Astronomy Action: Copernicus vs. Galileo

Of all the famous astronomers from the European Renaissance, perhaps two* stand out the most in our minds for making the biggest contributions to their field: Copernicus and Galileo. Some of their major discoveries proved controversial, but contemporary scientists have since been very grateful for their hard work and persistence in finding some deep truths of our universe.

But if it really came down to just one, who would be the best?

Copernicus

• In his work On the Revolutions of the Heavenly Spheres, he detailed the first heliocentric (sun-centered) model of the universe, as opposed to the prevailing geocentric (Earth-centered) model.
• The work met with little opposition from Church authorities at first, but it also wasn’t accepted right away.
• Besides astronomy, he also did work in medicine, classical studies, translation, government, and economics.
• Was he German? Polish? Depends which scholar you ask. It’s a controversy all its own!

Galileo

• Among numerous other scientific contributions that have dubbed him “the father of modern physics,” he first identified Jupiter’s four largest moons, the existence of sunspots, and stars composing the Milky Way. And he invented some sweet telescopes.
• Decades after heliocentrism had been proposed and ignored, he became an advocate for the new model, which the Roman Inquisition didn’t like very much.
• Lived under house arrest for from 1633 to his death in 1642, due to a heresy conviction.
• No, he probably didn’t test the effects of mass on falling objects by throwing stuff off the Leaning Tower of Pisa. Fun story, though.

* If you don’t agree with these two, maybe we’ll give you another astronomer battle later…

The competition starts at 11:00 AM EDT on 3/24 and continues for 24 hours!

The usual bonuses
Earn 5,000 points – 2,500 bonus
Earn 15,000 points – 5,000 bonus
Earn 25,000 points – 10,000 bonus
For every 25,000 points above 25,000 – 5,000 bonus
Member of winning team (if you’ve scored at least 2,500 points) – 10,000 bonus
Highest scorer on each team – 5,000 bonus
Player with #1 overall score – 10,000 bonus
Player with #2 overall score – 5,000 bonus
Player with #3 overall score – 2,500 bonus