PPT Slide
Celestial Mechanics: Overthrow of Ptolemy
Five names are associated with the overthrow of the Ptolemaic system, in a period spanning 300 years
Nicolaus Copernicus (1473-1543): Theory of circular motion, with the Sun at center, a Heliocentric Model (De Revolutionibus Orbium Coelestium, 1543).
Tycho Brahe (1546-1601): Observations of planetary positions to “high accuracy”. Observations of comets call into question the reality of cystalline spheres.
Johannes Kepler (1571-1630): Mathematical analysis of Tycho’s data. “Three Laws of Planetary Motion” provide concise description of planetary motion.
Galileo Galilei (1564-1642): Telescopic observations provide “nail in the coffin” for the Ptolemaic system. Experimental treatment of physics.
Isaac Newton (1642-1727): Physical basis for Kepler’s Laws by his own “Three Laws of Gravity” (Principia, 1687).