Conversations on the Plurality of Worlds in France and elsewhere, and was regularly published. In 1691, Fontenelle was elected to the Académie française. Conversations on the Plurality of Worlds Conversations on the Plurality of Worlds () is a popular science book by French author Bernard le Bovier de Fontenelle, published in 1686. It offered an explanation of the heliocentric model of the Universe, suggested by Nicolaus Copernicus in his 1543 work "De revolutionibus orbium coelestium". The book is Fontenelle's most famous work and is considered to be one of the first major works of the Age of Enlightenment. Unlike many scientific works of its time, "Conversations
Formation and evolution of the Solar System Immanuel Kant, and Pierre-Simon Laplace in the 18th century. The most significant criticism of the hypothesis was its apparent inability to explain the Sun's relative lack of angular momentum when compared to the planets. However, since the early 1980s studies of young stars have shown them to be surrounded by cool discs of dust and gas, exactly as the nebular hypothesis predicts, which has led to its re-acceptance. Understanding of how the Sun is expected to continue to evolve required an understanding of the source of its power. Arthur Stanley Eddington's confirmation of Albert Einstein's theory of relativity led to