...universe of the ancients was shattered by scientific discovery. Along came Copernicus and Galileo with the idea that the earth was not the center of the universe, but only one of its minor planets. If the earth was not the physical center of the universe, half of...

...similar pattern today. When careful observations in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries demonstrated that the earth was not the center of the universe and that planetary orbits were not circular, theoretical astronomers, rather than abandoning their false theories,...

...Earth. Just as there came a time when we had to adjust our theological and philosophical perspectives to the idea that the Earth was not the center of the universe, it appears that we now have to adjust both to the idea that humans may not be the most developed life...

...solar system. This landed Galileo into deep trouble with Church authorities, who could not stomach the idea that the earth was not the center of the universe. The work of Copernicus and Galileo displaced earlier beliefs. On the other hand, Einstein's discovery...

...it still took many years for people to widely accept that the sun did not revolve around the Earth, that the Earth was not the center of the universe, and that there was an invisible force called gravity! People were ostracized, persecuted, excommunicated, and...

...opinions changed. By the time of Galileo's death, every educated person had heard, and many believed, that the earth was not the center of the universe, and that the heavens seemed to stretch forever into space. Astronomers also knew that Kepler had described how...

...measurement he formulated laws governing falling bodies and pendulums, and confirmed Copernicus' view that the earth was not the center of the universe and that the planets revolved around the sun. circumstances, the forces of friction and air resistance cause...

...cleric, published On the Infinite Universe ani) Worlek, where he suggested, like Nicholas of Cusa, that the earth was not the center of the universe and that there were infinite worlds like our own. In 1600 he was burned at the stake. In 1616 the famous Galileo...

...suggestions from his pen. He was the first, for instance, to suggest, more than a century before Copernicus, that the earth was not the center of the universe and that it would not be absolutely at rest or as he said devoid of all motion. His words are : "Terra igitur,...