Models of the Universe

and their Development throughout

History

Aristotle (384-322BC)
The Greek were the first civilisation to study
astronomy as a way of understanding the
universe.
Before Greek astronomy, study of the stars was
performed for religious and astrological purposes
only.
Aristotle was not a scientist.
Even though Aristotles model of the universe
was wrong, and not based on scientific fact,
Aristotle was such a well respected man, that
everyone accepted his model as fact, and it took
2000 years to be cast aside.

The Geocentric Model

Aristotles model of the
universe was geocentric.
This means that the
earth was the centre of
the universe, and
Aristotle believed it was
surrounded by the
heavens, which were
made up of 55
transparent concentric
circles which were used
to explain the motion of
the stars.

Aristarchus (~240BC)
Aristarchus proposed the first ever
heliocentric model of the universe.
His model, with a larger sun at the centre of
the universe, and the earth rotating on its axis
and orbiting the sun, was actually quite close
to the truth.
Aristarchus model was not well accepted,
because it was not detailed enough to allow
for predictions.

The First Heliocentric Model

Aristarchus
believed that the
earth orbited the
sun, and the moon
orbited the earth.
The main problem
with Aristarchus
view it that the
orbits of the earth
and planets were
circular.

Ptolemy (140AD)
Ptolemy was a scientist, who developed
Aristotles model of the universe, by applying
mathematical evidence to an essentially
philosophical model.
Ptolemy was interested in creating a
mathematical description of the motion of the
planets, and so attempted to discard the
uniform circular motion presented by Aristotle,
and also by the Greek philosopher Plato.

Another Geocentric Model

Ptolemys model
placed earth slightly
away from the centre
of the planets cycles,
but still believed that it
was the centre of the
universe.
He proposed that the
planets moved in
epicycles around a
deferent.

Nicholas Copernicus (1473-1542)

Copernicus proposed once again the theory
of a heliocentric model. It was known that
Copernicus had studied the work of
Aristarchus, and probably derived his model
from the Ancient Greek.
At the time of Copernicus, the geocentric
model was endorsed by the Christian belief,
as they thought that it depicted heaven and
hell.
Copernicus was associated with the church
throughout his life, but risked controversy by
publishing his views during this time.

Another Heliocentric Model

The Copernican
model was
inaccurate, as he
imposed uniform
circular motion on his
model, but the
Copernican
Hypothesis was
correct, sparking the
Copernican
revolution as other
scientists began to
adopt his ideas.

Tycho Brahe (1546-1601)

Tycho Brahe rejected the Copernican Theory,
because he could measure no parallax for the
stars, he concluded that the earth must be
stationary.
Instead, Brahe devised a model of the
universe which combined both heliocentric
and geocentric ideas.
Brahe was also able to devise new and better
instruments for studying the universe, and
therefore make accurate observations of the
positions of the stars, moon, sun and planets.

Combined Geocentric and

Heliocentric Models
Despite obvious
flaws in his model of
the universe, Brahes
observations and
calculations of the
stars were
remarkable due to
the fact telescopes
hadnt even been
invented!

Johannes Kepler (1571-1630)

Kepler was a believer in the Copernican theory
of the universe.
He believed that the spheres containing the six
known planets (Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars,
Jupiter and Saturn) were fixed by five regular
solids the cube, tetrahedron, dodecahedron,
icosahedron and octahedron.
Kepler also produced three laws of planetary
motion relating to the elliptical orbit of the
planets around the sun.

An Improved Heliocentric Model

This model shows
Keplers view of the
universe, with the
planets being
separated by the
different regular
solids.
The sun is at the
centre of the
universe.

Galileo Galilei (1564-1642)

Galileo was a supporter of the Copernican
Theory, although he was afraid to support it
publicly because of criticisms.
Despite popular belief, Galileo did not invent the
telescope, but it was instrumental to his model,
and was later what encouraged him to publicly
defend the heliocentric model.
Galileo was interrogated by the Inquisition four
times, was condemned and was placed under
house arrest for the rest of his life.
Many say that this was for heresy, but the case
against Galileo stated that he disobeyed orders
from the Pope not to promote Copernican theory.

Convincing Proof of the

Heliocentric Model
Galileo used his telescope
to conduct studies of the
moons of Jupiter. These
studies supported the
Copernican model,
because popular belief was
that Earth could not move
because it would leave the
moon behind, and yet
Jupiters satellites
continued to orbit Jupiter
while it moved.

Isaac Newton (1642-1727)

Kepler devised three laws of planetary
motion, but never understood why they
moved around an elliptical orbit.
Newton improved Keplers theory by
expanding it into a general theory of
motion and gravity.
Newton never understood exactly what
gravity was, and therefore his model
was never perfect.

A More Accurate Model

Although Newtons
model wasnt perfect,
his study of the
universe led to the
discovery of the Law of
Universal Gravitation,
which was important in
later discovery in both
physics and
astronomy.