Tycho and Kepler
In what ways did Tycho Brahe and Kepler break with the worldview of the Schoolmen?
Tycho Brahe had a very distinct need for accuracy. He did not believe that the Heavens were unchanging as established by Aristotle, but schoolmen did. Schoolmen believed in scholastics which was a form of Christian philisophy, which was vastly popular during Tycho's time of the 16th century. Part of the schoolmen's philosophy was that there was a realm outside of Earth called the Heavens. In the Heavens were stars, which would move around the Earth but would never change. Tycho had developed many instruments that were great in size, but also great in accuracy, and spent a lot of his life making star charts that were extremely detailed. Tycho stumbled upon a “new star” one day in 1572 and wondered what it was and why it was there. While studying this new star with his instruments, he found that the star was stationary, it did not move. Although he was very keen on his accuracy, it was not accepted by everyone, especially the church. Since, he had proven that there were flaws in Aristotle's idea of the universe, he had wondered what else could be wrong with it. Well there was also another idea of Aristotle's that Tycho could not figure out and that was how the universe was situated. Aristotle's belief was that the Earth was the center of the universe and everything revolved around it, but Tycho thought otherwise. Tycho reasoned that all the planets revolved around the sun, except that Earth was the center and was stationary. He left the Earth as the center for two reasons: 1.) the earth revolving around the sun would contradict the Bible and 2.) he could not prove any evidence of stellar parallax; So he reasoned that the Earth must be stationary. Tycho was born into a wealthy family so he was able to afford all of his research, he had a castle on the Danish island of Hveen where he did most of his work from 1576-1597. For many reasons though, he decided to move and ended up in
Tycho Brahe had a very distinct need for accuracy. He did not believe that the Heavens were unchanging as established by Aristotle, but schoolmen did. Schoolmen believed in scholastics which was a form of Christian philisophy, which was vastly popular during Tycho's time of the 16th century. Part of the schoolmen's philosophy was that there was a realm outside of Earth called the Heavens. In the Heavens were stars, which would move around the Earth but would never change. Tycho had developed many instruments that were great in size, but also great in accuracy, and spent a lot of his life making star charts that were extremely detailed. Tycho stumbled upon a “new star” one day in 1572 and wondered what it was and why it was there. While studying this new star with his instruments, he found that the star was stationary, it did not move. Although he was very keen on his accuracy, it was not accepted by everyone, especially the church. Since, he had proven that there were flaws in Aristotle's idea of the universe, he had wondered what else could be wrong with it. Well there was also another idea of Aristotle's that Tycho could not figure out and that was how the universe was situated. Aristotle's belief was that the Earth was the center of the universe and everything revolved around it, but Tycho thought otherwise. Tycho reasoned that all the planets revolved around the sun, except that Earth was the center and was stationary. He left the Earth as the center for two reasons: 1.) the earth revolving around the sun would contradict the Bible and 2.) he could not prove any evidence of stellar parallax; So he reasoned that the Earth must be stationary. Tycho was born into a wealthy family so he was able to afford all of his research, he had a castle on the Danish island of Hveen where he did most of his work from 1576-1597. For many reasons though, he decided to move and ended up in