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2 - From Ptolemy to Kepler: The Copernican Revolution

from Case Study I - The Origins of Newton’s Laws of Motion and of Gravity

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  27 March 2020

Malcolm S. Longair
Malcolm S. Longair
Affiliation:
University of Cambridge
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Summary

The birth of physics can be traced to the Copernican, Galilean and Newtonian revolutions of the seventeenth century. The Copernican picture of the world was to replace the geocentric Ptolemaic model. Tycho Brahe's innovations in observation brought about an order of magnitude improvement in the determination of the motions of the planets. These observations resulted in the formulation of Kepler's laws of planetary motion, which were to be crucial in Newton's discovery of the laws of motion.At the same time, Galileo's pioneering telescopic discoveries provided support for the Copernican picture of the world.

Keywords

Copernican revolutionCopernicusTycho BraheKeplerKepler's lawsGalileo's telescopic discoveries
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Chapter
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Theoretical Concepts in Physics
An Alternative View of Theoretical Reasoning in Physics
 , pp. 11 - 28
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2020

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