Copernicus is another iceberg!

To be fair, most of who/what we've discussed in class has been relatively similar to an iceberg. We all came to class with a little bit of information on a handful of various philosophers and astronomers (well everybody else did, I didn't know much at all, haha) and we read a little and come to find out that there really was more than that.

Well, maybe not in Copernicus's case given how, as the title so appropriately asserts, timid he was.

Anyhow, I seem to be more interested in the personalities of all these various movers and shapers in the world of astronomy. Which is all fine and dandy but somewhat irrelevant nonetheless. I guess their personalities make me better understand their ideals and motivations and make them less lofty and in many ways less respectable. I mean, I'm not trying to break people down or anything, but it's always nice to be able to feel like you can disagree with somebody who was as influential as, say, Plato or Aristotle.

My biggest thing with the Copernicus section is the idea that, jeepers, would somebody else have pushed the idea of geocentrism if Giese and Rheticus hadn't been around to reassure Copernicus that his ideas were valuable? Or what if Rheticus hadn't been so devoted to write the narratio prima? I guess that's not really a good question, because the same could be said about anything in history. What if so-and-so hadn't done such-and-such?

Let me come back to reblog about it. The reading hasn't sunk in quite yet.

Meanwhile, the whole church thing reminded me of Brad Neely and his brilliance. Let me apologize for how absolutely crude he is, but you must admit, it's pretty witty: