EARTH LOSES ITS THRONE( COPERNICUS)

Earth loses its throne

( Nicholas Copernicus)

Dr Watson , the biographer of the famous detective Sherlock Holmes, knew that his subject had remarkable knowledge of various things. But what amazed him was his remarkable ignorance also! Holmes was totally unaware of what was known to every child in the 19^th century. He did not know that earth went around the sun which meant that he had not heard of Nicholas Copernicus either. When questioned by Watson, Holmes had replied that he had no use for such information!

1543 saw the publication of two great books. The first one which was on medicine debunked ancient theories of dissection by Gallen. Gallen had dissected cadavers of animals and came to the conclusion that human organs were not different from those of animals. But Vesalius, the author of the new book, had himself dissected human bodies and opened a new chapter in Medicine. The second book titled ‘ On the revolution of planets…’was also by a medical doctor – Nicholas Copernicus of Poland. Martin Luther in Germany and Henry the 8^th in England had begun to question the authority of the Roman catholic church.. Similarly Copernicus questioned Aristotlean theories and began unsettling the throne given to earth as the center of the universe by the Greeks. The world was about to see revolutions in various spheres !

Copernicus, who was born in 1473 and raised as an orphan, joined the university of Cracow at the age of 18. He specialized in Mathematics and astronomy. Later he went to Italy where he learnt Law. Finally he decided on medicine for his livelihood. He is also credited with coining what was later known as Gresham/s law in economics. He was also an expert on the reformation of the calendar. He was also a painter and we owe to him the self portrait he painted. He was indeed a great example for the renaissance personality. With all that astronomy remained his first love !

Astronomical Tables given more than 1000 years earlier by Claudius Ptolmey had started giving wrong answers for the positions of celestial objects. While Copernicus knew it, what bothered him equally was the fact that the Greek ideals of beauty and simplicity were absent in the later models. He had been aware of the fact that there were variations in the light given out by the planet Mars. He argued that it is possible only if the planets went around the sun and not if planets went around the earth. He reasoned that the light from Mars depended on the distance of the planet from the sun. His model came out first when he was about 34 years old. The important elements were (a) Sun, and not earth, is at the center of the universe (b) Earth is also a planet (c) All planets go round the sun in circular orbits (d) Sun appears to be moving because it is the earth that is moving. He put it poetically :” Where else do we keep this great light if not at the center of the universe ? The children (planets) move around the throne on which the father (the sun) sits!”.

However, there had been people who had proposed similar models. Greece itself had Aristarchus (3^rd century ) propose a helio centric model; Copernicus acknowledged his debt to Aristarchus. In India in the 6^th century Aryabhata had proposed that earth moves round the sum; the same had been reiterated in the 12^th century by Bhaskara II. However, these earlier models never got much publicity. It is also possible that Europe of 16^th century had the proper atmosphere to receive new ideas.

Copernicus was not happy till observations would match the predictions of his model. Throughout his life he watched the skies and noted down the position of the planets so that he could compare the observations with the calculations. He also did not publicize his findings. Like Charles Darwin who had to cross several barriers, Copernicus also had to face similar walls. People like Martin Luther who took some tales of Bible (involving stationary suns) literally ridiculed Copernicus as an idiot( Strange how two revolutionaries do not see eye to eye!)! The second was common sense which dictated that one would fall if earth kept moving round. The third were the intellectuals and the leaders of the church who regarded Aristotlean ideas as god given (50 years later the scholar Giordino Bruno was to be burnt alive by the inquisition for stating that sun was just another star). Further, like Isacc Newton, he was afraid that his ideas would not be understood and he would be ridiculed. All these reasons contributed to the fact that he never looked for publicity for his models ! He sent his book for publication when he was old and he died the very day the book came out!

The preface to the book was written by one of his well wishers called Osiander. The preface had started : These theories need not be correct! May be the ruse was that the church would not take it seriously. The result was that most of the world also did not take the model seriously. The impression that gained was that the model was a mathematical exercise. Further the positions of planets using the model also did not agree with observations! The final result was that it was probably politely ignored, polite because of the pious nature of its author!

However, the impact of his work would be easy to understand if one focuses on the word ‘ revolution’ in the title of the book.’ Man had been given a central place in the universe so that he can look around conveniently’- This was the sentiment of the times which stressed man’s central role in the universe. What Copernicus did was to remove the planet earth, and hence man himself, from the center of the picture. Man would no more be as important as before ! The balloon of human vanity had been punctured !

Before we go further, let us look at the heliocentric model of Copernicus with modern eyes. The sun and earth are separated by 150 million kilometers. Let us take it as one meter. With this yardstick, when one moves out of the sun we encounter Mercury at a distance of 40 cms and Venus at 66 cms. Once we go beyond earth, we find Mars, Jupiter and Saturn at distances of ½, 4 and 8 meters from the earth. Next we will come to planets which cannot be seen by the naked eye and which were not known to Copernicus: Uranus, Neptune and Pluto. Pluto the outermost planet is at a distance of 40 meters. Light , which takes 8 minutes to reach earth from sun , reaches Pluto after five and a half hours! This is the extant of the solar system!

Let us also look at how heavy these are. If the weight of earth is taken as one kilogram(kg), we have the heaviest planet Jupiter with the weight of an elephant (~300 Kg) and Saturn with the weight of a Sumo wrestler( 95 Kg). Others are all very light objects- Venus (800 gms), Mars(100 gms) and Mercury ( 50 gms). The sun weighs 3 Lakh Kgs with this scale.

The solar system can boast of two very special planets. The first is Jupiter which would have been a star if it had amassed 8 times the present weight. The second is the planet earth! If it had been nearer, it would have been too hot and if it had been farther it would have been too cool ! Thus no life would have evolved. Further, the optimum weight of the earth has also played its part in nurturing life. If it were lighter, it would not have supported any atmosphere. So the earth happens to be at the right distance and has the right weight!

(parts of a book under preparation)