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Human Environment > Copernicus |
This site tells the story of the history of the universe. Click Earlier and Later to follow the story. Note: Many facts have been simplified to make them easier to understand. |
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About 450 years ago a Polish astronomer called Copernicus put forward the idea, first thought of by the Greeks, that the Earth moved round the Sun. He showed how this could explain many of the movements of the planets. When, 50 years later, the Italian Galileo pointed one of the first telescopes at the planets he could see that this idea was correct. As he watched night after night he saw moons orbiting the planet Jupiter.
About the same time the weather turned so cold that rivers began to freeze in winter and glaciers to advance. This was the start of what is called the little ice age. It was probably part of the general cooling of the Earth which started 5000 years ago. At this time too the idea of sovereignty was invented. This said that the king, or sovereign, had absolute powers to make laws, but he was not himself subject to these laws. |
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Human Environment > Copernicus |
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