Historical Figure
Nicolaus Copernicus
d. 1543
Mathematician and astronomer (1473–1543)
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Biography
Nicolaus Copernicus was a Renaissance polymath who formulated a model of the universe that placed the Sun rather than Earth at its center. The publication of Copernicus's model in his book De revolutionibus orbium coelestium, just before his death in 1543, was a major event in the history of science, triggering the Copernican Revolution and making a pioneering contribution to the Scientific Revolution. Though a similar heliocentric model had been developed eighteen centuries earlier by Aristarchus of Samos, an ancient Greek astronomer, Copernicus likely arrived at his model independently.
In Their Own Words (5)
At rest, however, in the middle of everything is the sun. For, in this most beautiful temple, who would place this lamp in another or better position than that from which it can light up the whole thing at the same time? For, the sun is not inappropriately called by some people the lantern of the universe, its mind by others, and its ruler by still others. The Thrice Greatest labels it a visible god, and Sophocles' Electra, the all-seeing. Thus indeed, as though seated on a royal throne, the sun governs the family of planets revolving around it.
Alternate translation: Then in the middle of all stands the sun. For who, in our most beautiful temple, could set this light in another or better place, than that from which it can at once illuminate the whole? Not to speak of the fact that not unfittingly do some call it the light of the world, others the soul, still others the governor. Tremigistus calls it the visible God; Sophocles' Electra, the All-seer. And in fact does the sun, seated on his royal throne, guide his family of planets as they circle round him. , 1543
For when a ship is floating calmly along, the sailors see its motion mirrored in everything outside, while on the other hand they suppose that they are stationary, together with everything on board. In the same way, the motion of the earth can unquestionably produce the impression that the entire universe is rotating.
Book 1, Ch. 8 , 1543
We are taught all this [the motion of the earth on its axis and around the sun] by the order of succession, in which those phenomena (various planetary happenings) follow each other, and by the harmony of the world, if we will only, as the saying goes, look at the matter with both eyes.
Book 1, Ch. 9 as quoted by Edwin Arthur Burtt in The Metaphysical Foundations of Modern Physical Science (1925) , 1543
Hence I feel no shame in asserting that this whole region engirdled by the moon, and the center of the earth, traverse this grand circle amid the rest of the planets in an annual revolution around the sun. Near the sun is the center of the universe. Moreover, since the sun remains stationary, whatever appears as a motion of the sun is really due rather to the motion of the earth.
Book 1, Ch. 10 , 1543
For I am not so enamored of my own opinions that I disregard what others may think of them. I am aware that a philosopher's ideas are not subject to the judgment of ordinary persons, because it is his endeavor to seek the truth in all things, to the extent permitted to human reason by God. Yet I hold that completely erroneous views should be shunned. Those who know that the consensus of many centuries has sanctioned the conception that the earth remains at rest in the middle of the heaven as its center would, I reflected, regard it as an insane pronouncement if I made the opposite assertion that the earth moves.
Preface , 1543
Timeline
The story of Nicolaus Copernicus, told in moments.
In Bologna, assisting the astronomer Domenico Maria Novara, he observes the Moon occult the star Aldebaran. It's a small observation. But it confirms what he's starting to suspect: Ptolemy's model of the Moon has errors. Something doesn't add up.
Circulates an unsigned manuscript called the Commentariolus among friends. Forty handwritten pages. The Sun is at the center. The Earth moves. He won't publish the full argument for another 29 years.
Derives an early quantity theory of money. Two years later, he formulates an economic principle later called Gresham's law: bad money drives out good. He's a canon lawyer, physician, governor, diplomat, and economist. Astronomy is technically a side project.
Dies in Frombork at 70. Legend says a printed copy of De revolutionibus is placed in his hands on his deathbed. The book argues the Earth revolves around the Sun. It takes a century for the idea to win. The Church doesn't remove it from the Index of Forbidden Books until 1758.
Reburied with full honors in Frombork Cathedral, 467 years after his first burial. DNA from a tooth and a hair confirmed the identity. A black granite tombstone shows a model of the solar system. Golden sun at the center.
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