Comment by graemep

10 hours ago

There were two sides on the evidence available at the time.

The Tychonic model was probably the one best supported by evidence.

its worth bearing in mind that the Copernican model is also badly wrong - the sun is not the centre of the universe, just the solar system.

I think incomplete would be a better description; it was roughly right for our solar system and far more right than thinking everything revolved around the earth.

  • I think that is a reasonable take with regard to Copernicus - and however you look at it he made a huge advance on any previous model.

    Geocentric models may look silly with the benefit of hindsight, but Galileo’s claim that the Copernican model was proven was entirely unwarranted at the time. The evidence did not exist until much later.