Captioned: "The cosmographical glasse, conteinyng the pleasant principles of cosmographie, geographie, hydrographie, or nauigation. Compiled by William Cuningham Doctor in Physicke, 1531." In astronomy, the geocentric model (also known as geocentrism, or the Ptolemaic system), is the superseded theory that the Earth is the center of the universe, and that all other objects orbit around it. Ptolemy was an Egyptian polymath, who made studies in astrology, astronomy, geography and mathematics.