<Li> The celestial region was made up of the fifth element, aether, which was unchanging and moved naturally with uniform circular motion . In the Aristotelian tradition, astronomical theories sought to explain the observed irregular motion of celestial objects through the combined effects of multiple uniform circular motions . </Li> <Li> The Ptolemaic model of planetary motion: based on the geometrical model of Eudoxus of Cnidus, Ptolemy's Almagest, demonstrated that calculations could compute the exact positions of the Sun, Moon, stars, and planets in the future and in the past, and showed how these computational models were derived from astronomical observations . As such they formed the model for later astronomical developments . The physical basis for Ptolemaic models invoked layers of spherical shells, though the most complex models were inconsistent with this physical explanation . </Li> <P> It is important to note that ancient precedent existed for alternative theories and developments which prefigured later discoveries in the area of physics and mechanics; but in light of the limited number of works to survive translation in a period when many books were lost to warfare, such developments remained obscure for centuries and are traditionally held to have had little effect on the re-discovery of such phenomena; whereas the invention of the printing press made the wide dissemination of such incremental advances of knowledge commonplace . Meanwhile, however, significant progress in geometry, mathematics, and astronomy was made in medieval times . </P> <P> It is also true that many of the important figures of the Scientific Revolution shared in the general Renaissance respect for ancient learning and cited ancient pedigrees for their innovations . Nicolaus Copernicus (1473--1543), Galileo Galilei (1564--1642), Kepler (1571--1630) and Newton (1642--1727), all traced different ancient and medieval ancestries for the heliocentric system . In the Axioms Scholium of his Principia, Newton said its axiomatic three laws of motion were already accepted by mathematicians such as Huygens (1629--1695), Wallace, Wren and others . While preparing a revised edition of his Principia, Newton attributed his law of gravity and his first law of motion to a range of historical figures . </P>

How did the renaissance contribute to the scientific revolution (5 points)