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Talk:Aristarchus of Samos
There have been dramatic claims for how far ahead of his times Aristarchus was. "Aristarchus made the Sun standing among the stars and the Earth moving around the Sun in an elliptical orbit causing eclipses of the Sun." Aristarchus understood the Axial tilt of the earth causes the seasons. He even recognised that the sun is a star. Aristarchos of Samos: Founder of Astronomy That was taken out. Since then I found other sources contradicting the claim that Aristarchus knew the planets orbit in ellipses and denying Aristarchus knew the sun is a star. If Aristarchus thought the stars are on a sphere with the sun at the centre clearly he thought the sun and the stars are different. Kepler needed the measurements of Tycho Brahe to determine that the planets orbit in ellipses and I'm now very skeptical if Aristarchus had accurate instruments which could have enabled him to discover that. Our mission includes debunking spurious claims so let's write clearly what Aristarchus knew and debunk exaggerations. Proxima Centauri (talk) 17:51, 30 May 2014 (UTC)
- As the article stands now, there are no real exaggerations to debunk. The quote is credited to something called the "Sand Reckoner," with zero context of what that is or why it matters. If you want to claim that Aristaarchus' reputation is unmerited because of those other sources, I don't see that quote helping that. Father Vivian O'Blivion (talk) 18:06, 30 May 2014 (UTC)
- The reputation of Aristarchus as the pioneer heliocentrist is certainly merited but shouldn't be exaggerated. Proxima Centauri (talk) 18:10, 30 May 2014 (UTC)
- Well, there's nothing in the article to suggest it is exaggerated. Father Vivian O'Blivion (talk) 18:10, 30 May 2014 (UTC)
- wp:The Sand Reckoner. Proxima failed to explain why it was significant. Aristarchus' heliocentric hypothesis is known only through Archimedes.--ZooGuard (talk) 19:16, 30 May 2014 (UTC)
- The reputation of Aristarchus as the pioneer heliocentrist is certainly merited but shouldn't be exaggerated. Proxima Centauri (talk) 18:10, 30 May 2014 (UTC)
Article?[edit]
Why is this an article and not a paragraph in Heliocentrism? SophieWilder
20:14, 30 May 2014 (UTC)
Those below have separate articles.
Should we treat Aristarchus differently? Proxima Centauri (talk) 08:45, 31 May 2014 (UTC)