TY - BOOK ID - 137380979 TI - The Copernican question PY - 2011 SN - 128327745X 9786613277459 0520948165 9780520948167 9781283277457 9780520254817 0520254813 PB - Berkeley University of California Press DB - UniCat KW - Astronomy, Renaissance KW - Science KW - History KW - Philosophy KW - Copernicus, Nicolaus, KW - Galilei, Galileo, KW - Kepler, Johannes, KW - 16th century. KW - astrology. KW - astronomy. KW - christianity. KW - copernican question. KW - copernicus. KW - cosmology. KW - divination. KW - europe. KW - finite universe. KW - history of science. KW - italy. KW - long 16th century. KW - medieval studies. KW - modern cosmology. KW - modern science. KW - natural history. KW - natural philosophy. KW - nonfiction. KW - orbits. KW - outer space. KW - planets. KW - religion. KW - renaissance reformation. KW - renaissance. KW - science and religion. KW - science. KW - scientific movement. KW - scientists. KW - universe. UR - https://www.unicat.be/uniCat?func=search&query=sysid:137380979 AB - In 1543, Nicolaus Copernicus publicly defended his hypothesis that the earth is a planet and the sun a body resting near the center of a finite universe. But why did Copernicus make this bold proposal? And why did it matter? The Copernican Question reframes this pivotal moment in the history of science, centering the story on a conflict over the credibility of astrology that erupted in Italy just as Copernicus arrived in 1496. Copernicus engendered enormous resistance when he sought to protect astrology by reconstituting its astronomical foundations. Robert S. Westman shows that efforts to answer the astrological skeptics became a crucial unifying theme of the early modern scientific movement. His interpretation of this "long sixteenth century," from the 1490's to the 1610's, offers a new framework for understanding the great transformations in natural philosophy in the century that followed. ER -