Mathematics, Motion, and Truth: The Earth goes round the Sun

The reality of the Earth's motion, as proclaimed by Copernicus, quickly proved contentious. Accepted by Kepler, disputed by theologians (Lutheran and Catholic alike), veiled in suggestions of mere convenience, adopted and explained by Newton as a consequence of universal gravitation, parent of the notion of force - What is involved in accepting as true that the Earth goes round the Sun? This lecture traces these debates from the early 1600s to the time of Poincaré.

 To view the lecture notes in Acrobat format please click here.

This lecture was jointly held with the British Society for the History of Mathematics.
For the other BHSM lectures, follows these links:     
      19th Century Mathematical Physics, by Professor Raymond Flood, Dr Julia Collins
      and Dr Mark McCartney
       The Memoirs and Legacy of Évariste Galois, by Dr Peter Neumann
       Triangular Relationships, by Dr Patricia Fara
       Mathematics and the Medici, by Jim Bennett
       Planes and Pacifism, by Dr June Barrow-Green
       From World Brain to the World Wide Web, by Professor Martin Campbell-Kelly
       History from Below, by Dr Stephen Johnston
       The Celestial Geometry of John Flamsteed, by Dr Allan Chapman
       Mathematics in the Metropolis, by Adrian Rice