History of discovery · 16th–17th century
The Copernican Revolution
The shift from an Earth-centred to a Sun-centred cosmos — from Copernicus's heliocentric proposal, through Galileo's telescopic evidence and Kepler's laws of planetary motion, to Newton's gravity that explained them all. The founding revolution of modern astronomy, and the archetype of a scientific revolution.
Highlights
- ›The revolution that moved the Earth from the centre
Astronomers, eras & methods
Across the history of discovery
Knowledge connections
- Associated withParadigm Shifts
- Associated withNicolaus Copernicus
- Associated withGalileo Galilei
- Associated withJohannes Kepler
- Associated withThe Scientific Revolution
Sources
The primary and reference sources this topic draws on.
- NASANational Aeronautics and Space Administration
Mission data, planetary science, space telescopes, and public-domain imagery.
Most NASA-produced imagery is in the public domain; individual items are checked for usage terms before publication.