Earth rotating around the sun

Inge Frette (frettei@oslo.geco-prakla.slb.com)
Mon, 16 Mar 1998 08:37:38 +0100

Hello folks,

I have been reading about the Galileo controvery lately, and I have
a question that I hope someone on this list can answer.

Galileo could not give empirical evidence that were strong enough to
convince aristotelian thinkers to give up the geocentric view.
Venus did the same ), he concluded that it should be possible to
see the phases of Venus. Which he also observed.
But from logic we know that
if A, then B
B, therefore A
is a logical fallacy so observing the phases of Venus does not establish
the fact that the earth revolves around the sun.

Well, my question is this.
When did we get empirical support for the thesis that the earth revolves
around the sun? With empirical support I think here of experimental
confirmation that is so strong that it would have convinced the
aristotelian thinkers of Galileos time ?
And how was the experiment performed that confirmed the heliocentric theory.

Best regards from Inge

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Olav Inge Frette Schlumberger Geco-Prakla
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