The law of action of this force – the force of gravity – was discovered by Isaac Newton.
For example, various illusions of vision that arise due to the peculiarities of the structure of our eye are well known. Situations that give rise to all kinds of optical illusions and are capable of misleading observers can, in particular, occur in astronomical observations and research. Due to this, the obtained data may be inaccurate, and in some cases, significantly distort the true picture of the observed phenomena.
And incorrect, distorted ideas about reality often become a fertile ground for all kinds of religious speculation. The well-known classical astronomical illusion, the victim of which became our ancestors – the illusion of the diurnal rotation of all celestial bodies around the Earth. The globe rotates around its axis from west to east, and it seems to us that the sun, moon, planets and stars move in the opposite direction.
The loop-like movement of the planets among the stars is also connected with the earthly position of the observer. This is also an illusory phenomenon, because the planets do not actually describe any loops, but move around the Sun in elliptical orbits. "Loops" – a visual that occurs due to the fact that we observe the planets from the moving Earth, ie in the Earth’s frame of reference.
Another phenomenon of the cosmic order, which has an illusory nature and which we observe almost every day. It seems to us that the disk of the Sun has the same diameter as the disk of the full moon. In fact, the solar diameter is about 400 times larger than the moon. But the Sun is 400 times farther from the Earth, and for this reason the apparent angular dimensions of both luminaries for the terrestrial observer are almost the same. By the way, for this reason the small Moon can (it occurs during solar eclipses) completely block a huge disk of a daylight.
An interesting illusion arises when observing meteor showers. When the Earth encounters a swarm of solid particles, they, invading the atmosphere and colliding with air molecules, evaporate and disintegrate into atoms. In turn, atoms are excited, ionized, and there is a glow. The terrestrial observer sees a spectacular spectacle – the rain of shooting stars. It seems to him that the trajectories of luminous particles come from one point in the sky – the radiant, although in fact these trajectories are almost parallel to each other.
"Cosmic illusion", which played a significant role in the development of planetary astronomy, is associated with observations of Mars. Due to the huge distance in telescopic observations, some small details on the surface of this planet merge into solid lines, which to some astronomers seemed a system of hydraulic structures built by intelligent inhabitants of Mars. When the automatic interplanetary stations that flew to Mars transmitted detailed images of the planet’s surface, the illusory nature of Martian "channels" became quite clear.
Methodical considerations. It is useful to draw students’ attention to the fact that in astronomy with the discrepancy between the visible and the real, we are particularly common. For example, it should be reminded once again that when we look at the sky, all the luminaries seem to us to be located at equal distances from the Earth, as if on the inner surface of a giant sphere – the celestial sphere. In this case, the usual patterns of constellations are formed by stars, which are actually at different distances from the Earth and from each other and are only projected into the same area of the celestial sphere.
In general, finding out which space object is closer and which is farther is not an easy task even for astronomers armed with special equipment. Direct measurements can be used to determine distances only for relatively close space objects. Further, more effort is required to determine whether the system of celestial bodies of interest is really the only physical system of interacting objects or whether its constituent parts are only projected into the same area of the celestial sphere.
The scientific revolution of Copernicus. The end of the 15th and the beginning of the 16th century were a time of profound changes in the history of Europe. The Renaissance became an era of revolutionary and ideological struggle.
According to Engels, it was "an https://123helpme.me/write-my-lab-report/ era that required titans and that gave birth to titans in terms of strength of thought, passion and character, in terms of versatility and scholarship."
One of such titans was the great Polish scientist M. Copernicus, who developed the heliocentric system of the world and thus carried out the greatest revolution in ideas about the universe, which had a huge impact on the further development of science.
"The revolutionary act by which the study of nature declared its independence …" wrote F. Engels in "Dialectics of Nature" was the publication of an immortal work in which Copernicus challenged, albeit timidly and, so to speak, only on his deathbed. church authority in matters of nature.
From here begins the chronology of the liberation of natural science from theology, although the elucidation of certain mutual claims between them has dragged on to this day and in some minds is far from complete even now. But since then, the development of the sciences has also taken huge steps, which has intensified, so to speak, in proportion to the square distance (in time) from its starting point. "
The significance of the scientific revolution of Copernicus is not limited, however, to the fact that it reduced our Earth to the position of an ordinary planet in the solar system and thus dealt an extremely severe blow to the religious picture of the world.
By revealing the apparent, illusory nature of the visible diurnal motion of celestial bodies and the loop-like motions of the planets, Copernicus thus established in science an extremely important methodological principle: "The world may not be as we directly observe it."
It became clear that the identification of the directly observed in reality without a thorough comprehensive examination can lead to incorrect, distorted ideas about the world around us.
Methodical considerations. When studying the section of the program devoted to the struggle for a scientific worldview, it is very important to draw students’ attention to the fact that situations in which the observed phenomena are illusory, in the study of space processes are quite common. Therefore, it is necessary to draw certain conclusions about the properties of the real world directly from the results of observations with great caution. Such actions always have the potential danger of mistakenly perceiving the visible as real, and thus contribute to the emergence of certain errors.
From Copernicus to Newton. The teachings of Copernicus were a powerful impetus for the liberation of human consciousness from ecclesiastical and religious ideas about the universe. He had followers who did much to promote and disseminate this doctrine, as well as for its further development.
One of them was the Italian thinker Giordano Bruno, a passionate fighter against scholastic philosophy. In many of his statements about the infinity of the universe, the multiplicity of inhabited worlds, the unity of the laws of nature, Bruno rose to true materialism. Thus, Bruno went much further than Copernicus, whose teachings were related to the idea of the immobility of the Sun, its central position in the universe and the existence of a sphere of fixed stars, which limits the universe.
An invaluable contribution to the development of natural science and its liberation from medieval scholasticism made
Galileo Galilei. He was the first to systematically introduce into science experiment, as well as mathematical and geometric modeling of natural phenomena. His telescopic observations and the discoveries made through them became a convincing confirmation of the basic tenets of Copernicus.
One of the main achievements of Galileo was the discovery of the principle of inertia, which laid the foundations of classical mechanics.
Studying the motion of the planets around the Sun, Kepler sought a force that "pushes" these celestial bodies and prevents them from stopping.
After the discovery of the principle of inertia, it became clear that we must look for a force that converts the uniform rectilinear motion of the planets into a curvilinear one. The law of action of this force – the force of gravity – was discovered by Isaac Newton.
Church and science
The teachings of Copernicus dealt the first tangible blow to the religious worldview. And it was not just that the religious picture of the world was collapsing. The notions that the church declared to be the absolute infallible truth were destroyed. And this could not help but raise doubts about the infallibility of other religious dogmas. The process of gradual weakening of religious power over people’s minds, the liberation of the masses from the influence of religious worldview.
Further development of science, various practical applications of scientific knowledge have led to the fact that scientific ideas are gaining more and more authority among a wide range of people. In the light of scientific evidence, religious ideas about the world seemed less and less reasonable and more and more naive.
How did the "relationship" between the church and science develop from the Middle Ages to the present day? As a result of the activities of Copernicus, Bruno and Galileo, the church in the Middle Ages was forced to reconsider its positions in some way. And in the future, changing historical conditions have repeatedly forced the defenders of religion to adapt to new circumstances. This process of adaptation can be traced especially clearly to the example of the Catholic Church.
Two centuries pass, the XIX century comes. The new capitalist formation is gaining a leading position in society, and the role of science is growing. The Catholic Church cannot ignore this fact. And at the First Vatican Council in 1869-1870 p. the thesis of the possibility of knowing God by the natural light of the mind through the knowledge of the modern world was proclaimed.
But at that time it was not so much an attempt to bring religion closer to science, as a reflection of the church’s desire to neutralize the atheistic significance of scientific discoveries, to prevent their impact on people’s minds. Therefore, it was insisted that no great hopes should be placed on the human mind, and it was strongly emphasized that science should not contradict the truths of faith, but only contribute to their justification.
The twentieth century, with its rapid social and scientific and technological progress, has again significantly changed the situation in the world. The authority of religion began to decline, its sphere of influence steadily decreased. And again, this could not but affect the activities of the church, in particular its attitude to science and scientific progress.
Advances in science in the twentieth century have forced, for example, the Catholic Church to take new steps toward "convergence" with science.