Who was the first to suggest that the Earth moves around the Sun?

• A. Copernicus
• B. Aristarchus
• C. Ptolemy
• D. Galileo

Answer: (B)

The key idea is identifying who first suggested that Earth moves around the Sun. Aristarchus of Samos proposed a sun-centered model in ancient Greece, around the 3rd century BCE. He argued that the Sun is much larger than the Earth and that the Earth orbits it, a radical shift from the dominant geocentric view of the time. His idea didn’t gain traction then and lacked the observational support to overthrow Ptolemy’s geocentric system, which used epicycles to explain planetary motions. Centuries later, Copernicus formally revived heliocentrism in the 16th century, with Galileo providing observational backing. So the earliest person to suggest this view was Aristarchus.