Nicolaus Copernicus

Nicolaus Copernicus

Nicolaus Copernicus first became fascinated with astronomy in 1492 when he enrolled in Kraków Academy (now Jagiellonian University). His professor, Albert Brudzewski, is credited with introducing young Nicolaus to astronomy.

After four years at Kraków Academy, Nicolaus Copernicus's uncle (who paid for his education in hopes that Nicolaus would become a bishop) sent him to Bologna to study civil law. It was there that Nicolaus met Domenico Maria Novara da Ferrara, who was a famous astronomer of the time.

Copernicus gave some friends his Commentariolus (Little Commentary) in 1514. Commentariolus was a short handwritten work that described his ideas about the heliocentric (sun-centered universe) hypothesis. It was the basis for his later work.

Copernicus feared ridicule from other scientists. He wasn't afraid of what the Church would think of his theories. This fear of ridicule caused him to delay publication of his findings for several years. As a matter of fact, his book, De revolutionibus orbium coelestium (On the Revolutions of the Celestial Spheres) wasn't published until the year of his death in 1543.

It is said that Copernicus was in a coma that had been caused by a stroke when a friend put a copy of his book into his hands. Copernicus awakened from his coma and died peacefully shortly there after.

There are six major parts to the Copernican theory:

1. Motions of the planets are uniform. 2. The sun is the center of the universe. 3. The order of planets around the sun is Mercury, Venus, Earth and Moon, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, and the fixed stars. 4. Retrograde motion of the planets can be explained by the Earth's motion. 5. Daily rotation, annual revolution, and annual tilting of its axis are the three motions of the earth. 6. Comparatively speaking, the distance between the earth and the sun is small to that of the earth to the stars.