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
Science and technology of the Han dynasty Han astronomers believed the Sun, Moon, and planets were spherical like balls or crossbow bullets. He also wrote that the Moon and planets produce no light of their own, are viewable to people on Earth only because they are illuminated by the Sun, and those parts not illuminated by the Sun would be dark on the other side. For this, Jing compared the Moon to a mirror illuminating light. In the 2nd century CE, Zhang Heng drew a similar comparison to Jing's by stating that the Sun is like fire and the Moon and planets are like water, since fire