Question

Im not really sure if this is a physics question or not but.. When Copernicus presented his ideas about a heliocentric universe he was met with controversy and criticism. Why do you think society had a hard time denying that the Earth is the center of the universe? In modern times, how do you think society is affected by our knowledge about the universe? Why is it important for society to understand the structure, function and size of the universe?

Answer 1

For the first one it's really just that it was the commonly held belief of the time that everything revolved around the Earth. And that seemed intuitive since from our perspective on the Earth, without giving it critical thought it seems obvious that the Earth is the center of everything even though it isn't.
For the second one, well, that would almost be more of a social question, and I can't say I'm too sure. Just looking at my religious and secular friends viewpoints it seems to have drastically different impact on them: i.e. religious friends see it as evidence of a mighty creator, while secular friends see it as evidence for there not having to be any sort of deity.
For the third one, I think it is important because like many aspects of science, we just don't know enough to say what we can or can't gain from it. For example, around late 1700s (I think, might have been 1600s or 1800s lol.) it was widely held that we had reached the extent of our understanding of physics. All that was left was some fine-tuning of Newtonian Physics and that was it. Then stuff like quantum mechanics and we realized there was a lot more to learn. And advances there have greatly benefited technological advancements.