The discovery that the Earth revolves around the Sun was first proposed by the ancient Greek astronomer Aristarchus of Samos around 230 BCE. However, this idea did not gain widespread acceptance at the time. The person who is most credited with developing and popularizing the heliocentric theory in a detailed and predictive mathematical model was Nicolaus Copernicus, a Polish astronomer of the Renaissance. Copernicus published his work "On the Revolutions of the Celestial Spheres" in 1543, establishing the Sun-centered system that placed the Earth as one of the planets orbiting the Sun, which was a significant shift from the long-held geocentric model.
In summary:
- Aristarchus of Samos was the earliest known proposer of the heliocentric system.
- Nicolaus Copernicus formalized and mathematically modeled the Earth's revolution around the Sun in the 1500s, leading to the Copernican Revolution in astronomy.
