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Re: [Phys-l] status of Occam's razor




On 08/02/2007 11:09 AM, chuck britton wrote:
An Historical Question concerning Occam's Razor -
Devil's Advocate Hat On:

When did the Copernican Theory of our Solar system become as precise
as the Ptolmeic Theory?
Did Newton work out the perturbations required - or am I totally
bonkers in believing someone who claimed that all the cycles and epi-
cycles DID give more precise predictions than did Copernicus (and
Kepler)?

The textbooks we used in the History of Science course I taught for
several years claimed that the Copernican Theory, as proposed by
Copernicus himself, was not as accurate as the Ptolemaic Theory (much
simpler, of course, but just not as accurate). However, Kepler's
modification of circular to elliptical orbits gave the "Copernican"
Theory just as much accuracy as the Ptolemaic with many fewer
assumptions and parameters. Newton provided the theoretical basis for
why the orbits had to be elliptical and started, at least, to consider
the effect of "perturbations" like three body versus two body problems.
Of course, the remaining vexing unexplained perturbation of the
precession of Mercury's orbit required Einstein's general relativity to
finally resolve.

Don Polvani
Northrop Grumman Corp.
Undersea Systems
Annapolis, MD