The question of the structure of the Universe and the place in it of the planet Earth and human civilization has interested scientists and philosophers since time immemorial. For a long time, the so-called Ptolemy system, later called geocentric, was in use. According to her, it was the Earth that was the center of the universe, and around it other planets, the Moon, the Sun, stars and other celestial bodies made their way. However, by the Late Middle Ages, enough evidence had already accumulated that such an understanding of the Universe does not correspond to reality.
For the first time, the idea that the Sun is the center of our Galaxy was expressed by the famous philosopher of the early Renaissance, Nikolai Kuzansky, but his work was rather of a world outlook character and was not supported by any astronomical evidence.
The heliocentric system of the world as an integral scientific worldview, supported by serious evidence, began its formation in the 16th century, when a scientist from Poland N. Copernicus published his work on the movement of planets, including the Earth, around the Sun. The impetus for the creation of this theory was the scientist’s long-term observations of the sky, as a result of which he came to the conclusion that the complex movements of the planets, relying on the geocentric model, are simply impossible to explain. The heliocentric system explained them by the fact that with an increase in the distance from the Sun, the speeds of the planets significantly decrease. In this case, if the planet during observation is behind the Earth, it seems that it begins to move back.
In fact, at this moment, this celestial body is simply located at the maximum distance from the Sun, so its speed slows down. At the same time, it should be noted that the heliocentric system of the world of Copernicus had a number of significant drawbacks, borrowed from the Ptolemy system. So, the Polish scientist believed that, unlike other planets, the Earth moves in its orbit evenly. In addition, he argued that the center of the Universe is not so much the main heavenly luminary as the center of the Earth’s orbit, which is far from completely coinciding with the Sun.
All these inaccuracies were discovered and overcome by the German scientist I. Kepler. The heliocentric system seemed to him indisputable truth, moreover, he believed that the time had come to calculate the scale of our planetary system.
After long and painstaking studies, in which the Danish scientist T. Brahe took an active part, Kepler concluded that, firstly, it is the Sun that represents the geometric center of the planetary system to which our Earth belongs.
Secondly, the Earth, like other planets, moves unevenly. In addition, the trajectory of its movement is not a regular circle, but an ellipse, one of the foci of which is occupied by the Sun.
Thirdly, the heliocentric system also received its mathematical justification from Kepler: in his third law, a German scientist showed the dependence of the periods of planetary rotation on the length of their orbits.
The heliocentric system created the conditions for the further development of physics. It was during this period that I. Newton, relying on the work of Kepler, deduced two most important principles of his mechanics - inertia and relativity, which became the final chord in creating a new system of the universe.