The Revolutionary Astronomers | Hans Reichenbach (essay date 1942)
Hans Reichenbach (essay date 1942)
SOURCE: "The Copernican View of the World," in From Copernicus to Einstein, translated by Ralph B. Winn, Philosophical Library, Inc., 1942, pp. 11-28.
[In the following excerpt, Reichenbach offers a brief overview of how the scientific treatment of the problems of space and time developed from Copernicus to Newton.]
… Men have been forming ideas concerning space and time since times immemorial, and curiously enough, have been writing and fighting about these things with the greatest interest, even fanaticism. This has been a strange strife, indeed, having little to do with economic necessities; it has always dealt with abstract things, far removed from our daily life and with no direct influence upon our daily activities. Why do we need to know whether the sun revolves around the earth or vice versa? What business of ours is it, anyway? Can this knowledge be of any use to us?
No sooner...
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