Nicols Coprnico
Heliocentric model of the universe
The most recognized and
revolutionary contribution of
Nicolaus Copernicus is undoubtedly
the theory of heliocentrism. Until
that moment, Ptolemy's model had
been followed, which proposed that
the earth was the center of the
universe (geocentrism).
Copernicus proposed a model of a
spherical universe, in which both
the Earth and the planets and stars
revolved around the Sun. This
contribution of Copernicus to
science is perhaps the most
revolutionary in the history of
mankind, a paradigm shift for the
sciences.
And it is that from that moment, the
science began to be based on
observations and mathematical
measurements, and is not beliefs
and simple theoretical affirmations.
Johannes Kepler
Kepler's laws were enunciated by
Johannes Kepler to describe
mathematically the movement of the
planets in their orbits around the
Sun. Although he did not enunciate
them in the same order, at present
the laws are numbered as follows:
First Law (1609): All the planets
move around the Sun describing
elliptical orbits, with the Sun located
in one of the foci.
Second Law (1609): The vector
radius connecting a planet and the
Sun sweeps out equal areas in
equal times.
law of areas is equivalent to the
constancy of angular momentum, ie
when the planet is farthest from the
sun (aphelion) its velocity is less
than when it is closest to the sun
(perihelion).
Isaac Newton
Shape of the Earth
His development of differential
calculus offered Newton the
possibility of studying curved
surfaces and curvilinear motions. Of
the many calculations that I realized
I would like to emphasize one that
throws for Earth the theses of
Galileo and Copernicus, scientists
who defended that the surface of
the Earth was a perfect sphere.
Newton calculated the distance to
the center of the Earth from several
points of the Equator and also from
London and Paris. If the Earth were
spherical all values should coincide,
which did not happen, which led him
to conclude to Newton that the
Earth is flattened by the poles.