Text 9. VIEWS OF UNIVERSE

Ancient men wondered why the sun, the moon and the stars moved as they do. For thousands of years men had watched the skies. They couldn't understand and made up myths to explain the movements of the heavenly bodies. Greek astronomers studied the heavens and finally most of them decided that the sun and stars travelled around the Earth.

In the 3d century B.C. the Greek astronomer, Aristarchus had some very different ideas. He wrote, "The Earth travels around the sun in a circle. This takes a year. The moon alone circles round the Earth. The stars are very far away. The Universe is very large." Other astronomers did not agree with him, and, of course, people didn't accept his ideas. They couldn't agree that the Earth was moving. For centuries, no one developed his ideas.

Nicolaus Copernicus was the Polishastronomer who began to study the Greek writings of the ancient astronomers. He checked them and found mistakes. Copernicus worked out formulas that seemed to prove that the Earth travelled around the Sun. Finally he decided the idea was right. The Earth and the planets did indeed circle the sun. Copernicus' formulas, however, still had the heavenly bodies travelling in epicycles.

In 1513, Copernicus wrote a book about his ideas. He showed it to some friends but never had it published. Year after year, he went on checking the orbits of the planets. In his studies, he used homemade instruments. Often he checked the stars' positions against those given in the ancient Greek astronomers' tables. He filled many pages with his findings, but he did not always trust them. He did not publish them.

Copernicus knew that people were not ready to accept the idea of a moving Earth. Copernicus did not want to go against his church's teaching, which declared that other planets moved round the Earth. Once a friend came to visit him. He talked with Copernicus and read many pages of his studies. He urged Copernicus to let him put the pages into order and publish them. Finally, Copernicus agreed. Copernicus did not live to read the printed copy of his book. It was placed in his hand as he lay dying on May 14, 1543.

Today, we honor Nicolaus Copernicus because he helped people accept the idea of the moving Earth. He dared to doubt the ideas held for centuries. He looked at the heavens with his own eyes. Using math, he tried to show how the Earth circled the sun. He was the first man to do this. Copernicus' book pointed the way to truth. Other astronomers began to explore the idea of the moving Earth.

Read the text and complete the sentences:

1. The myths about stars and the Universe were made ______.

a) to describe them

b) to explain the movement of the sun and the stars

c) to help Greek astronomers study the skies

d) to show them in a poetic way.

2. Aristarchus was the only astronomer who _______

a) never read myths

b) wrote a book that is recognised nowadays

c) declared that the Earth moved around the sun and the moon travelled round the Earth

d) made other astronomers agree the Earth was moving

3. Nicholas Copernicus proved that

a) the sun travelled round the Earth

b) other ancient astronomers were right

c) his own formulas were wrong

d) that the Earth moved round the sun

4. Copernicus explored the Universe using ______

a) homemade instruments

b) a telescope

c) Greek astronomers' tables

d) a microscope

5. Copernicus didn't want to publish his ideas because _______

a) his friend was against them

b) Copernicus supported the church's view

c) people were not ready to understand them

d) Copernicus was going to die

6. We honour Copernicus because _______

a) he was an astronomer

b) his ideas encouraged other astronomers

c) he supported the ideas of the Greek astronomers

d) he always helped people

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