Galileo And Heliocentrism

[Zakuska]

Galileo is often credited with being the first to propose a spherical earth that rotates around the sun. But was he really?

Gaius Plinius Secundus (23-79AD) who must have studied Plato and Euclid said:

There is a great debate between the learned and the vulgar as to whether there are men dispersed over every part of the earth, so that they stand with their feet turned towards each other... If anyone should ask, why those situated opposite to us do not fall, we directly ask in return, wether those on the opposite side do not wonder that we do not fall... It is indeed wonderful that it should form a globe, when there is so much flat surface of the sea and of the plains... thus it is never night and day at the same time over the Earth, for the half of the globe turned away from the sun it is night...

Gaius Plinius Secundes, Die Naturgeschichte

Other intresting points re Galileo:

Biblical references Psalm 93:1, 96:10, and 1 Chronicles 16:30 include text stating that "the world is firmly established, it cannot be moved." In the same manner, Psalm 104:5 says, "the Lord set the earth on its foundations; it can never be moved." Further, Ecclesiastes 1:5 states that "And the sun rises and sets and returns to its place" etc.^[49]

Galileo defended heliocentrism, and claimed it was not contrary to those Scripture passages. He took Augustine's position on Scripture: not to take every passage literally, particularly when the scripture in question is a book of poetry and songs, not a book of instructions or history. He believed that the writers of the Scripture merely wrote from the perspective of the terrestrial world, from that vantage point that the sun does rise and set. Another way to put this is that the writers would have been writing from a phenomenological point of view, or style. So Galileo claimed that science did not contradict Scripture, as Scripture was discussing a different kind of "movement" of the earth, and not rotations.^[50]

^{http://en.wikipedia....Galileo_Galilei}

Edited October 8, 2011 by Zakuska

[thesometimesaint]

Zakuska:

From Wiki.

Eratosthenes of Cyrene (Ancient Greek: Ἐρατοσθένης, IPA: [eratostʰénɛːs]; English: /ɛrəˈtɒsθəniːz/; c. 276 BC^[1] – c. 195 BC^[2]) was a Libyan mathematician, poet, athlete, geographer, astronomer, and music theorist.

He was the first person to use the word "geography" and invented the discipline of geography as we understand it.^[3] He invented a system of latitude and longitude.

He was the first person to calculate the circumference of the earth by using a measuring system using stades, or the length of stadiums during that time period (with remarkable accuracy). He was the first to calculate the tilt of the Earth's axis (also with remarkable accuracy). He may also have accurately calculated the distance from the earth to the sun and invented the leap day.^[4]

[Robert F. Smith]

Zakuska:

From Wiki.

Eratosthenes of Cyrene (Ancient Greek: Ἐρατοσθένης, IPA: [eratostʰénɛːs]; English: /ɛrəˈtɒsθəniːz/; c. 276 BC^[1] – c. 195 BC^[2]) was a Libyan mathematician, poet, athlete, geographer, astronomer, and music theorist.

He was the first person to use the word "geography" and invented the discipline of geography as we understand it.^[3] He invented a system of latitude and longitude.

He was the first person to calculate the circumference of the earth by using a measuring system using stades, or the length of stadiums during that time period (with remarkable accuracy). He was the first to calculate the tilt of the Earth's axis (also with remarkable accuracy). He may also have accurately calculated the distance from the earth to the sun and invented the leap day.^[4]

Before the great Eratosthenes, already in 270 B.C., Aristarchus of Samos assumed that the round earth moved around the sun.

[thesometimesaint]

Good to know.

[Tarski]

Galileo is often credited with being the first to propose a spherical earth that rotates around the sun. But was he really?

Gaius Plinius Secundus (23-79AD) who must have studied Plato and Euclid said:

There is a great debate between the learned and the vulgar as to whether there are men dispersed over every part of the earth, so that they stand with their feet turned towards each other... If anyone should ask, why those situated opposite to us do not fall, we directly ask in return, wether those on the opposite side do not wonder that we do not fall... It is indeed wonderful that it should form a globe, when there is so much flat surface of the sea and of the plains... thus it is never night and day at the same time over the Earth, for the half of the globe turned away from the sun it is night...

Gaius Plinius Secundes, Die Naturgeschichte

Other intresting points re Galileo:

^{http://en.wikipedia....Galileo_Galilei}

Ummm, Ok.

I give up. Does the connection with Mormonism have anything to do with the idea that somehow the moon is "above" the earth and the sun is "above" the moon?

I am trying to make heads or tails out of that while looking at an animation of earth moon sun system.

*(Of course someone will accuse me of being literalistic but it is equally hard to see why the moon is metaphorically above the earth or why our salvation is furthered by knowing what ancient Egyptians allegedly thought.)

[thesometimesaint]

Tarski:

Maybe its because most of us look "UP" into the sky to see the moon and the sun. Mormonism is not deriviative from ancient Egyptian beliefs but they do have some common themes. See Nibley's "Temple and Cosmos".

[Tarski]

Tarski:

Maybe its because most of us look "UP" into the sky to see the moon and the sun.

So it is a triviality? How does Kolob figure in?

[thesometimesaint]

Tarski:

Not a triviality, when was the last time you looked down to see the moon and the sun? It's just a figure of speach.

It's "UP". I have absolutely no idea where Kolob is. For all I know we could be looking right at it, and not know it.

Edited October 11, 2011 by thesometimesaint

[Cobalt-70]

Galileo is often credited with being the first to propose a spherical earth that rotates around the sun. But was he really?

I think you might be thinking of Nicolaus Copernicus, who came several decades before Gallileo. Although a few obscure people such as Aristarchus of Samos in the 200s BC had suggested a heliocentric model, the prevailing theory before Copernicus was the geocentric model of Claudius Ptolemy (circa 100 AD), which also featured a spherical earth, but the earth was at the center.

[Robert F. Smith]

Ummm, Ok.

I give up. Does the connection with Mormonism have anything to do with the idea that somehow the moon is "above" the earth and the sun is "above" the moon?

I am trying to make heads or tails out of that while looking at an animation of earth moon sun system.

*(Of course someone will accuse me of being literalistic but it is equally hard to see why the moon is metaphorically above the earth or why our salvation is furthered by knowing what ancient Egyptians allegedly thought.)

There is more than one way to look at the issue: You can take the geocentric view of Ptolemaic astronomy that there is a series of spheres in which the heavenly bodies move around the Earth, or you can take it in a figurative sense in line with St. Paul (I Cor 15:39-41), or you can take a still more sophisticated look at Abraham 3 and D&C 76 & 88.

[thesometimesaint]

http://maxwellinstitute.byu.edu/publications/books/?bookid=40&chapid=161

[Robert F. Smith]

http://maxwellinstit...d=40&chapid=161

Or http://maxwellinstitute.byu.edu/publications/books/?bookid=40&chapid=162 , which I prefer.

[thesometimesaint]

Don't know as I pefer either. 6 of one/half dozen of the other.