September 17: Still Earth Day

The earth doesn't revolve.

Modern physics tells a story of rediscovering geocentrism* — and then freaking out.

*the idea that Earth sits motionless at the center of the universe, which rotates daily around it

01.

Stephen Hawking: “Although it is not uncommon for people to say that Copernicus proved Ptolemy wrong, that is not true…. one can use either picture as a model of the universe, for our observations of the heavens can be explained by assuming either the earth or the sun to be at rest.” [1]Ernst Mach: “Obviously it matters little if we think of the Earth as turning about on its axis, or if we view it at rest while the fixed stars revolve around it. Geometrically these are exactly the same case of a relative rotation of the Earth and the fixed stars with respect to one another.” [2]Albert Einstein: “Either coordinate system could be used with equal justification. The two sentences 'the sun is at rest and the Earth moves,' or 'the sun moves and the Earth is at rest,' would simply mean two different conventions concerning two different coordinate systems.” [3]Isaac Newton: "And thus the celestial bodies can move around the Earth at rest, as in the Tychonic system."

[1] Stephen Hawking & Leonard Mlodinow, The Grand Design, 2010, p. 41
[2] Ernst Mach, The Science of Mechanics: A Critical and Historical Account of its Development, (originally published in German in 1883, in English in 1960. 6th edition, p. 201)
[3] Albert Einstein and Leopold Infeld, The Evolution of Physics: From Early Concepts to Relativity and Quanta, 1938, p. 212

On Earth's motion

Albert Einstein: “...to the question whether or not the motion of the Earth in space can be made perceptible in terrestrial experiments. We have already remarked that all attempts of this nature led to a negative result."Wolfgang Pauli: "The failure of the many attempts to measure terrestrially any effects of the earth's motion..."Henri Poincaré: "A great deal of research has been carried out concerning the influence of the Earth's movement. The results were always negative."I Bernard Cohen (Harvard Physicist): "There is no planetary observation by which we on Earth can prove that the Earth is moving in an orbit around the sun."

02.

The origin of 3 famous theories

Special Relativity (1905)

Observation

(Michelson-Morley Experiment, 1887)
Physicists attempt to detect Earth’s motion through space by comparing two light beams — one beam in the direction of the Earth's motion, the other perpendicular. They expect a big difference in the phases of the light beams, but there isn't one.

First Impression

"This conclusion directly contradicts the explanation... which presupposes that the Earth moves."—Albert Michelson
(physicist who conducted the experiment)

Horror

"The easiest explanation was that the earth was fixed in the ether and that everything else in the universe moved with respect to the earth and the ether... Such an idea was not considered seriously, since it would mean in effect that our earth occupied the omnipotent position in the universe, with all the other heavenly bodies paying homage by moving around it."—James Coleman, Relativity for the Layman

Escape

Special Relativity:Objects shrink when they move — the faster they move, the more they shrink — and the sensor’s change in size caused it to record misleading data.

“...to the question whether or not the motion of the Earth in space can be made perceptible in terrestrial experiments. We have already remarked... that all attempts of this nature led to a negative result. Before the theory of relativity was put forward, it was difficult to become reconciled to this negative result."—Albert Einstein

Expanding Universe Theory (1937)

Observation

Edwin Hubble observed that over 99% of galaxies appear redshifted; that is, they are moving away from Earth in all directions.

First Impression

"Such a condition would imply that we occupy a unique position in the universe, analogous in a sense to the ancient conception of a central earth...”—Edwin Hubble

Horror

“The hypothesis cannot be disproved, but it is unwelcome and would be accepted only as a last resort in order to save the phenomena... Therefore we disregard this possibility... the unwelcome position of a favored location must be avoided at all costs... such a favored position is intolerable...”—Edwin Hubble

Escape

Expanding Universe Theory:The universe must be expanding in all directions at once; this way, Earth only seems to be at the center of the universe because everywhere is the center of the universe.

"I suspect that the assumption of uniformity of the universe reflects a prejudice born of a sequence of overthrows of geocentric ideas.... It would be embarrassing to find, after stating that we live in an ordinary planet about an ordinary star in an ordinary galaxy, that our place in the universe is extraordinary... To avoid embarrassment we cling to the hypothesis of uniformity."—Richard P Feynman

Multiverse Theory (2013)

Observation

Data recorded by 3 separate probes shows that the Cosmic Microwave Background has 2 axes that span the entire universe:- 1 aligned with Earth’s equator
- 1 aligned with Earth’s 23.5° equinox tilt.

First Impression

"Is this Copernicus coming back to haunt us? That's crazy. We're looking out at the whole universe. There's no way there should be a correlation of structure with our motion of the earth around the sun — the plane of the earth around the sun — the ecliptic. That would say we are truly the center of the universe.”Dr. Lawrence Krauss (Physicist, Arizona University)

Horror

“I was rather bothered that the microwave is aligned with our solar system... I have to admit to you, I was rather bothered.”Max Tegmark (Physicist, MIT)

Escape

Multiverse Theory:“The Multiverse is the hypothesis that an unending number of universes exist. The main purpose being to answer what is commonly understood as the fine-tuning problem, namely that our single Universe operates within a very narrow margin of physical constants and could not have come into existence by chance."Dr. Benard Carr (Professor of Astronomy, Queen Mary University of London)

03.

This is only the tip of the iceberg.

For a deeper dive, watch this free documentary featuring Michio Kaku and Max Tegmark, narrated by Kate Mulgrew (Captain Janeway on Star Trek Voyager)

(We did not make this documentary. Someone much smarter than us did.)

For reference: The Tychonic Model

The Tychonic model was proposed in 1588 by Tycho Brahe, who at the age of 20 lost part of his nose, when he fought a sword duel in the dark in order to settle an argument with his cousin over who was the superior mathematician.Where are the real men these days?Anyway, the planets orbit the sun, while the sun (and the rest of the heavens) orbit the earth.

Why September 17?

St. Robert Bellarmine

St. Robert Bellarmine was the Cardinal who confronted Galileo, formally defending geocentrism from the false claim that the Earth moves. St. Robert Bellarmine died on September 17, 1621, and the Catholic church celebrates him worldwide every year on that day.

St. Hildegard of Bingen

Though she was a nun who lived 400 years before Tycho Brahe, St. Hildegard of Bingen experienced supernatural visions of the cosmos that agree with Tycho Brahe's model of the universe to a high degree of detail. She died on September 17, 1179 and the Catholic church celebrates her worldwide every year on that day.

History has shown that only one thing can reverse such a profound scientific crisis...

04.

Memes and T-Shirts!!!

© StillEarthDay. All rights reserved.

NOTE: If you google the Michelson-Morley Experiment, sources often say it concerns the nonexistence of luminiferous ether. Einstein's 1905 paper on Special Relativity indeed proposed that ether doesn't exist, but as you can see from Einstein's own words, not only was the Michelson-Morley experiment primarily concerned with Earth's motion, but its legacy as "disproving ether" ended in 1915 when Einstein himself re-introduced ether as necessary for General Relativity:"According to the general theory of relativity space without ether is unthinkable; for in such space there not only would be no propagation of light, but also no possibility of existence for standards of space and time (measuring-rods and clocks), nor therefore any space-time intervals in the physical sense." —Albert Einstein, Ether and the Theory of Relativity, 1922

The end of the 'meaning crisis'?

Quotes from famous historians

Friedrich Nietzsche: "Where has God gone? I shall tell you. We have killed him—you and I. We are his murderers. But how have we done this? .... What did we do when we unchained the Earth from its sun? Whether is it moving now? Away from all suns? Are we perpetually falling? Backward, sideward, forward, in all directions? Is there any up or down left? Are we not straying as through an infinite nothing?"Arthur Koestler: "The new philosophy destroyed the mediaeval vision of an immutable social order in a walled-in universe together with its fixed hierarchy of moral values, and transformed the European landscape, society, culture, habits, and general outlook as thoroughly as if a new species had arisen on this planet." [2]

Stephen Hawking: “Although it is not uncommon for people to say that Copernicus proved Ptolemy wrong, that is not true…. one can use either picture as a model of the universe, for our observations of the heavens can be explained by assuming either the earth or the sun to be at rest.” [1]Ernst Mach: “Obviously it matters little if we think of the Earth as turning about on its axis, or if we view it at rest while the fixed stars revolve around it. Geometrically these are exactly the same case of a relative rotation of the Earth and the fixed stars with respect to one another.” [2]Bertrand Russell: “But in the modern theory the question between Copernicus and his predecessors is merely one of convenience; all motion is relative, and there is no difference between the two statements: 'the earth rotates once a day' and 'the heavens revolve about the Earth once a day.'” [xxxxx]Albert Einstein: “Either coordinate system could be used with equal justification. The two sentences 'the sun is at rest and the Earth moves,' or 'the sun moves and the Earth is at rest,' would simply mean two different conventions concerning two different coordinate systems.” [4]Isaac Newton: "And thus the celestial bodies can move around the Earth at rest, as in the Tychonic system."Willem de Sitter (co-authored a paper with Einstein in 1932): “The difference between the system of Ptolemy and that of Copernicus is a purely formal one, a difference of interpretation only.” [5]

[1] Stephen Hawking & Leonard Mlodinow, The Grand Design, 2010, p. 41
[2] Ernst Mach, The Science of Mechanics: A Critical and Historical Account of its Development, (originally published in German in 1883, in English in 1960. 6th edition, p. 201)
[3] Quoted from Dennis W. Schiama’s The Unity of the Universe, 1961, p. 102-3
[4] Albert Einstein and Leopold Infeld, The Evolution of Physics: From Early Concepts to Relativity and Quanta, 1938, p. 212
[5] Willem de Sitter, Kosmos, 1932, p. 17

Bonus: Dark Matter & Dark Energy

Heliocentric model

"When you apply Newton's laws of motion to the galaxy, the galaxy spins too fast. In fact, 10 times too fast. By rights the galaxy should fly apart. Therefore, scientists said, we have to have dark matter — a halo of matter that surrounds the galaxy and holds the galaxy together."Michio Kaku, Physicist

Geocentric model

"If we assume that Earth is in a special position near the center of a local void we can account for all observations without the necessity of dark energy. This is using a description of the universe that has us somewhere near the local Center."Dr. John Hartnett (Professor of Physics, University of Adelaide, Australia)