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Historical Progression of Universe Ideas from Ptolemy to Einstein by Elisabeth Daniel

By sarahdaniel
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    Ptolemy's Geocentric Universe

    Ptolemy's Geocentric Universe
    Claudius Ptolemy was an Egyptian mathmatician and astronomer who developed a model for understanding the structure of the solar system. This model was used as a basis for all astromy for over 1,400 years. Ptolemy's model placed the Earth on the center of the solar system and had stars, planets, and the sun revolving around the earth. He sew the earth as the center of the entire universe.
  • Jan 1, 1543

    Copernicus' Heliocentric Model

    Copernicus' Heliocentric Model
    In 1543, Copernicus introduced the sun centered model of the universe, also known as the heliocentric model. This was a radical idea for his time because almost all astronomers believed in the earth centered model. There were two main reasons Copernicus thought the sun was the center of the solar system: 1) The Ptolemaic Model was not precise in predicting positions of the planets; and, 2) Copernicus could explain the retrograde motion of the planets by having the earth move around the sun.

  • Kepler's Laws of Planetary Motion

    Kepler's Laws of Planetary Motion
    In the early 1600's, Kepler propsed 3 laws of planetary motion. The first stated that plaents move in an ellipse rather than a circle. The second law describes the speed at which a planet orbits the sun. The third law compares orbits and radius of orbit of one planet to another.

  • Galileo

    Galileo
    In 1610, Galileo invented the telescope. This allowed him to have a much closer look at planets, moons, and stars. His studies proved that the solar system was definitely heliocentric. Galileo was the first to discover Jupiter's moons. Galileo was also able to verify that the planets were revolving around the sun.

  • Einstein’s relativistic space curvature theory

    Einstein’s relativistic space curvature theory
    In 1905, Albert Einstein determined the theory of special relativity. This law states that all laws of physics are the same for all non-accelerating observers. Special relativity shows three dimensions plus time make up a continuum called spacetime. This concept does not take gravity into consideration. Gravity is a manifestation of curvature of spacetime.