Changing Views about the Universe (Part I)

MANILA, Philippines - From the time of Claudius Ptolemy, a Greco-Egyptian astronomer, who published his famous astronomical encyclopedia, the Almagest, in 140 AD, humans faithfully believed in his theory of the system of movement of heavenly bodies. The Ptolemaic system was based on the theory that a stationary earth was at the center of the universe, while the sun, moon, planets, and stars revolved around it. The Ptolemaic system endured and remained unchallenged for more than 14 centuries up through the entire Middle Ages.

In 1543, Nicholas Copernicus, a Polish astronomer, was the first ever to challenge the Ptolemaic concept of an earth-centered universe and turned it around into a sun-centered theory. But this revolutionary idea was not readily …

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Publication information: Article title: Changing Views about the Universe (Part I). Contributors: Not available. Newspaper title: Manila Bulletin. Publication date: March 5, 2011. Page number: Not available. © 2009 Manila Bulletin Publishing Corp. COPYRIGHT 2011 Gale Group.

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