Of course if we would have used the moon in our proof, the second most
dominant sphere in the sky and perhaps the easiest to record the transit.
In that case, we would have known Ptolemy and the Inquisition were right
that Earth IS the center. Who cares about the details? There is a saying
that I have heard around the Marketing departments of several companies, "
Perception is reality."
On the other hand, clearly somehow Copernicus got the impression that we
were not the center of the world. Maybe the proof would have more
allegorical reasoning. I.E. "That was the age of explorations.
Columbus sailed only 19 years later. We were not the center of the
universe anymore. Instead, we became an expanding world of the trading
empire." Ok, Ok, that would not have stood up to the Inquisition
either, but as Monty Python puts it, "Nobody expects the Spanish
Inquisition!" or the fact that we are spinning in a spiral arm of a
universe that is expanding. (All the spining is enough to make someone
want to be a farmer.)
Best regards,
Mike
Centered at 36.9151 -121.3539
PS: Given a certain sympathy with Ptolmey's perspective, an analemmatic
moon dial would be cool
--- Roger Bailey <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> On 19 February Reinhold Kriegler wished Nicholas Copernicus a Happy
> Birthday
> as he was born on that date in 1473. I responded with a "Birthday
> Challenge"
> to see if anyone could prove the revolutionary theory of Copernicus
> without
> using magnifying instruments like telescopes. The best suggestion was
> the
> Foucault Pendulum but I doubt that it would have convinced an
> Inquisition.
>
> I should have noted at that time that there is a significant memorial
> commemorating the five hundredth anniversary of the birth of Copernicus,
> a
> pillar sundial in Kingston Ontario Canada. My picture is available in
> the
> NASS Registry http://www.sundials.org/registry/canreg.htm . Go to
> Ontario
> Kingston # 450. This dial built by a group of Polish engineers also
> commemorates the four hundredth anniversary of the founding of the city
> of
> Kingston as Fort Frontenac by LaSalle. This is ancient history for
> Canada!
>
> Roger Bailey
> Walking Shadow Designs
> N 48.6 W123.4
> and a long way from Regent Street Park where I played as a kid.
>
> -
=====
email: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
-
