Re: Evolution and Observation Gap

Zachriel wrote:

Robert J. Kolker wrote:

The Last Conformist wrote:


Why, then, quibble about whether the affair about the earth moves was
put to rest by Newton, Foucault, or someone else?

I am just a stickler for historical correctness.



Yet, you cited Newton's laws as 'proof' that the Sun moves!

Not proof. Newton's laws predict that the Sun moves (third law). All
observations support the prediction. Theories are not facts. They are
predictors of fact.


problem with your raising the historical point, but you have not
supported your claim. The ability of Newtonian mechanics to predict the
trajectory of everything from apples to planets was the death-knell for
geocentrism and all models of a static Earth.

The Newtonian theory made heliocentrism much more believable than
geocentrism. The weight of evidence (specific observations) in the
context of Newtonian mechanicas and gravitiation overwhelmed any
residual belief in the notion that the Earth was at the center of the
solar system.

Even if Newton had not come along when he did the Keplerian laws (which
were kinematic, not dynamic) were quite sufficient to do in geocentrism.
In the short run it was Tycho's careful measurements backed by
Kepler's mathematical synthesis that solidified the heliocentric worldview.

Bob Kolker


Bob Kolker

.

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