1. The great mystical theologian, Richard of St. Victor, who described the true method of physical inquiry in terms which Francis Bacon might have adopted. "It would not be easy at the present day," says Dr. Whewell, (Philosophy of Discovery, pp. 52-53,) "to give a better account of the object of physical science."
2. Celius Calcagnini, (born 1479,) who published (Tiraboschi says divolgò, which may or may not mean simply printing) a work in which he endeavored to prove "quod coelum stet, terra autem moveatur."
3. Cardinal Cusa, sometimes called Nicholas the Cusan, an intellectual giant of his time, the highest expression, probably, of the active mental movement that marked the 15th century. He was equally distinguished in science, in letters, and in philosophy, and in 1436, at the Council of Basle, proposed the reform of the calendar afterward carried out by the pope. His knowledge of astronomy was, for his time, profound, and he asserted and published that "the sun is at rest, the earth moves," ("istam terram in veritate moveatur.") [Footnote 148]
[Footnote 148: "That heaven is motionless, but that the earth moves.">[
4. Novara, the preceptor of Copernicus; for it is certain that Copernicus found his new doctrine in Italy.
5. Jerome of Tallavia, whose papers are said to have fallen into the hands of Copernicus.
6. Leonardo da Vinci, who, in 1510, connected his theory of bodies with the earth's motion, "showing," as Whewell says, "that the heliocentric doctrines were fermenting in the minds of intelligent men, and gradually assuming clearness and strength."
Although Da Vinci constructed no system of explanation, he nevertheless held the motion of the earth, as appears from one of his manuscripts of the year 1500.
Some light may be thrown upon the actual condition of astronomical science during the Galileo period by a short statement of the arguments most in vogue between
Ptolemaists And Copernicans,