Download Nikolaus Copernicus 1473- 1543 Copernincus was from Poland. His

Nikolaus Copernicus
1473- 1543
Copernincus was from Poland. His father was wealthy and Copernicus was
educated in Italy.
Copernicus is most famous for his discovery of Heliocentrism. This means that
the sun stays in one place, and that the earth goes around it. This may not sound like a
big deal, but humans had always thought that the sun went around the earth because of
the way it moved in the sky. When Copernicus made this discovery, it made people
question EVERYTHING!!! WHAT ELSE WAS POSSIBLE!!!
Galileo Galilei
1564-1642
Galileo was born in Florence, Italy. He was a devout Catholic. His father wanted
him to become a doctor, but he was not interested in medical studies. He especially liked
math and science. He had many books by the Romans and Greeks translated and sought
to build on their knowledge.
He is known as the father of modern mathematics, physics and astronomy. Much
of the knowledge he found about the world and space was due to his new experiments.
For example, he tried to estimate the speed of light by having someone stand on a far
away hill and flash a lantern. Then both would calculate how much time had passed
between flashing the lantern and someone seeing the light and then calculate the distance.
This experiment did not work, but it shows his new type of thinking. Also, he discovered
a lot of new knowledge by improving scientific tools. For example, he added several
lenses to a telescope so that he could see much farther into space.
However, after he further researched Copernicus’ theory of Heliocentrism and found
it to be true, things did not go well for Galileo. Many people in Galileo’s time thought
that the bible was not only a religious book, but a book of science and worldly facts.
Galileo was always a strict Catholic, but many of his findings made him think that the
bible was not a scientific book, just a book of religion. The pope ordered him to Rome
and read these quotes from the bible to Galileo:
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Psalm 93:1, Psalm 96:10, and Chronicles 16:30 state that "the world is firmly
established, it cannot be moved."
Psalm 104:5 says, "[the LORD] set the earth on its foundations; it can never be
moved."
Ecclesiastes 1:5 states that "the sun rises and the sun sets, and hurries back to
where it rises."
The pope told Galileo that his Heliocentrism theory was an attack on the bible and
imprisoned Galileo. Eventually Galileo was taken out of prison and put on house arrest.
He was not allowed to do any further research.
Many famous scientists from Einstein to Newton to Hawkings agree that
civilization would not be advanced as it is today if it were not for Galileo.
1.) Where did Copernicus get his education, and where was Galileo from?
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2.) What did Copernicus discover? Why was this such a big deal?
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3.) What three things enabled Galileo able to discover new things in physics, math, and
astronomy?
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4.) What types of problems did Galileo have after he agreed with Copernicus?
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