The Scientific Revolution

Problems

One hindrance to widespread acceptance was that, while Copernicus greatly reduced the number of epicycles, he found that he could not do away with them completely. He still had to introduce some in order to make the heavens move properly. But who was to say that his fine-tuning of the Universe was preferrable to any other? At least Ptolemy had the weight of tradition and the approval of the Church.

Even more telling, though, was the fact that the planets still did not show up on time. The very best observers still found discrepancies in Copernican tables, and there was no room for tardiness in a perfect Heaven.

Even so, some were convinced. And they set about defending Copernicus and trying to correct the errors.

History of Western Civilization

E.L. Skip Knox
Boise State University

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