Copernican Revolution
Sun-centered paradigm shift
The Copernican Revolution is the shift in understanding that placed the sun rather than the Earth at the center of the solar system, overturning centuries of geocentric astronomy.
Named for the 16th-century astronomer Nicolaus Copernicus, the term extends to any fundamental change in worldview or conceptual framework: Darwin's theory was a Copernican revolution in biology.
A Copernican revolution reorders everything around a new center.
Star at system's core
- planetary orbitsCurved paths around stars
- celestial spheresAncient cosmos's rotating layers
- solar systemStar and orbiting bodies
- Tycho BraheRenaissance astronomical observer
Wholesale replacement of frameworks
- theoretical frameworkOrganized set of principles
- philosophical implicationsMeaning for abstract thought
- scientific progressAccumulation of verified knowledge
European cultural reawakening
- sixteenth centuryYears 1501-1600
- PolandCentral European republic
- printing pressMechanical text reproduction device
- natural philosophyHistorical term for science
Rules binding all existence
- objectivityFreedom from personal bias
- empiricismKnowledge through observation
Instrument magnifying faraway objects
- InquisitionChurch tribunal against heretics
- heresy trialProsecution for religious dissent
- recantationFormal withdrawal of statement
- sunspotsDark patches on star
empirical evidence · astronomical observation · forbidden book · house arrest
sun-centered
Star at system's core
- planetary orbitsCurved paths around stars
- celestial spheresAncient cosmos's rotating layers
- solar systemStar and orbiting bodies
Tycho Brahe · orbital mechanics · heliocentric theory · retrograde motion
paradigm shift
Wholesale replacement of frameworks
- theoretical frameworkOrganized set of principles
- philosophical implicationsMeaning for abstract thought
- scientific progressAccumulation of verified knowledge
Renaissance
European cultural reawakening
- sixteenth centuryYears 1501-1600
- PolandCentral European republic
- printing pressMechanical text reproduction device
natural philosophy · classical revival · Padua · Bologna · Nuremberg
universal laws
Rules binding all existence
- objectivityFreedom from personal bias
- empiricismKnowledge through observation
telescope
Instrument magnifying faraway objects
- InquisitionChurch tribunal against heretics
- heresy trialProsecution for religious dissent
- recantationFormal withdrawal of statement
sunspots · empirical evidence · astronomical observation · forbidden book · house arrest
- Astronomy HistoryGalileo, Kepler, Newton, Ptolemy, Tycho Brahe
- Early ModernRenaissance, 1500s, 1600s, Reformation, sixteenth century
- Revolutionsoverthrow, uprising, insurrection, rebellions, uprisings
Copernican RevolutionPtolemaic system
Earth as universe's center
geocentrism · geocentric model · celestial spheres · epicycles · medieval cosmology
Copernican Revolutionorthodoxy
Adherence to accepted beliefs
received wisdom · dogma · scholasticism · anthropocentrism · status quo
Copernicus, Copernican, revolution, revolve, revolving, revolved, revolver, revolutionary, revolutionize