The Transformation of Cosmological Space in the Course of the 18th Century

A particular aspect of the development of the concept of space in early modern science is the influence of cosmological models, which is the subject of a project focusing on the change of the cosmological worldview between 1550 and 1800 in the context of the Copernican Revolution. Contrary to what the term “revolution” might imply, the change from a geocentric to a heliocentric worldview was not achieved in a short period of time. The establishment of Copernicanism reflects a complex interaction between different forms of knowledge within the contradictory epistemological contexts of science and religion. The ongoing investigation shows how and by which processes of knowledge transformation the heliocentric theory became more and more accepted and finally canonical.