outdated belief Comparison Table

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outdated belief comparison table

Subject see also has definition

aether In Classical physics, an invisible medium that was thought to suffuse all space.

alchemy Art of bringing parts of the universe to the perfect state toward which they were thought to aspire - e.g., gold for metals, immortality for human beings.

anthropic principle The weak form of the anthropic principle states that life can exist only during a brief period of the history of our universe. The strong form of the principle states that out of all possible values for the fundamental constants of nature and the initial conditions of the universe, only a small fraction could allow life to form at all, at anytime. (See boundary conditions; fundamental constants of nature.)

anthropocentrism The belief that humans are central to the universe.

anthropomorphism The projection of human attributes onto nonhuman entities such as animals, the planets, or the universe as a whole.

Aristotelian physics Physics as promulgated by Aristotle; includes the hypothesis that our world is comprised of four elements, and that the universe beyond the moon is made of a fifth element and so is fundamentally different from the mundane realm.

astrology Divination using the positions of the planets, the Sun and the Moon as seen against the stars in the constellations of the zodiac - a "science" almost as old as homo sapiens. Although at one stage in history astrology and astronomy were almost synonymous- the latter has advanced so far during the last three centuries that the two now bear little relation to each other.

Bohr atom The model of an atom whose electrons are pictured as describing "Keplerian" orbits about the central nucleus.

eccentrics In Ptolemaic cosmology, displacement of the center of a rotating celestial sphere from the center of the universe.

epicycle A means of accounting for the apparent motions of the planets in terms of circular motions in a geocentric cosmology. Each planet moves in a circle, the center of which moves in a circle of larger radius, and so on, the largest circles being centered on the earth.

geocentric cosmology A model of the universe in which the earth is centrally located, and the Sun, planets, and stars revolve around the Earth.

heliocentric cosmology School of models in which the sun was portrayed as standing at the center of the universe.

Kapteyn Universe An incorrect model for the Galaxy proposed by Jacobus Kapteyn in which the Milky Way was small and the Sun located at or near the Galaxy's center.

Mach's Principle The hypothesis that the local inertial frame and the inertia of any body is determined by the distribution of all the matter in the universe.

nebular hypothesis island universe hypothesis Hypothesis, maintained in the nineteenth and early twentieth century, that the spiral nebulae are not galaxies but are instead whirlpools of gas from which new systems of stars and planets are condensing. Compare island universe theory.

scholastics Adherents to the philosophy and cosmology of Aristotle. Their dominance in the universities, which had been founded largely to study Aristotle, constituted an obstacle to acceptance of the Copernican system advocated by Kepler and Galileo.

spheres Concept probably older than the ancient Greeks, in which the Sun, Moon, planets and the stars were thought to orbit the Earth travelling on their own crystalline but - except for that of the stars - transparent spheres.

Subject	see also	has definition
aether		In Classical physics, an invisible medium that was thought to suffuse all space.
alchemy		Art of bringing parts of the universe to the perfect state toward which they were thought to aspire - e.g., gold for metals, immortality for human beings.
anthropic principle		The weak form of the anthropic principle states that life can exist only during a brief period of the history of our universe. The strong form of the principle states that out of all possible values for the fundamental constants of nature and the initial conditions of the universe, only a small fraction could allow life to form at all, at anytime. (See boundary conditions; fundamental constants of nature.)
anthropocentrism		The belief that humans are central to the universe.
anthropomorphism		The projection of human attributes onto nonhuman entities such as animals, the planets, or the universe as a whole.
Aristotelian physics		Physics as promulgated by Aristotle; includes the hypothesis that our world is comprised of four elements, and that the universe beyond the moon is made of a fifth element and so is fundamentally different from the mundane realm.
astrology		Divination using the positions of the planets, the Sun and the Moon as seen against the stars in the constellations of the zodiac - a "science" almost as old as homo sapiens. Although at one stage in history astrology and astronomy were almost synonymous- the latter has advanced so far during the last three centuries that the two now bear little relation to each other.
Bohr atom		The model of an atom whose electrons are pictured as describing "Keplerian" orbits about the central nucleus.
eccentrics		In Ptolemaic cosmology, displacement of the center of a rotating celestial sphere from the center of the universe.
epicycle		A means of accounting for the apparent motions of the planets in terms of circular motions in a geocentric cosmology. Each planet moves in a circle, the center of which moves in a circle of larger radius, and so on, the largest circles being centered on the earth.
geocentric cosmology		A model of the universe in which the earth is centrally located, and the Sun, planets, and stars revolve around the Earth.
heliocentric cosmology		School of models in which the sun was portrayed as standing at the center of the universe.
Kapteyn Universe		An incorrect model for the Galaxy proposed by Jacobus Kapteyn in which the Milky Way was small and the Sun located at or near the Galaxy's center.
Mach's Principle		The hypothesis that the local inertial frame and the inertia of any body is determined by the distribution of all the matter in the universe.
nebular hypothesis	island universe hypothesis	Hypothesis, maintained in the nineteenth and early twentieth century, that the spiral nebulae are not galaxies but are instead whirlpools of gas from which new systems of stars and planets are condensing. Compare island universe theory.
scholastics		Adherents to the philosophy and cosmology of Aristotle. Their dominance in the universities, which had been founded largely to study Aristotle, constituted an obstacle to acceptance of the Copernican system advocated by Kepler and Galileo.
spheres		Concept probably older than the ancient Greeks, in which the Sun, Moon, planets and the stars were thought to orbit the Earth travelling on their own crystalline but - except for that of the stars - transparent spheres.

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