wunder · LibraryCHAPTER IV.
Read in the Wunder reader — freeCOPPERNICUS (FROM 1473 A.D. TO 1543 A.D.), §§ 70-92 92-124
§ 70. The Revival of Learning 92
§§ 71-4. Life of Coppernicus: growth of his ideas: publication of the Commentariolus: Rheticus and the Prima Narratio: publication of the De Revolutionibus 93
§ 75. The central idea in the work of Coppernicus: relation to earlier writers 99
§§ 76-9. The =De Revolutionibus=. The first book: the postulates: the principle of relative motion, with applications to the apparent annual motion of the sun, and to the daily motion of the celestial sphere 100
§ 80. The two motions of the earth: answers to objections 105
§ 81. The motion of the planets 106
§ 82. The seasons 108
§ 83. End of first book. The second book: decrease in the obliquity of the ecliptic: the star catalogue 110
§ 84. The third book: precession 110
§ 85. The third book: the annual motion of the earth: aphelion and perihelion. The fourth book: theory of the moon: distances of the sun and moon: eclipses 111
§§ 86-7. The fifth and sixth books: theory of the planets: synodic and sidereal periods 112
§ 88. Explanation of the stationary points 118
§§ 89-90. Detailed theory of the planets: defects of the theory 121
§ 91. Coppernicus’s use of epicycles 122
§ 92. A difficulty in his system 123
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