num_pages: 295
description: In 1534, the Polish astronomer Nicolaus Copernicus lay dying, supposedly holding his just-published masterpiece, "On the Revolutions of the Heavenly Spheres". At the time, both religious doctrine and common belief held that the earth ruled the universe, and that the sun, moon, planets and stars all rotated around it. Copernicus's assertion that the sun was at the centre of that cosmology fomented a scientific revolution that would lead to a completely new understanding of the universe and the place of humanity within it. With close attention to Copernicus's own words, proofs and diagrams, William T. Vollmann takes readers down a fascinating path of enquiry, making Copernicus's legacy all the more revolutionary. Whilst some scholars argue that Copernicus anticipated, at least in part, the vast, secularizing effect his ideas would have on intellectual history, others assert that he was a man enmeshed in the values of his own time, and that both his goals and his achievements were limited to a bit of mathematical tinkering with a worldview that on the whole he accepted. (Indeed, Copernicus has bee hesitant to publish his work for fear of being charged with heresy and it was not until 1835 that his work was taken off the list of books banned by the Vatican.)In Uncentering the Earth, Vollmann provides an enlightening and readable explanation not only of Copernicus and his work but also of his epoch, and the momentous clash between the two.
language: English
title: Uncentering The Earth: Copernicus and On the Revolutions of the Heavenly Spheres
titlecomplete: Uncentering The Earth: Copernicus and On the Revolutions of the Heavenly Spheres
genres: Physics, Nonfiction, Astronomy, History, Biography Memoir, Science, Biography
ratings_count: 147
series: Great Discoveries
publisher: Weidenfeld & Nicolson