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Mikolaj Kopernik
(Nicolaus Copernicus)

1473-1543

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Copernicus received his education, first at the University of Krakow, and then at various universities in Italy. While attending Padua University in Italy, Copernicus studied medicine, Greek, and mathematical sciences. He eventually received a degree in Canon Law at the University of Ferrara. When Copernicus returned to Poland he practiced medicine, though his official employment was as a canon in the cathedral chapter run by his uncle, the Bishop of Olsztyn.

Copernicus was never a professional Astronomer. The great work that made him famous was written in his spare time. It was for friends he met in Rome while pursuing his education that, in about 1513, Copernicus first wrote a short account his heliocentric (sun centered) cosmology. His heliocentric system states that the Sun (not the Earth) is at rest in the center of the Universe, with the other heavenly bodies (planets and stars) revolving around it in circular orbits. A full account of the theory titled, On the Revolutions of the Heavenly Spheres (De Revolutionibus Orbium Coelestium) was published in 1543, very near the end of Copernicus's life. He is said to have received a copy of the printed book on his deathbed.

Copernicus' heliocentric system was considered implausible by the vast majority of his contemporaries, and by most astronomers and natural philosophers until the middle of the seventeenth century. Its notable defenders included Johannes Kepler (1571 -1630) and Galileo Galilei (1564 - 1642). Strong theoretical underpinning for the Copernican theory was finally provided by Sir Isaac Newton's theory of universal gravitation (1687).

Courtesy of Robin Chew
 

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• Codependent No More & Beyond Codependency, by Beattie, Melody
• Copernicus & His Successors, by Rosen, Edward
• The Ash Wednesday Supper, by Bruno, Giordano
• A Defense of Galileo, the Mathematician from Florence, by Campanella, Thomas
• Novelties in the Heavens: Rhetoric & Science in the Copernican Controversy, by Moss, Jean D.
• The Great Copernicus Chase, by Gingerich, Owen
• The Eye of Heaven: Ptolemy, Copernicus, Kepler, by Gingerich, Owen
• A Critical & Comparative Analysis of Copernicus, Kepler, Galileo & Descartes, by Burtt, Edwin A.
• Dialogue Concerning the Two Chief World Systems: Ptolemaic and Copernican, by Stillman Drake (Translator) - Galileo compares Ptolomy and Copernicus.
• The Eye of Heaven: Ptolemy, Copernicus, Kepler, by Owen Gingerich - Twenty-five papers originally published over a 25-year period, examine the evolution of astronomy.
• Doctor Copernicus: A Novel, by John Banville - A novelization of the life of Copernicus.

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• On the Revolutions of Heavenly Spheres, by Charles G. Wallis (Translator) - Copernicus explains his a heliocentric (sun at the center) model of the universe.

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• Nicolaus Copernicus University, Torun, Poland
• Nicolaus Copernicus Astronomical Center, Polish Academy of Sciences - Warsaw, Poland

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Engraving of Copernicus

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Copernicus's theory of the solar system.
(51 sec - 7.37 MB)