Copernicus' Secret - Triumph of Science

The sun revolves around the earth - for more than 1500 years, this world view of the Greek astronomer Ptolemy was seen as an incontrovertible truth. It fit perfectly into the Christian worldview, in which the earth and God's creation were the center of the world. But in the Ptolemaic calendar, the date and the seasons diverged. The pope demanded a calendar reform. The astronomer and scholar Nicolaus Copernicus was also commissioned to do so. But Copernicus had long ago discovered something groundbreaking and revolutionary. Although it would set the calendar right, it threw the pious Christianity into a serious conflict: The earth revolves around the sun! A dangerous thought. Should he publicize his scientific calculations, or should he continue to hold to the Christian worldview?

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Created By

Status

Ended

Original Name

Geheimsache Kopernikus - Triumph der Wissenschaft

First Air Date

December 12, 2023

Last Air Date

December 12, 2023

Seasons

1

Episodes

2

Language

French, German

Networks

Triumph of Science
S01E02

Triumph of Science

Only when his housekeeper and companion Anna Schilling, banned by the bishop, and the Vorarlberg mathematician Georg Joachim Rheticus persuade Copernicus, Copernicus decides to publish. His work „On the Circular Motions of the Heavenly Bodies“ is printed shortly before his death. Although it is banned by the Catholic Church for over 200 years, it is the beginning of the Copernican turn and the foundation of modern astronomy. The trail leads from Coperni- cus via Johannes Keppler and Isaac Newton to the James Webb telescope.

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