Skip to main content

Heliocentrism

  • Living reference work entry
  • First Online:
Encyclopedia of Renaissance Philosophy
  • 36 Accesses

Abstract

In 1543, Nicolas Copernicus published his De revolutionibus orbium coelestium, in which he proposed a radical reordering of the celestial order that put the Sun at the center of planetary motion. The proposal was a profound departure from the prevailing geocentric cosmology in the sixteenth century, which was largely based on Aristotelian physics and Ptolemaic astronomy. While the significance of heliocentrism for history of science cannot be overstated, astronomy both before and after Copernicus has a long and complex history that provides essential context for understanding the significance of his heliocentric turn.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Copernicus, N. 1973. The derivation and first draft of Copernicus’s planetary theory: A translation of the Commentariolus with Commentary. Trans. N.M. Swerdlow. Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society 117: 423–512.

    Google Scholar 

  • Copernicus, N. 1992. On the revolutions. Trans. E. Rosen. Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Feldhay, R., and F.J. Ragep. 2017. Before Copernicus: The cultures and contexts of scientific learning in the fifteenth century. Montreal: McGill-Queens University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Finocchiaro, M.A. 2002. Philosophy versus religion and science versus religion: The trials of Bruno and Galileo. In Defending Copernicus and Galileo: Critical reasoning in the two affairs, ed. H. Gatti, 51–96. Dordrecht: Springer.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gingerich, O. 2004. The book nobody read: Chasing the revolutions of Nicolaus Copernicus. New York: Walker & Company.

    Google Scholar 

  • Goddu, A. 2010. Copernicus and the Aristotelian tradition: Education, reading, and philosophy in Copernicus’s path to heliocentrism. Leiden: Brill.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Goldstein, Bernard. 2002. Copernicus and the origin of his heliocentric system. Journal for the History of Astronomy 33: 219–235.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Granada, M.A., P.J. Boner, and D. Tessicini, eds. 2016. Unifying heaven and earth: Essays in the history of early modern cosmology. Barcelona: Edicions de la Universitat de Barcelona.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kuhn, T. 1957. The Copernican revolution. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Omodeo, P.D. 2014. Copernicus in the cultural debates of the renaissance: Reception, legacy, transformation. Leiden: Brill.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Ragep, F.J. 2007. Copernicus and his Islamic predecessors. History of Science 45: 65–81.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Saliba, G. 2007. Islamic science and the making of the European renaissance. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Vesel, M. 2014. Copernicus: Platonist astronomer-philosopher: Cosmic order, the movement of the earth, and the scientific revolution. Frankfurt am Main: Peter Lang.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Westman, R. 1975. The Melanchthon circle, Rheticus, and the Wittenberg interpretation of the Copernican theory. Isis 66: 165–193.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Westman, R. 2012. The Copernican question: Prognostication, skepticism, and celestial order. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Margaret E. Gaida .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

Section Editor information

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2020 Springer Nature Switzerland AG

About this entry

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this entry

Gaida, M.E. (2020). Heliocentrism. In: Sgarbi, M. (eds) Encyclopedia of Renaissance Philosophy. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-02848-4_926-1

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-02848-4_926-1

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-02848-4

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-02848-4

  • eBook Packages: Springer Reference Religion and PhilosophyReference Module Humanities and Social SciencesReference Module Humanities

Publish with us

Policies and ethics