Orateur
Prof.
Peter Barker
(Oklahoma University)
Description
The cosmic scheme of Tycho Brahe (1546-1601) is usually presented as a short-lived compromise between Aristotle’s cosmos and the innovation of Copernicus. In ṭhis presentation I hope to show that Brahe’s cosmology was widely accepted throughout Europe into the eighteenth century. Hence, when Newton wrote the Principia, Tycho’s cosmology was the most widely accepted alternative to Copernicus. I will suggest that the popularity of Tychonic cosmology declined only after the publication of several encyclopedias that offered Newtonian refutations of Tycho’s cosmic scheme.
