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Paper: How Galileo and Kepler Countered Aristotle’s Cosmological Errors
Volume: 409, Cosmology Across Cultures
Page: 242
Authors: Gingerich, O.
Abstract: Aristotle made two major common sense assumptions that ultimately had to be refuted to open the way to modern science. One was the dichotomy between celestial and terrestrial. The other was the separation of astronomy from physics. Galileo, particularly with his examination of the moon in the Sidereus nuncius, was a pioneer in destroying the first assumption, while Kepler, whose Astronomia nova was subtitled “based on causes, or celestial physics,” broke the stranglehold of the second. The importance of these fundamental contributions toward establishing the nature of modern science, which paved the way for Isaac Newton, is often overshadowed by their more specific contributions in optics or mechanics.
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