2023-10-27 Abstract

Title: The Legacy of Copernicus

Speaker: Prof. Sun Kwok (U. British Columbia)
 
Date: October 27 at 14:30
 
Location: R521, General Building II
 
Abstract:

Copernicus published his Six Books on the Revolutions of the Heavenly Spheres in 1543, but his heliocentric model of the Universe was not immediately accepted by the scholarly community. It took another 200 years before all the theoretical and observational difficulties of the heliocentric model were overcome. 
In this talk, we will discuss the many commonly held misconceptions about the work of Ptolemy, Copernicus, and Galileo, and the social, philosophical, and scientific implications of the Copernican revolution. 

References
Kwok, S. 2017, Our Place in the Universe: understanding fundamental astronomy from ancient discoveries, Springer.
Kwok, S. 2021, Our Place in the Universe II: the scientific approach to discovery, Springer