Ptolemy in the 2^nd century AD had written the “Geography”, which defined the discipline of geography and laid down the principles of global mapping. It had allowed scholars to map the world for the first time and it was also used by Christopher Columbus. In Ptolemy’s view of the universe, the sun and the planets revolved in concentric spheres around a stationary earth.

Copernicus created a new model of the solar system in which the sun was at the centre, with the earth and the other planets moving in a combination of circular movements around it.

The invention of the telescope by Galileo Galilei  proved that the earth turns around the sun.

The human microcosm could be understood by reference to the macrocosm of all creation. An entire hierarchical system linked the different orders of life connecting plants and animals at each level of the chain.

Man had a nature of matter and a nature of spirit and the had the unique function of linking all the creation together.