New to Penguin Classics, the astonishing story of the Copernican Revolution, told through the words of the ground-breaking scientists who brought it aboutA Penguin ClassicIn thelate fifteenth century, the earth stood motionless at the center of a small, ordered cosmos. Around us, it was believed, the moon, the sun, & the planets revolved in crystalline spheres, their orbits perfect, eternally unchanging circles. Just over a century later, the sun was now the center of creation; the earth just another planet hurtling through empty, near-infinite space.This is the story of an astonishing change, a transformation in human thought, about both the universe & our place within it, told through the words of theastronomers&mathematiciansat its heart. Encompassing the most evocative excerpts from the works and letters ofCopernicus,Galileo,Kepler,Descartes,Newton, & others, and including guiding notes from renowned historian of science,Aviva Rothman,The Dawn of Modern Cosmologyis the definitive record of one of science's greatest achievements.