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A Community Devoted to the Preservation and Practice of Celestial Navigation and Other Methods of Traditional Wayfinding
Re: Universe of the ancient Greeks.
From: Frank Reed CT
Date: 2006 Mar 14, 02:34 EST
From: Frank Reed CT
Date: 2006 Mar 14, 02:34 EST
Bill, you wrote: "That whole circle/sphere/uniform motion ran through Copernicus, and partially through Kepler et al." Have I got a trick for you. If you give me any graph of any physical phenomenon whatsoever, I can write a representation of it in terms of a series of uniform circular motions having various amplitudes and frequencies. Cool, huh? [just to be careful here, a system of epicycles is analogous to, but not equivalent to, a Fourier analysis] And: " Problem being, no math or physics, and only approximate measurements, to prove/disprove theories. Not dissimilar to the state we can still find "advanced" physics in, IMHO." There would be no major, lasting advance in theories of the Solar System until telescopes were invented and evidence could test the competing models. I agree with you (assuming I've understood you) that fundamental physics is in a similar bind today. Physics works perfectly. There is no conflict with experiment or observation. And until there is, who can say whether things like string theory/brane theory etc have more in common with the Ptolemaic system of the Copernican one. Without the test of experiment, we are at a standstill, and the subject slowly degenerates. [speaking of degenerating physics, and I apologize for being way off-topic now (e-mail me off-list if this interests you), did anyone see the stories recently about a discovery of "antigravity" in a "new solution" of the field equations of general relativity?? holy cow, any incompetent twit can claim to be a physicist today! ] -FER 42.0N 87.7W, or 41.4N 72.1W. www.HistoricalAtlas.com/lunars