourth is that the distance from 303 00:16:50,120 --> 00:16:53,200 Speaker 1: the Earth to the Sun is imperceptible compared with the 304 00:16:53,240 --> 00:16:56,280 Speaker 1: distance to the stars, and that the universe was far 305 00:16:56,360 --> 00:17:00,080 Speaker 1: more vast than they had ever conceived of before. The 306 00:17:00,160 --> 00:17:02,800 Speaker 1: fifth was that the rotation of the Earth is what 307 00:17:02,880 --> 00:17:07,960 Speaker 1: accounts for the apparent daily rotation of the stars. Sixth 308 00:17:08,040 --> 00:17:10,600 Speaker 1: was that the apparent annual cycle of movements of the 309 00:17:10,640 --> 00:17:13,639 Speaker 1: Sun is in fact caused by the Earth revolving around it. 310 00:17:14,640 --> 00:17:18,320 Speaker 1: And the seventh is that the apparent retrograde moved motion 311 00:17:18,400 --> 00:17:21,119 Speaker 1: of the planets, so when you're looking at the stars 312 00:17:21,160 --> 00:17:23,720 Speaker 1: from the Earth it seems like they are moving backwards 313 00:17:23,800 --> 00:17:27,040 Speaker 1: rather than forwards, is caused by the motion of the 314 00:17:27,080 --> 00:17:31,000 Speaker 1: Earth from which one is observing, So In addition to 315 00:17:31,040 --> 00:17:35,280 Speaker 1: those seven axioms, the Commentariola's hinted that Copernicus was also 316 00:17:35,359 --> 00:17:39,439 Speaker 1: going to publish his supporting mathematical formulas for them. He 317 00:17:39,520 --> 00:17:43,680 Speaker 1: also indicated that illustrating planetary motion required no more than 318 00:17:43,720 --> 00:17:46,800 Speaker 1: thirty four circles, which is a much smaller amount. Astracy 319 00:17:46,960 --> 00:17:50,560 Speaker 1: was referencing earlier than what had come before. He wrote 320 00:17:50,600 --> 00:17:53,560 Speaker 1: in the short manuscript his reason for breaking with the 321 00:17:53,640 --> 00:17:58,680 Speaker 1: accepted Ptolemaic model quote. Yet, the widespread planetary theories advanced 322 00:17:58,680 --> 00:18:02,520 Speaker 1: by Ptolemy and most their astronomers, although consistent with the 323 00:18:02,600 --> 00:18:07,520 Speaker 1: numerical data, seemed likewise to present no small difficulty. For 324 00:18:07,560 --> 00:18:10,800 Speaker 1: these theories were not adequate unless they also conceived certain 325 00:18:10,880 --> 00:18:14,320 Speaker 1: equalizing circles which made the planet appear to move at 326 00:18:14,320 --> 00:18:18,520 Speaker 1: all times with uniform velocity, neither on its defferent sphere 327 00:18:18,640 --> 00:18:23,960 Speaker 1: nor about its own epicycles center. Therefore, having become aware 328 00:18:24,040 --> 00:18:27,439 Speaker 1: of these defects, I often considered whether there could perhaps 329 00:18:27,520 --> 00:18:30,919 Speaker 1: be found a more reasonable arrangement of circles from which 330 00:18:31,119 --> 00:18:35,200 Speaker 1: every apparent irregularity would be derived, while everything in itself 331 00:18:35,240 --> 00:18:38,480 Speaker 1: would move uniformly as is required by the rule of 332 00:18:38,520 --> 00:18:43,080 Speaker 1: perfect motion. And this manuscript was circulated by the astronomer 333 00:18:43,119 --> 00:18:45,439 Speaker 1: to his colleagues as a sort of precursor to a 334 00:18:45,520 --> 00:18:49,240 Speaker 1: larger work than he expected to produce, and at the 335 00:18:49,280 --> 00:18:51,119 Speaker 1: time he didn't really get much in the way of 336 00:18:51,160 --> 00:18:53,840 Speaker 1: direct response. He didn't get a whole lot of feedback, 337 00:18:54,160 --> 00:18:56,840 Speaker 1: but there was certainly talk about him, if not to 338 00:18:57,000 --> 00:19:00,399 Speaker 1: him and his work, and the gossip was not particularly good. 339 00:19:00,800 --> 00:19:03,720 Speaker 1: His work was seen in the kindest terms as unconventional, 340 00:19:04,240 --> 00:19:07,959 Speaker 1: but mostly because it challenged such deeply held beliefs. It 341 00:19:08,040 --> 00:19:11,159 Speaker 1: was also considered flat out wrong, and one of the 342 00:19:11,160 --> 00:19:13,840 Speaker 1: criticisms that was leveled at his work and his writing 343 00:19:14,000 --> 00:19:17,280 Speaker 1: was that it really didn't provide an explanation for the 344 00:19:17,320 --> 00:19:20,000 Speaker 1: switch to the Earth to be orbiting around the Sun 345 00:19:20,119 --> 00:19:22,280 Speaker 1: when they all knew in their hearts that the Sun 346 00:19:22,400 --> 00:19:26,320 Speaker 1: orbited the Earth. He continued to work on astronomy for 347 00:19:26,359 --> 00:19:28,399 Speaker 1: the rest of his life, but again it wasn't his 348 00:19:28,440 --> 00:19:32,840 Speaker 1: only focus. After having served as his uncle's attending physician, 349 00:19:33,080 --> 00:19:35,959 Speaker 1: he continued that role for members of the chapter and 350 00:19:36,040 --> 00:19:40,080 Speaker 1: prominent members of the community, and when West Prussia went 351 00:19:40,119 --> 00:19:43,439 Speaker 1: to war against the Teutonic Knights in fifteen twenty, he 352 00:19:43,520 --> 00:19:48,520 Speaker 1: served in a leadership role it's basically a busy guy. Yeah, yeah, 353 00:19:48,560 --> 00:19:51,919 Speaker 1: he um. He had his hand in many pies, so 354 00:19:52,000 --> 00:19:55,760 Speaker 1: to speak. And in fifteen thirty nine, Austrian astronomer and 355 00:19:55,800 --> 00:20:00,440 Speaker 1: mathematician George Joachi Rheticus visited Copernicus to study a nder him. 356 00:20:00,480 --> 00:20:02,919 Speaker 1: He was, if I remember correctly, he was kind of 357 00:20:02,920 --> 00:20:06,120 Speaker 1: touring and visiting a number of different scholars. And while 358 00:20:06,160 --> 00:20:09,000 Speaker 1: he did learn from Copernicus, Rheticus actually had some pretty 359 00:20:09,040 --> 00:20:12,600 Speaker 1: important things to teach Copernicus as well, in particular that 360 00:20:12,640 --> 00:20:15,640 Speaker 1: there had been great advancements in printing achieved in Germany, 361 00:20:15,760 --> 00:20:19,000 Speaker 1: and he showcased that by bringing mathematical texts with him 362 00:20:19,280 --> 00:20:23,080 Speaker 1: that were really really high quality. And Reheticus is credited 363 00:20:23,080 --> 00:20:26,159 Speaker 1: with convincing Copernicus that he should in fact publish his 364 00:20:26,200 --> 00:20:29,080 Speaker 1: life's work that he had been writing all of these years, 365 00:20:29,480 --> 00:20:32,720 Speaker 1: and he eventually supervised getting that book into print. We'll 366 00:20:32,720 --> 00:20:35,679 Speaker 1: talk about the last few years of copernicus Is life 367 00:20:35,720 --> 00:20:38,320 Speaker 1: and the publication of his life's work after we take 368 00:20:38,440 --> 00:20:46,560 Speaker 1: one more quick sponsor break. So, the book on the 369 00:20:46,600 --> 00:20:49,440 Speaker 1: Revolution of the Heavenly Spheares had been more or less 370 00:20:49,480 --> 00:20:52,720 Speaker 1: completed when Reheticus arrived for his visit to Copernicus in 371 00:20:52,720 --> 00:20:55,560 Speaker 1: fifteen thirty nine. It had in fact been complete for 372 00:20:55,640 --> 00:20:59,960 Speaker 1: quite some time. And while the issue of acceptance among 373 00:21:00,080 --> 00:21:02,919 Speaker 1: scholars in society is often cited as the reason for 374 00:21:03,000 --> 00:21:07,920 Speaker 1: hesitation to publish it, on Copernicus part moreover, he really 375 00:21:07,960 --> 00:21:11,560 Speaker 1: wasn't convinced that his work was complete. Rheticus wrote an 376 00:21:11,600 --> 00:21:15,479 Speaker 1: introductory document titled Naratio prima, in which he described the 377 00:21:15,520 --> 00:21:19,879 Speaker 1: contents of On the Revolutions, which published in fifteen forty 378 00:21:20,000 --> 00:21:24,560 Speaker 1: This document both uh pre preluded and praised the research 379 00:21:24,640 --> 00:21:29,439 Speaker 1: Copernicus had done, and further encouraged him to publish. On 380 00:21:29,560 --> 00:21:33,159 Speaker 1: the Revolutions finally did go to print in fifteen forty three, 381 00:21:33,520 --> 00:21:36,600 Speaker 1: and Copernicus dedicated the six volume work to Pope Paul 382 00:21:36,680 --> 00:21:39,560 Speaker 1: the Third. There's debate over whether he did that just 383 00:21:39,640 --> 00:21:41,680 Speaker 1: as sort of a political move to try to curry 384 00:21:41,720 --> 00:21:44,280 Speaker 1: favor with the Church, knowing that he was saying some 385 00:21:44,320 --> 00:21:47,040 Speaker 1: things that the Church wasn't gonna like or not. But 386 00:21:47,160 --> 00:21:50,680 Speaker 1: before the printing was completed, Redicus, who was, as we said, 387 00:21:50,720 --> 00:21:53,400 Speaker 1: overseeing all of it, was appointed to a new position, 388 00:21:53,480 --> 00:21:56,639 Speaker 1: and that was professor of mathematics at the University of Leipzig. 389 00:21:57,280 --> 00:21:59,480 Speaker 1: And he had to leave. He couldn't finish the whole thing, 390 00:21:59,560 --> 00:22:01,760 Speaker 1: and he the remainder of the project in what he 391 00:22:01,840 --> 00:22:06,520 Speaker 1: thought were very safe hands. Those hands belonged to Andreas Osiander. 392 00:22:07,080 --> 00:22:11,280 Speaker 1: Andreas Osiander was a mathematician and an astronomer. He was 393 00:22:11,359 --> 00:22:14,960 Speaker 1: also a minister and a follower of Martin Luther, who 394 00:22:14,960 --> 00:22:20,439 Speaker 1: thought heliocentrism was heretical. So Osiander took advantage of the 395 00:22:20,480 --> 00:22:24,040 Speaker 1: fact that Copernicus was quite ill at the time and 396 00:22:24,080 --> 00:22:25,679 Speaker 1: that he was in charge of the book, and he 397 00:22:25,720 --> 00:22:29,040 Speaker 1: wrote an addition to the book's preface. This addition said quote, 398 00:22:29,040 --> 00:22:32,280 Speaker 1: since he, meaning the astronomer, cannot in any way attain 399 00:22:32,640 --> 00:22:36,000 Speaker 1: to the true causes, he will adopt whatever suppositions enable 400 00:22:36,119 --> 00:22:39,199 Speaker 1: the motions to be computed correctly from the principles of 401 00:22:39,240 --> 00:22:41,800 Speaker 1: geometry for the future as well as for the past. 402 00:22:42,600 --> 00:22:46,679 Speaker 1: These hypotheses need not be true nor even probable. This 403 00:22:46,760 --> 00:22:48,200 Speaker 1: is one of those things that makes me really mad. 404 00:22:48,920 --> 00:22:52,240 Speaker 1: Because this additional text was added to the preface, readers 405 00:22:52,280 --> 00:22:55,480 Speaker 1: presumed that Copernicus himself had written it, and it actually 406 00:22:55,640 --> 00:22:58,359 Speaker 1: undermined all of the work that had gone into the book. 407 00:22:58,359 --> 00:23:01,040 Speaker 1: It was basically saying, well, I was just playing with 408 00:23:01,119 --> 00:23:03,560 Speaker 1: theory and fussing with things to try to make the mathwork. 409 00:23:03,640 --> 00:23:07,480 Speaker 1: It was basically denouncing all that he had done. And 410 00:23:07,520 --> 00:23:10,600 Speaker 1: it was actually decades before this deception of that preface 411 00:23:10,640 --> 00:23:14,639 Speaker 1: was uncovered by Johannes Kepler. In the spring of fifte 412 00:23:15,359 --> 00:23:18,800 Speaker 1: Copernicus had a stroke and he was, as we just mentioned, 413 00:23:18,840 --> 00:23:22,720 Speaker 1: still ailing. When the book was published, Redicus brought a 414 00:23:22,720 --> 00:23:27,520 Speaker 1: copy to his deathbed, and when Copernicus died ont three, 415 00:23:27,560 --> 00:23:30,399 Speaker 1: he was allegedly holding a volume of the book in 416 00:23:30,560 --> 00:23:33,760 Speaker 1: his arms. We're actually coming up on the four seventy 417 00:23:33,760 --> 00:23:36,359 Speaker 1: four anniversary of his death in terms of when we 418 00:23:36,359 --> 00:23:40,359 Speaker 1: recorded this episode today. Yeah, and so for the next 419 00:23:40,400 --> 00:23:44,200 Speaker 1: five decades on, the revolution circulated throughout Europe, and it's 420 00:23:44,560 --> 00:23:46,800 Speaker 1: one of those things where Copernicus probably thought it was 421 00:23:46,920 --> 00:23:50,680 Speaker 1: gonna cause some problems, but he probably did not see 422 00:23:50,720 --> 00:23:52,600 Speaker 1: how big that problem was going to be in terms 423 00:23:52,600 --> 00:23:56,080 Speaker 1: of of really starting some battles. It did, however, have 424 00:23:56,119 --> 00:23:59,439 Speaker 1: a second printing in fifteen sixty six, and astronomers, of 425 00:23:59,480 --> 00:24:02,240 Speaker 1: course and aalized and debated the merits of the solutions 426 00:24:02,280 --> 00:24:05,920 Speaker 1: Copernicus had presented to reconcile his issues with the work 427 00:24:05,920 --> 00:24:09,880 Speaker 1: of Ptolemy. While Martin Luther had openly denounced the work. 428 00:24:09,960 --> 00:24:12,760 Speaker 1: The Roman Catholic Church had never made an official statement. 429 00:24:13,359 --> 00:24:15,760 Speaker 1: We don't know what Pope Paul the Third thought of 430 00:24:15,800 --> 00:24:18,280 Speaker 1: the astronomy book that was dedicated to him, even though 431 00:24:18,359 --> 00:24:21,760 Speaker 1: he even though that dedication was probably done to curry 432 00:24:21,760 --> 00:24:25,800 Speaker 1: favor and to try to soften the church's reaction. Allegedly, 433 00:24:25,840 --> 00:24:30,280 Speaker 1: one of the Pope's advisors, Potolomeo Spina, was planning to 434 00:24:30,480 --> 00:24:34,280 Speaker 1: condemn heliocentrism and the work Copernicus had done, but he 435 00:24:34,400 --> 00:24:36,959 Speaker 1: died before he got a chance to do that. Yes, 436 00:24:37,160 --> 00:24:40,120 Speaker 1: there was no official statement. So while there had been 437 00:24:40,200 --> 00:24:43,159 Speaker 1: much fewer and criticism since the fifteen forties that the 438 00:24:43,160 --> 00:24:47,680 Speaker 1: book contradicted scripture, it actually wasn't until sixteen sixteen that 439 00:24:47,760 --> 00:24:50,879 Speaker 1: the Roman Catholic Church placed on the Revolutions of the 440 00:24:50,920 --> 00:24:55,520 Speaker 1: Heavenly Spheres on the index of Forbidden books. Although it corrected, 441 00:24:55,600 --> 00:24:59,200 Speaker 1: and that's in air quotes version was made available to scholars, 442 00:24:59,280 --> 00:25:02,639 Speaker 1: it actually stayed on that index until seventeen fifty eight, 443 00:25:03,040 --> 00:25:06,080 Speaker 1: and that was about sixty years after much of copernicus 444 00:25:06,119 --> 00:25:10,680 Speaker 1: model had become widely accepted by astronomers and scientists. After 445 00:25:10,760 --> 00:25:14,480 Speaker 1: revisions by his successors in the field. Of course, while 446 00:25:14,560 --> 00:25:18,119 Speaker 1: copernicus is work advanced human kinds of knowledge of the cosmos, 447 00:25:18,119 --> 00:25:21,720 Speaker 1: that still had some significant laws. For example, we know 448 00:25:21,880 --> 00:25:24,359 Speaker 1: that our star, the Sun, is not the center of 449 00:25:24,400 --> 00:25:27,600 Speaker 1: the universe, nor is it near the center of the universe. 450 00:25:28,000 --> 00:25:31,800 Speaker 1: And while both Ptolemy and Copernicus developed celestial models that 451 00:25:31,840 --> 00:25:36,960 Speaker 1: feature circular planetary orbits, they are now known to be elliptical, 452 00:25:37,080 --> 00:25:41,399 Speaker 1: which means you don't need these weird circular orbits with 453 00:25:41,520 --> 00:25:47,280 Speaker 1: smaller circular epicycles in them to explain how the planets move. Yeah, 454 00:25:47,359 --> 00:25:50,000 Speaker 1: and in many ways, what's really interesting is that Copernicus 455 00:25:50,040 --> 00:25:52,080 Speaker 1: does remain a mystery, even though he's been written about 456 00:25:52,080 --> 00:25:54,680 Speaker 1: and studied a lot. But most of what's been studied 457 00:25:54,760 --> 00:25:57,760 Speaker 1: is his work. We mentioned earlier in the episode that 458 00:25:57,800 --> 00:26:00,080 Speaker 1: there's no known date as to when he began working 459 00:26:00,160 --> 00:26:03,720 Speaker 1: on his heliocentric theory, and that is because no existing 460 00:26:03,800 --> 00:26:06,720 Speaker 1: notes or records of his astronomical work other than those 461 00:26:06,760 --> 00:26:10,639 Speaker 1: actual manuscripts, has survived. So even writings of his student 462 00:26:10,680 --> 00:26:14,240 Speaker 1: and friend Redicus detailing copernicus life have been lost. So 463 00:26:14,600 --> 00:26:16,600 Speaker 1: most of our knowledge is the result of a lot 464 00:26:16,600 --> 00:26:19,879 Speaker 1: of painstaking research on the part of historians who have 465 00:26:19,960 --> 00:26:23,679 Speaker 1: assembled this puzzle of his life by studying the various 466 00:26:23,720 --> 00:26:26,119 Speaker 1: elements of it and of his friends and his friends 467 00:26:26,160 --> 00:26:29,080 Speaker 1: letters over time. So that's a big shout out to 468 00:26:29,160 --> 00:26:35,080 Speaker 1: historians solving the mysteries of the past. That's Copernicus. Yeah, 469 00:26:35,200 --> 00:26:37,760 Speaker 1: it was. It was a step in the right direction 470 00:26:37,800 --> 00:26:43,159 Speaker 1: in terms of understanding how solar system works. Yeah, but 471 00:26:43,280 --> 00:26:46,800 Speaker 1: not the final step obviously, No. I mean we could 472 00:26:46,800 --> 00:26:49,680 Speaker 1: still discover new things. I'm excited all the time about 473 00:26:49,680 --> 00:26:53,440 Speaker 1: new discoveries in uh in astronomy. I don't think it's 474 00:26:53,440 --> 00:26:55,600 Speaker 1: any secret at this point to anyone who's listening to 475 00:26:55,600 --> 00:26:58,919 Speaker 1: the show that I like astronomy a lot. Yeah. I 476 00:26:58,960 --> 00:27:02,360 Speaker 1: don't have listener mail per se, although the things I'm 477 00:27:02,359 --> 00:27:05,280 Speaker 1: talking about came to us in the mail. But since 478 00:27:05,320 --> 00:27:07,200 Speaker 1: we're talking a lot about books today, I thought it 479 00:27:07,240 --> 00:27:09,840 Speaker 1: would be cool to mention a couple of authors who 480 00:27:09,840 --> 00:27:12,280 Speaker 1: have sent us their work that is really unique and interesting. 481 00:27:12,760 --> 00:27:15,119 Speaker 1: One is first a book of fiction I have not 482 00:27:15,240 --> 00:27:19,520 Speaker 1: read it yet by writer Brie Spangler called Beast, and 483 00:27:19,640 --> 00:27:22,320 Speaker 1: she sent it to us because and she even highlighted 484 00:27:22,359 --> 00:27:26,040 Speaker 1: the pages. Uh. One of her characters listens to stuff 485 00:27:26,040 --> 00:27:29,800 Speaker 1: you missed in history class. I think, I think the 486 00:27:29,880 --> 00:27:32,520 Speaker 1: most charming things. You sent us an email about it before, 487 00:27:32,920 --> 00:27:36,320 Speaker 1: and someone who is a fan of those books also 488 00:27:36,440 --> 00:27:38,320 Speaker 1: tipped us off to that fact at one point. I 489 00:27:38,320 --> 00:27:40,520 Speaker 1: think it was like, I think it was a fan 490 00:27:40,560 --> 00:27:42,320 Speaker 1: of that book and not that seems like it would 491 00:27:42,320 --> 00:27:45,480 Speaker 1: be weird if there was some other book where someone 492 00:27:45,520 --> 00:27:48,879 Speaker 1: also listens to our show. We definitely got an email 493 00:27:48,920 --> 00:27:50,760 Speaker 1: that was from our reader that was like, Hey, I'm 494 00:27:50,800 --> 00:27:53,240 Speaker 1: reading these books and this character in the books listens 495 00:27:53,240 --> 00:27:56,480 Speaker 1: to your show. Yeah. It's so sweet and so charming, 496 00:27:56,480 --> 00:27:59,400 Speaker 1: and what a great honor. Um. And it actually mentions 497 00:27:59,480 --> 00:28:03,720 Speaker 1: the the Diatlo Past Incident podcast so episode that we did. 498 00:28:03,760 --> 00:28:06,000 Speaker 1: So that was super lovely and Bree wrote us a 499 00:28:06,040 --> 00:28:08,359 Speaker 1: lovely um note in the front of the book and 500 00:28:08,400 --> 00:28:10,960 Speaker 1: it's gorgeous and I can't wait to read it. Um, 501 00:28:11,000 --> 00:28:13,960 Speaker 1: So thank you so much. What again, what a tremendous honor. 502 00:28:14,200 --> 00:28:17,200 Speaker 1: The other one is uh was sent to us by 503 00:28:17,600 --> 00:28:20,399 Speaker 1: Ronald Wimberley, who is an artist and a writer, and 504 00:28:20,480 --> 00:28:23,440 Speaker 1: it is a really really cool book that was published 505 00:28:23,480 --> 00:28:25,879 Speaker 1: by Image Comics. But it's an actual bookbook, not the 506 00:28:25,880 --> 00:28:27,440 Speaker 1: comics aren't book books. But you know what I mean, 507 00:28:27,480 --> 00:28:29,960 Speaker 1: it's like a different style. It's not a comic book, 508 00:28:30,359 --> 00:28:32,639 Speaker 1: although it is illustrated, and it is black history and 509 00:28:32,680 --> 00:28:37,040 Speaker 1: its own words, and it's his really really striking visual 510 00:28:37,119 --> 00:28:42,320 Speaker 1: style alongside quotes prominent people throughout history talking about black history, 511 00:28:42,680 --> 00:28:46,720 Speaker 1: and it's kind of in this these um these very 512 00:28:46,760 --> 00:28:50,200 Speaker 1: short brief little intros with the quotes and the art 513 00:28:50,280 --> 00:28:54,200 Speaker 1: and it's really really lovely. Um So, everyone from Audrey 514 00:28:54,240 --> 00:28:57,800 Speaker 1: Lord to Lavern Coxes in here and it's absolutely gorgeous, 515 00:28:57,800 --> 00:28:59,360 Speaker 1: and thank you, thank you, thank you, because what a 516 00:28:59,400 --> 00:29:01,920 Speaker 1: gorgeous work. I hope he's tremendously proud of this. It's 517 00:29:01,920 --> 00:29:05,320 Speaker 1: amazing as well as brief should be. I'm authors are 518 00:29:05,360 --> 00:29:09,960 Speaker 1: always uh of great uh what's the word I'm looking for. 519 00:29:10,320 --> 00:29:13,640 Speaker 1: I always greatly admire authors because that's that's a whole 520 00:29:13,760 --> 00:29:16,200 Speaker 1: job that involves a lot of sitting down and being 521 00:29:16,200 --> 00:29:19,360 Speaker 1: focused and really sort of a birthing process of thought, 522 00:29:19,400 --> 00:29:21,560 Speaker 1: which I love. So thank you so much to both 523 00:29:21,600 --> 00:29:24,120 Speaker 1: of them for sharing that work with us. We appreciate 524 00:29:24,160 --> 00:29:25,959 Speaker 1: it always. If you would like to write to us, 525 00:29:26,000 --> 00:29:28,720 Speaker 1: you can do so at History Podcast at house to 526 00:29:28,840 --> 00:29:31,800 Speaker 1: works dot com. You can visit us across the spectrum 527 00:29:31,800 --> 00:29:34,520 Speaker 1: of social media as missed in History, so that includes 528 00:29:34,560 --> 00:29:37,680 Speaker 1: Twitter as missed in History, Facebook dot com, slash missed 529 00:29:37,720 --> 00:29:40,680 Speaker 1: in History, missed in History, dot tumbler dot com. We're 530 00:29:40,720 --> 00:29:43,000 Speaker 1: on Instagram as missed in History, and we're on pinterest 531 00:29:43,040 --> 00:29:45,720 Speaker 1: as missed in History. If you would like to come 532 00:29:45,800 --> 00:29:48,480 Speaker 1: and visit our parents site that's how stuff Works, you 533 00:29:48,560 --> 00:29:51,600 Speaker 1: could go there Houston Works dot com. Type in the 534 00:29:51,600 --> 00:29:53,520 Speaker 1: word astronomy in the search bar. You're gonna get so 535 00:29:53,600 --> 00:29:55,960 Speaker 1: much stuff to look at. UH. You can also visit 536 00:29:56,040 --> 00:29:58,880 Speaker 1: me and Tracy at missed in History dot com. Or 537 00:29:59,000 --> 00:30:02,040 Speaker 1: we have back episodes of every show we have ever done, 538 00:30:02,640 --> 00:30:05,680 Speaker 1: both us and previous hosts, as well as show notes 539 00:30:05,720 --> 00:30:07,959 Speaker 1: for the episodes Tracy and I have worked on. We 540 00:30:08,000 --> 00:30:11,080 Speaker 1: include those show notes now in the UH in the 541 00:30:11,080 --> 00:30:13,160 Speaker 1: show page, so it's all in one handy place. So 542 00:30:13,200 --> 00:30:15,400 Speaker 1: we encourage you come and visit us at misston history 543 00:30:15,440 --> 00:30:21,920 Speaker 1: dot com and how stuff Works dot com for more 544 00:30:21,920 --> 00:30:24,200 Speaker 1: on this and thousands of other topics. Is it how 545 00:30:24,280 --> 00:30:37,560 Speaker 1: stuff works dot com