ABSTRACT
Our view of the Universe evolved very slowly, taking thousands of years to mature. While tremendous advances were made in the scientific understanding of the physical world in our neighbourhood, the larger Universe remained inaccessible for several millennia. It is in some sense unbelievable that the knowledge we held about the contents and extent of the Universe outside the solar system did not change much for about 2000 years, from the Greek focus on astronomy and mathematics to the beginning of the 20th century. During this period, we learned much about the solar system, its planetary motions, and our place in it. Physical science and the description of dynamics were seeded and developed to its present mature form.
