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Biography of Nicolaus CopernicusName: Nicolaus CopernicusBirth Date: February 19, 1473 Death Date: May 24, 1543 Place of Birth: Torun, Poland Nationality: Polish Gender: Male Occupations: astronomer Nicolaus Copernicus The Polish astronomer Nicolaus Copernicus (1473-1543) was the founder of the heliocentric ordering of the planets.Nicolaus Copernicus was born on Feb. 19, 1473, in Torun about 100 miles south of Danzig. He belonged to a family of merchants. His uncle, the bishop and ruler of Ermland, was the person to whom Copernicus owed his education, career, and security.Copernicus studied at the University of Cracow from 1491 to 1494. While he did not attend any classes in astronomy, it was during his student years there that Copernicus began to collect books on astronomy and mathematics. Some of these contain marginal notes by him dating back to that period, but it remains conjectural whether Copernicus had already made at that time a systematic study of the heliocentric theory.Copernicus returned to Torun in 1494, and in 1496, through the efforts of his uncle, he became a canon at Frauenburg, remaining in that office for the remainder of his …showed first 150 words…
…showed last 150 words…this wherefrom it can illuminate everything at the same time."The thousand copies of the first edition of the book did not sell out, and the work was reprinted only three times prior to the 20th century. No "great book" of Western intellectual history circulated less widely and was read by fewer people than Copernicus's Revolutions. Still, it not only instructed man about the revolution of the planets but also brought about a revolution in human thought by serving as the cornerstone of modern astronomy. Further Reading A popular modern account of Copernicus's life is A. Armitage, The World of Copernicus (1947). In Thomas Kuhn, The Copernican Revolution (1957), Copernicus's theory is discussed in the framework of the process leading from ancient to modern science through the medieval and Renaissance centuries. For a rigorous discussion of Copernicus's theory the standard modern work is A. Koyré, The Astronomical Revolution: Copernicus, Kepler, Borelli (1969). |