Brad,[snip]
I seem to remember that Kepler based his ideas on Tycho Brahe's findings - and Tycho was wrong!
As I understand it, Tycho was wrong mainly in getting his nose cut off (literally).
At the time, Tycho's "hybrib" cosmology was a viable candidate -- big subject not for here....
Tycho established the first "research center" in modern Europe: Uraniborg -- which, in itself, would be a great accomplishment.
Kepler acquired Tycho's astronomical records -- the documentation of the observations that had been conducted at the "research center", which were the best astronomical observations anyone had ever made.
According to Hans Blumenberg, Tycho's son managed to prevent Kepler from gaining access to Tycho's astronomical instruments, and, in any case, Kepler had bad eyes (poor vision).
Kepler accomplished his great astronomical work solely by trying to find a theory that would fit the data. (In all fairness, I should note I once read that had Tycho's observations been EITHER more OR less accurate, Kepler would not have arrived at his elliptical orbits hypothesis.)
Tycho was not wrong, any more than Ptolemy was wrong. From what I have read, one person who was wronger than both of those two was GALILEO.
Why do I say this? Because Galileo claimed
more for his theories than he offered evidence
for. And, in science ("Strenge Wissenschaften"(sp?)),
*being right* is of no more value than
winning a horse race. What matters in
science is giving arguments in favor of one's
hypotheses (AKA claims) which any person who
takes the effort to repeat them can confirm for
him or her self.Tycho was very right (except about his nose, and, perhaps also, about "heeding the call of nature" at the dinner table -- for a legend has it that Tycho died of a urinary blockage caused by being too polite to leave the dinner table to take a piss).
\brad mccormick
--
Let your light so shine before men,
that they may see your good works.... (Matt 5:16)Prove all things; hold fast that which is good. (1 Thes 5:21)
<![%THINK;[SGML+APL]]> Brad McCormick, Ed.D. / [EMAIL PROTECTED] ----------------------------------------------------------------- Visit my website ==> http://www.users.cloud9.net/~bradmcc/ _______________________________________________ Futurework mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://scribe.uwaterloo.ca/mailman/listinfo/futurework
