It's worse than that, Einstein conceded that there would be no earthly experiment that could prove the shape and motion of the earth because there is no difference between a moving planet around a sun or a moving sun around a stationary planet.
Primarily, the moving earth is preferred for merely philosophical reasons.
Give me the quotation, because he surely knew better. Cartography is enough to prove the shape of the Earth. And there is a difference between heliocentrism and geocentrism: we can determine the Earth moves by trigonometric measurements of the star positions (parallax). The Earth moves...because it does. We send probes to other planets by virtue of the heliocentric theory. It would be impossible with a geocentric theory. So, we use the moving Earth for purely practical reasons (it works and is true).
It's worse than that, Einstein conceded that there would be no earthly experiment that could prove the shape and motion of the earth because there is no difference between a moving planet around a sun or a moving sun around a stationary planet.
Primarily, the moving earth is preferred for merely philosophical reasons.
Give me the quotation, because he surely knew better. Cartography is enough to prove the shape of the Earth. And there is a difference between heliocentrism and geocentrism: we can determine the Earth moves by trigonometric measurements of the star positions (parallax). The Earth moves...because it does. We send probes to other planets by virtue of the heliocentric theory. It would be impossible with a geocentric theory. So, we use the moving Earth for purely practical reasons (it works and is true).