Nicolaus Copernicus
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Toruń (Thorn), Royal Prussia, Kingdom of Poland (1385–1569)>Kingdom of Poland | df=yes | 5 | 1473 | 19}},| death_place = Frombork (Frauenburg), Prince-Bishopric of Warmia, Kingdom of Poland| field = Mathematics, astronomy, canon law, medicine, economics | Jagiellonian University>Kraków University, Bologna University, University of Padua, University of Ferrara| known_for = Heliocentrism| societies =| prizes =| religion = Roman Catholic| footnotes =| signature= Autograph-MikolajKopernik.svg}}Nicolaus Copernicus (19 February 1473 – 24 May 1543) was the first |
Copernicus' epochal book,
De revolutionibus orbium coelestium (
On the Revolutions of the Celestial Spheres), published just before his death in 1543, is often regarded as the starting point of modern
astronomy and the defining
epiphany that began the
scientific revolution. His
heliocentric model, with the Sun at the center of the universe, demonstrated that the observed motions of celestial objects can be explained without putting Earth at rest in the center of the universe. His work stimulated further scientific investigations, becoming a
landmark in the
history of science that is often referred to as the
Copernican Revolution.Among the great
polymaths of the
Renaissance, Copernicus was a
mathematician,
astronomer,
physician,
quadrilingual polyglot,
classical scholar,
translator,
artist,
(2) Catholic cleric,
jurist,
governor,
military leader,
diplomat and
economist. Among his many responsibilities, astronomy figured as little more than an
avocation – yet it was in that field that he made his mark upon the world.
Life
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Birthplace on St. Anne's (now Copernicus) Street, Toruń
Nicolaus Copernicus was born on 19 February 1473 in the city of
Toruń (Thorn) in
Royal Prussia, part of the
Kingdom of Poland. His father was a merchant from
Kraków and his mother was the daughter of a wealthy Toruń merchant. Nicolaus was the youngest of four children. His brother Andreas (Andrew) became an
Augustinian canon at
Frombork (Frauenburg). His sister Barbara, named after her mother, became a
Benedictine nun and in her final years (she died after 1517)
prioress of a
convent in
Chełmno (Culm, Kulm). His younger sister Katharina married the businessman and Toruń city councilor Barthel Gertner and left five children, whom Copernicus looked after to the end of his life.
(3)Copernicus never married or had children.
Father's family
The father’s family can be traced to a village in
Silesia near
Nysa (Neiße). The village's name has been variously spelled Kopernik,
(4) Köppernig, Köppernick, and today
Koperniki. In the 14th century, members of the family began moving to various other Silesian cities, to the Polish capital, Kraków (Cracow, 1367), and to Toruń (1400). The father, likely the son of Jan, came from the Kraków line.
(5)Nicolaus was named after his father, who appears in records for the first time as a well-to-do
Roman Catholic merchant who dealt in copper, selling it mostly in
Danzig (Gdańsk).
(6)(7) He moved from Kraków to Toruń around 1458.
(8) Toruń, situated on the
Vistula River, was at that time embroiled in the
Thirteen Years' War (1454–66), in which the Kingdom of Poland and the
Prussian Confederation, an alliance of
Prussian cities, gentry and clergy, fought the
Teutonic Order over control of the region. The father was actively engaged in the politics of the day, and supported Poland and the cities against the Teutonic Order.
(9) In 1454 he mediated negotiations between Poland’s
Cardinal Zbigniew Oleśnicki and the Prussian cities for repayment of war loans. In the
Second Peace of Thorn (1466), the Teutonic Order formally relinquished all claims to its western provinces, which as
Royal Prussia remained a region of Poland for the next 300 years. The father married Barbara Watzenrode, the astronomer's mother, between 1461 and 1464. He died sometime between 1483 and 1485. Upon the father’s death, young Nicolaus’ maternal uncle,
Lucas Watzenrode the Younger (1447–1512), took the boy under his protection and saw to his education and career.
Mother's family
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Copernicus' maternal uncle, Lucas Watzenrode
Nicolaus’ mother, Barbara Watzenrode, was the daughter of
Lucas Watzenrode the Elder and his wife Katherine (née Modlibóg).
(10)(11)(12) Not much is known about her life, but she is believed to have died when Nicolaus was a small boy. The Watzenrodes, who were Roman Catholic, had come from the
Świdnica region of Silesia and had settled in Toruń after 1360, becoming prominent members of the city’s
patrician class.
(13) Through the Watzenrodes' extensive family relationships by marriage, they were related to wealthy families of Toruń, Danzig and
Elbląg (
Elbing), and to the prominent
Czapski,
Działyński,
Konopacki and
Kościelecki noble families.
(14) The Modlibógs (literally, in Polish, "Pray to God") were a prominent Roman Catholic Polish family who had been well known in Poland's history since 1271.
(15) In 1453 he was the delegate from Toruń at the
Grudziądz (Graudenz) conference that planned to ally the cities of the
Prussian Confederation with Casimir IV in their subsequent war against the Teutonic Knights.
(16) During the
Thirteen Years' War that ensued the following year, he actively supported the war effort with substantial monetary subsidies, with political activity in Toruń and Danzig, and by personally fighting in battles at
Łasin (Lessen) and
Marienburg (Malbork).
(17) He died in 1462.Lucas Watzenrode the Younger, the astronomer's maternal uncle and patron, was educated at the Kraków Academy (now
Jagiellonian University) and at the universities of
Cologne and
Bologna. He was a bitter opponent of the Teutonic Order
(18)(19) and its Grand Master, who once referred to Watzenrode as “the devil incarnate.”
(20) In 1489 Watzenrode was elected
Bishop of Warmia (Ermeland, Ermland) against the preference of King Casimir IV, who had hoped to install his own son in that seat. As a result, Watzenrode quarreled with the king until Casimir IV’s death three years later.
(21) Watzenrode was then able to form close relations with three successive Polish monarchs:
John I Albert,
Alexander Jagiellon, and
Sigismund I the Old. He was a friend and key advisor to each ruler, and his influence greatly strengthened the ties between Warmia and Poland proper.
(22)(23) Watzenrode came to be considered the most powerful man in Warmia, and his wealth, connections and influence allowed him to secure Copernicus’ education and career as a canon at
Frombork (Frauenberg) Cathedral.
Languages
File:Copernicus-an-Herzog-Albrecht.png|thumb|150px|right|(:wikisource:de:An den Herzog Albrecht von Preussen|Copernicus 1541 letter) to
Duke Albert of Prussia, giving medical advice for
George von KunheimGeorge von KunheimCopernicus spoke
Latin,
Polish, and
German with equal fluency. He also spoke
Greek and
Italian.
(24)(25)(26)(27) The vast majority of Copernicus’ surviving works are in
Latin, which in his lifetime was the universal language of
academia. Latin was also the official language of the Roman Catholic Church and of Poland's royal court, and thus all of Copernicus’ correspondence with the Church and with Polish leaders was in Latin. A German-language correspondence between Copernicus and
Duke Albert of Prussia has survived. Some German scholars assert that German should be considered Copernicus’ native language
(28) because
Toruń was predominantly German-speaking,
(29)(30)(31)(32)(33)(34)Name
In Copernicus’ time, people were often called after the places where they lived. Like the Silesian village that inspired it, Copernicus’ family name has been spelled variously. Today the world primarily knows the astronomer by the Latinized version "Nicolaus Copernicus." In Poland he is called
Mikołaj Kopernik. In Germany, the preferred version is
Nikolaus Kopernikus. The name likely had something to do with the local Silesian
copper-mining industry,
(35) though some Polish scholars assert that it may have been inspired by the
dill plant (in Polish, "
koperek" or "
kopernik") that grows wild in Silesia.
(36)As was to be the case with
William Shakespeare a century later,
(37) numerous spelling variants of the name are documented for the astronomer and his relatives. The name first appeared as a
place name in Silesia in the 13th century, where it was spelled variously in Latin documents. Copernicus "was rather indifferent about
orthography.
(38) During his childhood, the name of his father (and thus of the future astronomer) was recorded in Toruń as
Niclas Koppernigk around 1480.
(39)(40) At Kraków he signed his name "Nicolaus Nicolai de Torunia."
(41)(42) At Padua, Copernicus signed his name "Nicolaus Copernik", later as "Coppernicus."
(43) The astronomer Latinized his name to
Coppernicus, generally with two "p"s (in 23 of 31 documents studied),
(44) but later in life he used a single "p". On the title page of
De revolutionibus, Rheticus published the name as (in the
genitive, or
possessive, case) "Nicolai Copernici".
Education
Copernicus' uncle seems first to have sent him to the St. John's School at Toruń where he himself had been a master. Later, according to Armitage (some scholars differ), the boy attended the Cathedral School at
Włocławek, up the
Vistula River from Toruń, which prepared pupils for entrance to the
Kraków Academy, Watzenrode's alma mater in
Poland's capital.
(45) In the winter semester of 1491–92 Copernicus, as "Nicolaus Nicolai de Thuronia," matriculated together with his brother Andrew at the Kraków Academy (now
Jagiellonian University). Copernicus began his studies in the Department of Arts (from the fall of 1491, presumably until the summer or fall of 1495) in the heyday of the
Kraków astronomical-mathematical school, acquiring the foundations for his subsequent mathematical achievements. According to a later but credible tradition (
Jan Brożek), Copernicus was a pupil of
Albert Brudzewski, who by then (from 1491) was a professor of
Aristotelian philosophy but taught
astronomy privately outside the university; Copernicus became familiar with Brożek's widely-read commentary to
Georg von Peuerbach's
Theoricæ novæ planetarum and almost certainly attended the lectures of Bernard of
Biskupie and Wojciech Krypa of
Szamotuły and probably other astronomical lectures by
Jan of Głogów, Michael of
Wrocław, Wojciech of
Pniewy and Marcin Bylica of
Olkusz.
(46) Copernicus' Kraków studies gave him a thorough grounding in the mathematical-astronomical knowledge taught at the university (arithmetic, geometry, geometric optics, cosmography, theoretical and computational astronomy), a good knowledge of the philosophical and natural-science writings of
Aristotle (
De coelo,
Metaphysics) and
Averroes (which later would play an important role in shaping his theory), stimulated his interest in learning, and made him conversant with
humanistic culture. Copernicus broadened the knowledge that he took from the university lecture halls with independent reading of books that he acquired during his Kraków years (
Euclid,
Haly Abenragel, the
Alfonsine Tables,
Johannes Regiomontanus'
Tabulae directionum); to this period, probably, also date his earliest scientific notes, now preserved partly at
Uppsala University.
(47) At Kraków Copernicus began collecting a large library on astronomy; it would later be carried off as war booty by the Swedes during the
Deluge and is now at the
Uppsala University Library.Copernicus' four years at Kraków played an important role in the development of his critical faculties and initiated his analysis of the logical contradictions in the two "official" systems of astronomy—Aristotle's theory of homocentric spheres, and
Ptolemy's mechanism of
eccentrics and
epicycles--the surmounting and discarding of which constituted the first step toward the creation of Copernicus' own doctrine of the structure of the universe.
(48) Copernicus spent the
jubilee year 1500 in
Rome, where he arrived with his brother Andrew that spring, doubtless to perform an apprenticeship at the
Papal Curia. Here, too, however, he continued his astronomical work begun at Bologna, observing, for example, a
lunar eclipse on the night of 5–6 November 1500. According to a later account by
Rheticus, Copernicus also—probably privately, rather than at the Roman
Sapienza--as a "
Professor Mathematum" (professor of astronomy) delivered, "to numerous... students and... leading masters of the science," public lectures devoted probably to a critique of the mathematical solutions of contemporary astronomy.
(49)On his return journey doubtless stopping briefly at Bologna, in mid-1501 Copernicus arrived back in Warmia. After on 28 July receiving from the chapter a two-year extension of leave in order to study
medicine, in late summer or in the fall he returned again to Italy, probably accompanied by his brother Andrew and by Canon B. Sculteti. This time he studied at the
University of Padua, famous as a seat of medical learning, and—except for a brief visit to
Ferrara in May-June 1503 to pass examinations for, and receive, his doctorate in canon law—he remained at Padua from fall 1501 to summer 1503.
(50) One of the subjects that Copernicus must have studied was
astrology, since it was considered an important part of a medicaleducation.
(51) However, unlike mostother prominent Renaissance astronomers, he appears never to havepracticed or expressed any interest in astrology.
(52)As at Bologna, Copernicus did not limit himself to his official studies. It was probably the Padua years that saw the beginning of his Hellenistic interests. He familiarized himself with Greek language and culture with the aid of
Theodorus Gaza's grammar (1495) and J.B. Chrestonius' dictionary (1499), expanding his studies of antiquity, begun at Bologna, to the writings of
Bessarion, J. Valla and others. There also seems to be evidence that it was during his Padua stay that there finally crystallized the idea of basing a new system of the world on the movement of the Earth.
(53) From 1503 to 1510, or perhaps till his uncle's death (29 March 1512), Copernicus was his personal secretary and physician and resided in the Bishop's castle at
Lidzbark Warmiński (Heilsberg). It is there that he began work on his heliocentric theory. In his official capacity, he took part in nearly all his uncle's political, ecclesiastic and administrative-economic duties. From the beginning of 1504, Copernicus accompanied Watzenrode to sessions of the Royal Prussian diet held at
Malbork and
Elbląg and, write Dobrzycki and Hajdukiewicz, "participated... in all the more important events in the complex diplomatic game that that ambitious politician and statesman played in defense of the particular interests of Prussia and Warmia, between hostility to the [Teutonic] Order and loyalty to the [Polish] Crown." In 1504–12 Copernicus made numerous journeys as part of his uncle's retinue—in 1504, to Toruń and Gdańsk (Danzig), to a session of the Royal Prussian Council in the presence of Poland's King
Alexander Jagiellon; to sessions of the Prussian diet at Malbork (1506), Elbląg (1507) and
Sztum (1512); and he may have attended a Poznań session (1510) and the coronation of Poland's King
Sigismund I the Old in Kraków (1507). Watzenrode's itinerary suggests that in spring 1509 Copernicus may have attended the
Kraków sejm.
(54)It was probably on the latter occasion, in Kraków, that Copernicus submitted for printing at
Jan Haller's press his translation, from Greek to Latin, of a collection, by the 7th-century
Byzantine historian
Theophylact Simocatta, of 85 brief
poems called Epistles, or letters, supposed to have passed between various characters in a Greek story. They are of three kinds—"moral," offering advice on how people should live; "pastoral," giving little pictures of shepherd life; and "amorous," comprising love poems. They are arranged to follow one another in a regular rotation of subjects. Copernicus had translated the Greek verses into Latin prose, and he now published his version as
Theophilacti scolastici Simocati epistolae morales, rurales et amatoriae interpretatione latina, which he dedicated to his uncle in gratitude for all the benefits he had received from him. With this translation, Copernicus declared himself on the side of the
humanists in the struggle over the question whether Greek literature should be revived.
(55) Copernicus' first poetic work was a Greek
epigram, composed probably during a visit to Kraków, for
Johannes Dantiscus'
epithalamium for
Barbara Zapolya's 1512 wedding to
King Zygmunt I the Old.
(56)Some time before 1514, Copernicus wrote an initial outline of his heliocentric theory known only from later transcripts, by the title (perhaps given to it by a copyist),
Nicolai Copernici de hypothesibus motuum coelestium a se constitutis commentariolus—commonly referred to as the
Commentariolus. It was a succinct theoretical description of the world's heliocentric mechanism, without mathematical apparatus, and differed in some important details of geometric construction from
De revolutionibus; but it was already based on the same assumptions regarding Earth's triple motions. The
Commentariolus, which Copernicus consciously saw as merely a first sketch for his planned book, was not intended for printed distribution. He made only a very few manuscript copies available to his closest acquaintances, including, it seems, several Kraków astronomers with whom he collaborated in 1515–30 in observing
eclipses.
Tycho Brahe would include a fragment from the
Commentariolus in his own treatise,
Astronomiae instauratae progymnasmata, published in
Prague in 1602, based on a manuscript that he had received from the
Bohemian physician and astronomer
Tadeáš Hájek, a friend of
Rheticus. The
Commentariolus would appear complete in print for the first time only in 1878.
(57)missing image!
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Olsztyn Castle
During 1516–21, Copernicus resided at Olsztyn Castle as economic administrator of Warmia, including
Olsztyn (Allenstein) and
Pieniężno (Mehlsack). While there, he wrote a manuscript,
Locationes mansorum desertorum (
Locations of Deserted Fiefs), with a view to populating those fiefs with industrious farmers and so bolstering the economy of Warmia. When
Olsztyn was besieged by the
Teutonic Knights during the
Polish–Teutonic War (1519–21), Copernicus directed the defense of Olsztyn and Warmia by Royal Polish forces. He also represented the Polish side in the ensuing peace negotiations.
(58)Copernicus worked for years with the Royal Prussian
diet, and with
Duke Albert of Prussia (against whom Copernicus had defended Warmia in the Polish-Teutonic War), and advised King Sigismund, on
monetary reform. He participated in discussions in the East Prussian diet about coinage reform in the Prussian countries; a question that concerned the diet was who had the right to
mint coin. Political developments in Prussia culminated in the 1525 establishment of the
Duchy of Prussia as a
Protestant state in vassalage to Poland.In 1526 Copernicus wrote a study on the value of
money,
Monetae cudendae ratio. In it he formulated an early iteration of the theory, now called
Gresham's Law, that "bad" (
debased)
coinage drives "good" (un-debased) coinage out of circulation—70 years before
Thomas Gresham. He also formulated a version of
quantity theory of money. Copernicus' recommendations on monetary reform were widely read by leaders of both Prussia and Poland in their attempts to stabilize currency.
(59)(60)
In 1533, Johann Widmanstetter, secretary to
Pope Clement VII, explained Copernicus' heliocentric system to the Pope and two cardinals. The Pope was so pleased that he gave Widmanstetter a valuable gift.
[BOOK
], Repcheck
, Jack
, Copernicus' Secret
, Simon & Schuster
, 2007
, New York, NY
, 79, 78, 184, 186
, 978-0-7432-8951-1,
In 1535 Bernard Wapowski wrote a letter to a gentleman in Vienna, urging him to publish an enclosed almanac, which he claimed had been written by Copernicus. This is the first and only mention of a Copernicus almanac in the historical records. The "almanac" was likely Copernicus' tables of planetary positions. Wapowski's letter mentions Copernicus' theory about the motions of the earth. Nothing came of Wapowski's request, because he died a couple of weeks later.(61)missing image!
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Copernicus with medicinal plant
At first Copernicus maintained friendly relations with the new Prince-Bishop, assisting him medically in spring 1538 and accompanying him that summer on an inspection tour of Chapter holdings. But that autumn, their friendship was strained by suspicions over Copernicus' housekeeper, Anna Schilling, whom Dantiscus removed from Frombork in 1539.(62)In the spring of 1541, Duke Albert summoned Copernicus to Königsberg to attend the Duke's counselor, George von Kunheim, who had fallen seriously ill, and for whom the Prussian doctors seemed unable to do anything. Copernicus went willingly; he had met von Kunheim during negotiations over reform of the coinage. And Copernicus had come to feel that Albert himself was not such a bad person; the two had many intellectual interests in common. The Chapter readily gave Copernicus permission to go, as it wished to remain on good terms with the Duke, despite his Lutheran faith. In about a month the patient recovered, and Copernicus returned to Frombork. For a time, he continued to receive reports on von Kunheim's condition, and to send him medical advice by letter.(63)Throughout this period of his life, Copernicus continued making astronomical observations and calculations, but only as his other responsibilities permitted and never in a professional capacity.In 1551, eight years after Copernicus' death, astronomer Erasmus Reinhold published, under Duke Albert's sponsorship, the Prussian Tables, a set of astronomical tables based on Copernicus' work. Astronomers and astrologers quickly adopted it in place of its predecessors.(64)Heliocentrism
Some time before 1514 Copernicus made available to friends his "Commentariolus" ("Little Commentary"), a forty-page manuscript describing his ideas about the heliocentric hypothesis.(65) It contained seven basic assumptions. Thereafter he continued gathering data for a more detailed work.About 1532 Copernicus had basically completed his work on the manuscript of De revolutionibus orbium coelestium; but despite urging by his closest friends, he resisted openly publishing his views, not wishing—as he confessed—to risk the scorn "to which he would expose himself on account of the novelty and incomprehensibility of his theses."(66)The book
File:Nicolai Copernici torinensis De revolutionibus orbium coelestium.djvu|thumb|140px|De revolutionibusDe revolutionibusCopernicus was still working on De revolutionibus orbium coelestium (even if not convinced that he wanted to publish it) when in 1539 Georg Joachim Rheticus, a Wittenberg mathematician, arrived in Frombork. Philipp Melanchthon, a close theological ally of Martin Luther, had arranged for Rheticus to visit several astronomers and study with them.Rheticus became Copernicus' pupil, staying with him for two years and writing a book, Narratio prima (First Account), outlining the essence of Copernicus' theory. In 1542 Rheticus published a treatise on trigonometry by Copernicus (later included in the second book of De revolutionibus).Under strong pressure from Rheticus, and having seen the favorable first general reception of his work, Copernicus finally agreed to give De revolutionibus to his close friend, Tiedemann Giese, bishop of Chełmno (Kulm), to be delivered to Rheticus for printing by Johannes Petreius at Nuremberg (Nürnberg). While Rheticus initially supervised the printing, he had to leave Nuremberg before it was completed, and he handed over the task of supervising the rest of the printing to a Lutheran theologian, Andreas Osiander.(67)Osiander added an unauthorised and unsigned preface, defending the work against those who might be offended by the novel hypotheses. He explained that astronomers may find different causes for observed motions, and choose whatever is easier to grasp. As long as a hypothesis allows reliable computation, it does not have to match what a philosopher might seek as the truth.Death
File:Nicolaus Copernicus epitaph.PNG|thumb|140px|Copernicus' Latin epitaph in Frombork Cathedral ]]Copernicus died in Frauenburg (Frombork) on 24 May 1543. Legend has it that the first printed copy of De revolutionibus was placed in his hands on the very day that he died, allowing him to take farewell of his life's work. He is reputed to have awoken from a stroke-induced coma, looked at his book, and then died peacefully.Copernicus was reportedly buried in Frombork Cathedral, where archeologists for over two centuries searched in vain for his remains. Efforts to locate the remains in 1802, 1909, 1939 and 2004 had come to nought. In August 2005, however, a team led by Jerzy Gąssowski, head of an archaeology and anthropology institute in Pułtusk, after scanning beneath the cathedral floor, discovered what they believed to be Copernicus' remains.(68) The find came after a year of searching, and the discovery was announced only after further research, on November 3, 2008. Gąssowski said he was "almost 100 percent sure it is Copernicus."{{Citation needed|date=January 2010}} Forensic expert Capt. Dariusz Zajdel of the Polish Police Central Forensic Laboratory used the skull to reconstruct a face that closely resembled the features—including a broken nose and a scar above the left eye—on a Copernicus self-portrait.{{Citation needed|date=January 2010}} The expert also determined that the skull belonged to a man who had died around age 70—Copernicus' age at the time of his death.(69) The DNA from the bones found in the grave matched hair samples taken from a book owned by Copernicus which was kept at the library of the University of Uppsala in Sweden.(70)(71)Copernican system
Predecessors
Philolaus (c. 480–385 BCE), a Greek philosopher of the Pythagorean school, described an astronomical system in which the Earth, Moon, Sun, planets, and stars all revolved about a central fire.(72) Heraclides Ponticus (387–312 BCE) proposed that the Earth rotates on its axis.(73) According to Archimedes, Aristarchus of Samos (310–230 BCE) wrote of heliocentric hypotheses in a book that does not survive.(74) Plutarch wrote that Aristarchus was accused of impiety for "putting the Earth in motion".(75)In a manuscript of De revolutionibus, Copernicus wrote, "It is likely that ... Philolaus perceived the mobility of the earth, which also some say was the opinion of Aristarchus of Samos", but later struck out the passage and omitted it from the published book.(76) Ptolemy
The prevailing theory in Europe during Copernicus' lifetime was the one that the Greek astronomer Ptolemy published in his Almagest circa 150 CE. Ptolemy's system drew on previous Greek theories in which the Earth was the stationary center of the universe. Stars were embedded in a large outer sphere which rotated rapidly, approximately daily, while each of the planets, the Sun, and the Moon were embedded in their own, smaller spheres. Ptolemy's system employed devices, including epicycles, deferents and equants, to account for observations that the paths of these bodies differed from simple, circular orbits centered on the Earth.Copernicus
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Mid-16th-century portrait (77)
Copernicus' major theory was published in De revolutionibus orbium coelestium (On the Revolutions of the Celestial Spheres), in the year of his death, 1543, though he had formulated the theory several decades earlier.Copernicus' "Commentariolus" summarized his heliocentric theory. It listed the "assumptions" upon which the theory was based as follows:(78)1. There is no one center of all the celestial circles or spheres.
2. The center of the earth is not the center of the universe, but only of gravity and of the lunar sphere.
3. All the spheres revolve about the sun as their mid-point, and therefore the sun is the center of the universe.
4. The ratio of the earth's distance from the sun to the height of the firmament (outermost celestial sphere containing the stars) is so much smaller than the ratio of the earth's radius to its distance from the sun that the distance from the earth to the sun is imperceptible in comparison with the height of the firmament.
5. Whatever motion appears in the firmament arises not from any motion of the firmament, but from the earth's motion. The earth together with its circumjacent elements performs a complete rotation on its fixed poles in a daily motion, while the firmament and highest heaven abide unchanged.
6. What appear to us as motions of the sun arise not from its motion but from the motion of the earth and our sphere, with which we revolve about the sun like any other planet. The earth has, then, more than one motion.
7. The apparent retrograde and direct motion of the planets arises not from their motion but from the earth's. The motion of the earth alone, therefore, suffices to explain so many apparent inequalities in the heavens.
De revolutionibus itself was divided into six parts, called "books":
- General vision of the heliocentric theory, and a summarized exposition of his idea of the World
- Mainly theoretical, presents the principles of spherical astronomy and a list of stars (as a basis for the arguments developed in the subsequent books)
- Mainly dedicated to the apparent motions of the Sun and to related phenomena
- Description of the Moon and its orbital motions
- Concrete exposition of the new system
- Concrete exposition of the new system
Successors
Georg Joachim Rheticus could have been Copernicus' successor, but did not rise to the occasion.Copernicanism
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Copernicus, astronomer
At original publication, Copernicus' epoch-making book caused only mild controversy, and provoked no fierce sermons about contradicting Holy Scripture. It was only three years later, in 1546, that a Dominican, Giovanni Maria Tolosani, denounced the theory in an appendix to a work defending the absolute truth of Scripture.(79) He also noted that the Master of the Sacred Palace (i.e., the Catholic Church's chief censor), Bartolomeo Spina, a friend and fellow Dominican, had planned to condemn De revolutionibus but had been prevented from doing so by his illness and death.(80)Arthur Koestler, in his popular book The Sleepwalkers, asserted that Copernicus' book had not been widely read on its first publication.(81) This claim was trenchantly criticised by Edward Rosen,(82) and has been decisively disproved by Owen Gingerich, who examined every surviving copy of the first two editions and found copious marginal notes by their owners throughout many of them. Gingerich published his conclusions in 2004 in The Book Nobody Read.(83)It has been much debated why it was not until six decades after Spina and Tolosani's attacks on Copernicus's work that the Catholic Church took any official action against it. Proposed reasons have included the personality of Galileo Galilei and the availability of evidence such as telescope observations.In March 1616, in connection with the Galileo affair, the Roman Catholic Church's Congregation of the Index issued a decree suspending De revolutionibus until it could be "corrected," on the grounds that the supposedly Pythagorean doctrine(84) that the Earth moves and the Sun does not was "false and altogether opposed to Holy Scripture."(85) The same decree also prohibited any work that defended the mobility of the Earth or the immobility of the Sun, or that attempted to reconcile these assertions with Scripture.On the orders of Pope Paul V, Cardinal Robert Bellarmine gave Galileo prior notice that the decree was about to be issued, and warned him that he could not "hold or defend" the Copernican doctrine.(86) The corrections to De revolutionibus, which omitted or altered nine sentences, were issued four years later, in 1620.(87)In 1633 Galileo Galilei was convicted of grave suspicion of heresy for "following the position of Copernicus, which is contrary to the true sense and authority of Holy Scripture,"(88) and was placed under house arrest for the rest of his life.The Catholic Church's 1758 Index of Prohibited Books omitted the general prohibition of works defending heliocentrism,(89) but retained the specific prohibitions of the original uncensored versions of De revolutionibus and Galileo's Dialogue Concerning the Two Chief World Systems. Those prohibitions were finally dropped from the 1835 Index.(90)Nationality
"The nationality of Copernicus has been disputed among modern scholars almost as violently as the territory he lived in has been, down the ages."
Says historian John David North comparing the nationality discourse to the war that led to the cession of Royal Prussia to the Polish king roughly a decade before Copernicus' birth.(91) North describes Copernicus as "a subject to the Polish king, drawing heavily on German culture," but also points out the strong influences of Italy and the Roman Catholic Church.(92) Astronomer Konrad Rudnicki describes the discourse as a "fierce scholarly quarrel in the times of nationalism", and says Copernicus was an inhabitant of a German-speaking territory belonging to Poland and of mixed German-Polish extraction.(93) According to Czesław Miłosz, the discourse is an "absurd" projection of a modern understanding of nationality on Renaissance people, who identified with their home territories.(94) Historian Norman Davies similarly says that Copernicus, as was common for his era, was "largely indifferent" to nationality and a local patriot considering himself "Prussian".(95) Miłosz and Davies say that despite his German-speaking background, his working language was Latin.(96) Davies concludes:"Taking everything into consideration, there is good reason to regard him both as a German and as a Pole, yet in the sense that modern nationalists understand it, he was neither."(97) Encyclopedia Americana,(98) The Columbia Encyclopedia,(99) The Oxford World Encyclopedia,(100) and the Microsoft Encarta Online Encyclopedia(101) identify Copernicus as Polish, the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy states: "Thus the child of a German family was a subject of the Polish crown."(102)Copernicium
On July 14, 2009, the discoverers, from the Gesellschaft für Schwerionenforschung in Darmstadt, Germany, of chemical element 112 (temporarily named ununbium) proposed to the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry that its permanent name be "copernicium" (symbol Cn). "After we had named elements after our city and our state, we wanted to make a statement with a name that was known to everyone," said Hofmann. "We didn't want to select someone who was a German. We were looking world-wide." (103)On the 537th anniversary of his birthday the official naming was released to the public.(104)See also
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[Copernicus was not, however, the first to propose some form of heliocentric system. A Greek mathematician and astronomer, Aristarchus of Samos, had already done so as early as the third century BCE. Nevertheless, there is little evidence that he ever developed his ideas beyond a very basic outline (Dreyer, 1953, pp. 135–48; Linton, 2004, p. 39).]
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[A self-portrait helped confirm the identity of his cranium when it was discovered at Frombork Cathedral in 2008. Kraków's Jagiellonian University has a 17th-century copy of Copernicus' 16th-century self-portrait. weblink "Copernicus," Encyclopaedia Britannica, 15th ed., 2005, vol. 16, p. 760.]
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[Jerzy Dobrzycki and Leszek Hajdukiewicz, "Kopernik,Mikołaj", Polski słownik biograficzny, vol. XIV, 1969, p. 4.]
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["The name of the village, not unlike that of the astronomer's family, has been variously spelled. A large German atlas of Silesia, published by Wieland in Nuremberg in 1731, spells it Kopernik." Stephen Mizwa, Nicolaus Copernicus, 1543-1943, Kessinger Publishing, 1943, p. 36. (weblink)]
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[Jerzy Dobrzycki and Leszek Hajdukiewicz, "Kopernik, Mikołaj", Polski słownik biograficzny, vol. XIV, 1969, p. 3.]
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[Barbara Bieńkowska, The Scientific World of Copernicus, Springer, 1973 weblink]
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[Eugeniusz Rybka for Polska Akademia Nauk (the Polish Academy of Sciences), The Review of the Polish Academy of Sciences: Nicolaus Copernicus' Relationship with Cracow, Ossolineum, 1973, p. 23. weblink]
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[Josh Sakolsky, Copernicus and Modern Astronomy, Rosen Publishing Group, 2005, p. 8. weblink]
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[Marian Biskup, Regesta Copernicana (calendar of Copernicus' papers), Ossolineum, 1973, p. 16. weblink]
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["The mother of Barbara and Lucas was a Modlibog." Alexandre Koyre: Astronomical Revolution, Copernicus - Kepler - Borelli. Cornell University Press, 1973, ISBN 0-486-27095-5, p. 78. (weblink)]
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[Adrian Krzyzanowski and John Sniadecki: Copernicus and His Native Land, "The Foreign and Colonial Quarterly Review". Smith, Elder & Co., 1844, p. 367. (weblink)]
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[Stephen Mizwa: Nicolaus Copernicus, 1543-1943. Kessinger Publishing, 1943, p. 38.]
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[Czesław Miłosz, The History of Polish Literature, University of California Press, 1983, p. 38. weblink]
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[Dobrzycki and Hajdukiewicz, Polski słownik biograficzny, vol. XIV, 1969, p. 4.]
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[The Head Office of State Archives, Poland, "Copernicus' Biography", accessed 5/22/09, weblink]
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[Jerzy Dobrzycki and Leszek Hajdukiewicz, "Kopernik, Mikołaj", Polski słownik biograficzny, vol. XIV, 1969, p. 4.]
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[Jeremi Wasiutyński, The Solar Mystery: An Inquiry Into the Temporal and the Eternal Background of the Rise of Modern Civilization, Solum Forlag, 2003, p. 29. weblink]
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["In 1512, Bishop Watzenrode died suddenly after attending King Sigismund's wedding feast in Kraków. Rumors abounded that the bishop had been poisoned by agents of his long-time foe, the Teutonic Knights." Alan Hirshfeld: Parallax: The race to Measure the Cosmos. W.H. Freemand and Company, 2001, ISBN 0-7167-3711-6, p. 38. (weblink)]
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["The Watzelrodes - or Watzenrodes - in spite of their rather Germanic name seemed to have been good Poles (enemies of the Teutonic Order). Alexandre Koyre: Astronomical Revolution, Copernicus - Kepler - Borelli. Cornell University Press, 1973, ISBN 0-486-27095-5, p. 38 (weblink)]
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["[Watzenrode] was also firm, and the Teutonic Knights, who remained a constant menace, did not like him at all; the Grand Master of the order once described him as 'the devil incarnate'. [Watzenrode] was the trusted friend and advisor of three kings in succession: John Albert, Alexander (not to be confused with the poisoning pope), and Sigismund; and his influence greatly strengthened the ties between Warmia and Poland proper." Patrick Moore: The Great Astronomical Revolution: 1534-1687 and the Space Age Epilogue. Albion Publishing, 1994, ISBN 1-898563-18-7, pp. 52, 62 (weblink).]
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[{{BBKL|w/watzenrode|autor=Wojciech Iwanczak|artikel=WATZENRODE, Lucas|band=13|spalte=389-393}}]
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["Lucas was on more friendly terms with his successors, Johann Albert (Jan Olbracht) (from 1492 to 1501), and later Alexander (Aleksander) (from 1501 to 1506), and Sigismund (Zygmunt) I (from 1506)." Pierre Gassendi & Olivier Thill: The Life of Copernicus (1473-1543): The Man Who Did Not Change the World. Xulon Press, 2002, ISBN 1-59160-193-2, p. 22. (weblink)]
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["[Watzenrode] was also firm, and the Teutonic Knights, who remained a constant menace, did not like him at all; the Grand Master of the order once described him as 'the devil incarnate'. [Watzenrode] was the trusted friend and advisor of three kings in succession: John Albert, Alexander (not to be confused with the poisoning pope), and Sigismund; and his influence greatly strengthened the ties between Warmia and Poland proper." Patrick Moore: The Great Astronomical Revolution: 1534-1687 and the Space Age Epilogue. Albion Publishing, 1994, ISBN 1-898563-18-7, pp. 52, 62. (weblink)]
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["He spoke German, Polish and Latin with equal fluency as well as Italian." Daniel Stone: The Polish-Lithuanian State, 1386-1795. University of Washington Press, 2001, ISBN 0-295-98093-1, p. 101. (weblink)]
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["He spoke Polish, Latin and Greek." Barbara Somerville: Nicolaus Copernicus: Father of Modern Astronomy. Compass Point Books, 2005, ISBN 0-7565-0812-6, p. 10. (weblink).]
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["He was a linguist with a command of Polish, German and Latin, and he possessed also a knowledge of Greek rare at that period in northeastern Europe and probably had some acquaintance with Italian and Hebrew." Angus Armitage: Copernicus and Modern Astronomy. Dover Publications, 2004 (originally 1957), ISBN 0-486-43907-0, p. 62.]
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[He used Latin and German, knew enough Greek to translate the 7th-century Byzantine poet Theophylact Simocatta's verses into Latin prose (Armitage, The World of Copernicus, pp. 75–77), and "there is ample evidence that he knew the Polish language" (Norman Davies, God's Playground, vol. II, p. 26). During his several years' studies in Italy, Copernicus presumably would also have learned some Italian. Professor Stefan Melkowski of Nicolaus Copernicus University in Toruń likewise asserts that Copernicus spoke both Polish and German. (weblink "O historii i o współczesności" ("About History and Contemporaneity"), May 2003.])]
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["Deutsch war für Kopernikus Muttersprache und Alltagssprache, wenn auch der schriftliche Umgang fast ausschließlich auf Lateinisch erfolgte." Martin Carrier: Nikolaus Kopernikus. Beck'sche Reihe, C. H. Beck, 2001, ISBN 3-406-47577-9, 9783406475771, p. 192. (online)]
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["Although great importance has frequently been ascribed to this fact, it does not by any means imply that Copernicus ever considered himself to be a German. The 'nationes' of a medieval university had nothing in common with nations in the modern sense of the word. Students who were natives of Prussia and Silesia were automatically described as belonging to the Natio Germanorum. Furthmore, at Bologna, this was the 'privileged' nation; consequently, Copernicus had very good reason for inscribing himself on its register." Alexandre Koyre: Astronomical Revolution, Copernicus - Kepler - Borelli. Cornell University Press, 1973, ISBN 0-486-27095-5, p. 21. (weblink)]
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["It is important to recognize, however, that the medievel Latin concept of natio, or "nation," referred to the community of feudal lords both in Germany and elsewhere, not to "the people" in the nineteenth-century democratic or nationalistic sense of the word." Lonnie Johnson: Central Europe: Enemies, Neighbors, Friends. Oxford University Press, 1996, ISBN 0-19-510071-9, p. 23. (weblink)]
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[Arthur Koestler, The Sleepwalkers, 1968, p. 129.]
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[Pierre Gassendi, Oliver Thill, The Life of Copernicus (1473-1543), 2002, p. 37.]
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[Nicolaus Copernicus et al., Copernicus Gesamtausgabe. Documenta Copernicana I.: Briefe, Texte und Übersetzungen]
, 1996, p. 39.
[Rosen (1995, p. 127).]
[HTTP://GLOS.UNI.TORUN.PL/2003/05/HISTORIA/>TITLE=O HISTORII I O WSPółCZESNOśCI (ON HISTORY AND THE PRESENT DAY), 2007-04-22, Polish, Melkowski, Stefan, May, 2003, ]
["Kopernik, Koperek, Kopr and Koprnik in Polish—also similarly in other Slavonic languages—means simply dill such as is used in dill pickling. Be it as it may, although the present writer is more inclined towards the occupational interpretation, it is interesting to note ..." Stephen Mizwa, Nicolaus Copernicus, 1543–1943, Kessinger Publishing, 1943, p. 37.]
[Armitage, p. 51.]
[Gingerich (2004), p. 143.]
[Nicolaus Copernicus Gesamtausgabe: Urkunden, Akten und Nachrichten: Texte und Übersetzungen, p. 23 ff. ISBN 3-05-003009-7.]
[Marian Biskup, Regesta Copernicana (Calendar of Copernicus' Papers), Ossolineum, 1973, page 32.]
[Biskup (1973), pp. 38, 82.]
[Carlo Malagola, Della vita e delle opere di Antonio Urceo detto Codro: studi e ricerche, 1878, pp. 562–65.]
[ENCYCLOPEDIA, Encyclopædia Britannica Online, Copernicus, Nicolaus,weblink 2009-11-21, 2009, Encyclopædia Britannica, ]
[Maximilian Curtze, Ueber die Orthographie des Namens Coppernicus, 1879, weblink.]
[Angus Armitage, The World of Copernicus, p. 55.]
[Jerzy Dobrzycki and Leszek Hajdukiewicz, "Kopernik, Mikołaj", Polski słownik biograficzny, pp. 4-5.]
[Jerzy Dobrzycki and Leszek Hajdukiewicz, "Kopernik, Mikołaj", Polski słownik biograficzny, p. 5.]
[Jerzy Dobrzycki and Leszek Hajdukiewicz, "Kopernik, Mikołaj", Polski słownik biograficzny, pp. 5-6.]
[Jerzy Dobrzycki and Leszek Hajdukiewicz, "Kopernik, Mikołaj", Polski słownik biograficzny, p. 6.]
[Jerzy Dobrzycki and Leszek Hajdukiewicz, "Kopernik,Mikołaj", Polski słownik biograficzny, p. 6.]
[Rabin(2005).]
[Gingerich(2004, pp. 187–89, 201); Koyré(1973, p. 94); Kuhn(1957, p. 93); Rosen(2004, p. 123); Rabin(2005). Robbins(1964, p.x), however, includes Copernicusamong a list of Renaissance astronomers who "either practiced astrologythemselves or countenanced its practice."]
Work
missing image!
- Jan Matejko-Astronomer Copernicus-Conversation with God.jpg -
Astronomer Copernicus: Conversation with God, by Matejko
Having completed all his studies in Italy, 30-year-old Copernicus returned to Warmia, where he would live out the remaining 40 years of his life. The Prince-Bishopric of Warmia enjoyed substantial autonomy, with its own diet, army, monetary unit (the same as in the other parts of Royal Prussia) and treasury.[Sedlar (1994).]
[Jerzy Dobrzycki and Leszek Hajdukiewicz, "Kopernik, Mikołaj", Polski słownik biograficzny, p. 7.]
[Angus Armitage, The World of Copernicus, pp. 75–77.]
[Jerzy Dobrzycki and Leszek Hajdukiewicz, "Kopernik, Mikołaj", Polski słownik biograficzny, p. 7.]
[Jerzy Dobrzycki and Leszek Hajdukiewicz, "Kopernik, Mikołaj", Polski słownik biograficzny, pp. 7-8.]
[Repcheck (2007), p. 66.]
[Copernicus, Nicolaus, Minor Works (Edward Rosen, translator), Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1992, pp. 176–215.]
[Oliver Volckart, "Early Beginnings of the Quantity Theory of Money and Their Context in Polish and Prussian Monetary Policies, c. 1520–1550", The Economic History Review, New Series 50 (August 1997) 3, pp. 430–49.]
[Jerzy Dobrzycki and Leszek Hajdukiewicz, "Kopernik, Mikołaj", Polski słownik biograficzny, vol. XIV, 1969, p. 11.]
[Angus Armitage, The World of Copernicus, pp. 97–98.]
[Angus Armitage, The World of Copernicus, p. 98.]
[Kuhn, 1957, pp. 187–88.]
[A reference to the "Commentariolus" is contained in a library catalogue, dated May 1st, 1514, of a 16th-century historian, Matthew of Miechow, so it must have begun circulating before that date (Koyré, 1973, p.85; Gingerich, 2004, p.32). Thoren (1990, p.99) gives the length of the manuscript as 40 pages.]
[Koyré (1973, pp. 27, 90) and Rosen (1995, pp. 64,184) take the view that Copernicus was indeed concerned about possible objections from theologians, while Lindberg and Numbers (1986) argue against it. Koestler (1963) also denies it. Indirect evidence that Copernicus was concerned about objections from theologians comes from a letter written to him by Andreas Osiander in 1541, in which Osiander advises Copernicus to adopt a proposal by which he says "you will be able to appease the Peripatetics and theologians whose opposition you fear." (Koyré, 1973, pp. 35, 90)]
[Dreyer (1953, p.319).]
[WEB, Easton, Adam,weblink Polish tests 'confirm Copernicus', 18 January 2010, BBC News, 21 November 2008, ]
[Bowcott, Owen (21 November 2008). "16th-century skeleton identified as astronomer Copernicus" The Guardian. Retrieved 18 January 2010.]
[JOURNAL, Bogdanowicz, W., et al., 2009, Genetic identification of putative remains of the famous astronomer Nicolaus Copernicus, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, PNAS, 106, 12279–12282, 10.1073/pnas.0901848106, .]
[JOURNAL, Gingerich, O., 2009, The Copernicus grave mystery, PNAS, 106, 12215–12216, 10.1073/pnas.0907491106, .]
[Dreyer (1953, pp. 40–52); Linton (2004, p. 20).]
[Dreyer (1953, pp. 123–35); Linton (2004, p. 24).]
[Archimedes refers to Aristarchus's book in The Sand Reckoner. Heath's (1913, p.302) translation of the relevant passage reads: "You ['you' being King Gelon] are aware that 'universe' is the name given by most astronomers to the sphere the center of which is the center of the Earth, while its radius is equal to the straight line between the center of the Sun and the center of the Earth. This is the common account as you have heard from astronomers. But Aristarchus has brought out a book consisting of certain hypotheses, wherein it appears, as a consequence of the assumptions made, that the universe is many times greater than the 'universe' just mentioned. His hypotheses are that the fixed stars and the Sun remain unmoved, that the Earth revolves about the Sun on the circumference of a circle, the Sun lying in the middle of the orbit, and that the sphere of the fixed stars, situated about the same center as the Sun, is so great that the circle in which he supposes the Earth to revolve bears such a proportion to the distance of the fixed stars as the center of the sphere bears to its surface." The bracketed insertion is in Heath's translation.]
[BOOK,weblink Jean-Louis & Monique, Tassoul, Concise History of Solar and Stellar Physics, Princeton University, 2004, ]
[Dreyer (1953, pp. 314–15).]
[Photograph of a portrait of Copernicus by an unknown painter. The original was looted—possibly destroyed—by the Germans in World War II. Jan Świeczyński, Katalog skradzionych i zaginionych dóbr kultury (Catalog of Stolen and Missing Cultural Property), Warsaw, Ośrodek Informacyjno-Koordynacyjny Ochrony Obiektów Muzealnych (Center of Information and Coordination for the Safeguarding of Museum Objects), 1988.]
[Rosen (2004, pp. 58–59).]
[Rosen (1995, pp.151–59)]
[Rosen (1995, p.158)]
[Koestler (1959, p.191)]
[Rosen (1995, pp.187–192), originally published in 1967 in Saggi su Galileo Galilei . Rosen is particularly scathing about this and other statements in The Sleepwalkers which he criticises as inaccurate.]
[Gingerich (2004), DeMarco (2004) weblink]
[In fact, in the Pythagorean cosmological system the Sun was not motionless.]
[Decree of the General Congregation of the Index, March 5, 1616, translated from the Latin by Finocchiaro (1989, pp.148-149). An weblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20070930013053weblink">on-line copy of Finocchiaro's translation has been made available by Gagné (2005).]
[Fantoli (2005, pp.118–19); Finocchiaro (1989, pp.148, 153). On-line copies of Finocchiaro's translations of the relevant documents, weblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20070930013053weblink">Inquisition Minutes of 25 February, 1616 and weblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20070930013053weblink">Cardinal Bellarmine's certificate of 26 May, 1616, have been made available by Gagné (2005). This notice of the decree would not have prevented Galileo from discussing heliocentrism solely as a mathematical hypothesis, but a stronger weblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20070930013053weblink">formal injunction (Finocchiaro, 1989, p.147-148) not to teach it "in any way whatever, either orally or in writing", allegedly issued to him by the Commissary of the Holy Office, Father Michelangelo Segizzi, would certainly have done so (Fantoli, 2005, pp.119–20, 137). There has been much controversy over whether the copy of this injunction in the Vatican archives is authentic; if so, whether it was ever issued; and if so, whether it was legally valid (Fantoli, 2005, pp.120–43).]
[Catholic Encyclopedia.]
[From the Inquisition's sentence of June 22, 1633 (de Santillana, 1976, pp.306-10; Finocchiaro weblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20070930013053weblink">1989, pp. 287-91)]
[Heilbron (2005, p. 307); Coyne (2005, p. 347).]
[McMullin (2005, p. 6); Coyne (2005, pp. 346-47).]
[BOOK, North, John David, Cosmos. An illustrated history of astronomy and cosmology, University of Chicago Press, 2008, 0226594416, 305, ]
[ Historian Michael Burleigh describes the nationality debate as a "customary tustle" and "totally insignificant battle" between German and Polish scholars during the interwar period.][BOOK, Burleigh, Michael, Germany turns eastwards. A study of Ostforschung in the Third Reich, CUP Archive, 1988, 0521351200, 60, 133, 280, ]
[JOURNAL, Rudnicki, Konrad, 2006, November-December, The Genuine Copernican Cosmological Principle, Southern Cross Review, note 2,weblink 2010-01-21, ]
[BOOK, Miłosz, Czesław, The history of Polish literature, University of California Press, 1983, 2, 0520044770, 37, ]
[BOOK, Davies, Norman, God's playground. A History of Poland in Two Volumes, Oxford University Press, 2005, II, 0199253404, 20, ]
[ Davies further says that though his contacts were primarily with German-speaking Prussians, there is evidence that Copernicus also knew Polish.][ According to Davies, it was in the period of nationalism that "great efforts were made to prove and exaggerate the `Polishness`" of Copernicus, Curie, Chopin, Conrad and others to generate a sense of national pride.][BOOK, Davies, Norman, God's playground. A History of Poland in Two Volumes, Oxford University Press, 2005, II, 0199253404, 19, ][Encyclopædia Britannica,][ENCYCLOPEDIA, Encyclopædia Britannica Online, Copernicus, Nicolaus,weblink 2007-09-21, 2007, Encyclopædia Britannica, ]
["Copernicus, Nicolaus", Encyclopedia Americana, 1986, vol. 7, pp. 755–56.]
["Nicholas Copernicus", The Columbia Encyclopedia, sixth edition, 2008. Encyclopedia.com. 18 July 2009.]
["Copernicus, Nicolaus", The Oxford World Encyclopedia, Oxford University Press, 1998.]
[ENCYCLOPEDIA, Encarta, Microsoft Encarta Online Encyclopedia, Nicolaus Copernicus, Polish astronomer,weblink 2007-09-21, 2007, Microsoft,weblink 2009-11-01, yes, ]
[WEB,weblink Nicolaus Copernicus, 2007-04-22, Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, ]
[July 14, 2009 - Element 112 shall be named “copernicium”,weblink]
[WEB,weblink Element 112 is Named Copernicium, Terrence, Renner, International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry, 2010-02-20, 2010-02-20, ]
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, Lindberg, David C. and Numbers, Ronald L.
, 2007-04-22
, American Scientific Affiliation article, - Paper originally published in Church History (Vol. 55, No. 3, Sept. 1986).
- BOOK, From Eudoxus to Einstein—A History of Mathematical Astronomy
, Linton, Christopher M.
, Cambridge University Press
, 2004
, Cambridge
, 978-0-521-82750-8
, Reference-Linton-2004,
- BOOK, Manetho Ptolemy Tetrabiblos, Manetho, Ptolemy, Loeb Classical Library edition, translated by W.G.Waddell and F.E.Robbins Ph.D., 1964, 1940, London, William Heinemann, Reference-Waddell&Robbins-1964
,
, The Church and Galileo
, McMullin, Ernan, ed.
, University of Notre Dame Press
, 2005
, Notre Dame, IN
, 0-268-03483-4
, Reference-McMullin-2005,
,
Copernicus, Rabin, Sheila
, The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Summer 2005 Edition), Edward N. Zalta (ed.)
, 2005
, 2008-05-26
,
weblink
- BOOK, Tetrabiblos, Ptolemy, Claudius, Loeb Classical Library edition, translated by F.E.Robbins Ph.D., 1964, 1940, London, William Heinemann, Reference-Robbins-1964
,
- BOOK, Repcheck, Jack, Copernicus' Secret: How the Scientific Revolution Began, Simon & Schuster, New York, 2007, 0-7432-8951-X
,
, Copernicus and his Successors
, Rosen, Edward
, Hambledon Press
, 1995
, 1 85285 071 X
, London
, Reference-Rosen-1995,
, Three Copernican Treatises:The Commentariolus of Copernicus;
The Letter against Werner; The Narratio Prima of Rheticus
, Rosen, Edward (translator)
, Dover Publications
, Second Edition, revised
, 2004
, 1939
, 0486436055
, New York, NY
, Reference-Rosen-2004,
, Inventing the Flat Earth—Columbus and Modern Historians
,
Jeffrey Burton Russell, Russell, Jeffrey Burton, Praeger
, 1997
, 1991
, 0-275-95904-X
, New York, NY
, Reference-Russell-1997,
- BOOK, The Crime of Galileo
, Giorgio
, de Santillana
, Giorgio de Santillana
,
weblink, 1955
, Universtiy of Chicago Press
, 1976—Midway reprint
, Chicago, Ill
, 0-226-73481-1
, Reference-Santillana-1976,
, East Central Europe in the Middle Ages 1000-1500
, Sedlar, Jean W.
, University of Washington Press
, 0295972904
, 1994
,
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, The Lord of Uraniborg
, Victor E.
,
weblink, Thoren
, Cambridge University Press
, 1990
, 0-521-35158-8
, Cambridge
, thoren-1990, (A biography of Danish astronomer and alchemist
Tycho Brahe.)
Further reading
- BOOK, Danielson, Dennis Richard, The First Copernican: Georg Joachim Rheticus and the Rise of the Copernican Revolution, Walker & Company, New York, 2006, 0-8027-1530-3
,
- BOOK, Prowe, Leopold, Leopold Prowe, Nicolaus Coppernicus,weblink 1884, Weidmannsche Verlagsbuchhandlung, Berlin, German
,
- Nicolaus Copernicus Gesamtausgabe (Nicolaus Copernicus Complete Edition; in German and Latin; 9 volumes, 1974–2004), various editors, Berlin, Akademie Verlag. A large collection of writings by and about Copernicus.
- Nicolaus Copernicus Gesamtausgabe: Biographies and Portraits of Copernicus from 16th to 18th century, Biographia Copernicana, 2004, ISBN 3-05-003848-9 weblink weblink
- {{NDB|3|348|355|Copernicus, Nicolaus|Schmauch, Hans}}
- {{de-ADB|4|461|469|Copernicus, Nicolaus|Bruhns, Christian|ADB:Copernicus, Nicolaus}}
External links
{{wikisourcelang|la|Scriptor:Nicolaus Copernicus|Nicolaus Copernicus}}{{wikisourcelang|de}}{{commons|Nicolaus Copernicus}}
- Primary Sources
- General
- About De Revolutionibus
- Legacy
{{Persondata|NAME= Copernicus, Nicolaus|ALTERNATIVE NAMES=|SHORT DESCRIPTION= astronomer|DATE OF BIRTH= 19 February 1473Toruń (Thorn), Royal Prussia, Kingdom of Poland (1385–1569)>Poland|DATE OF DEATH= 24 May 1543|PLACE OF DEATH= Frombork (Frauenburg), Warmia (Ermeland)}}Nicolaas Copernicusنيكولاس كوبرنيكوسNikolay Kopernikনিকোলাউস কোপের্নিকুস(zh-min-nan:Nicolaus Copernicus)Николай КоперникМікалай Капернік(be-x-old:Мікалай Капэрнік)Nikola KopernikNicolau CopèrnicMikuláš KoperníkNicolaus CopernicusNicolaus KopernikusNikolaus KopernikusMikołaj KopernikΝικόλαος ΚοπέρνικοςNicolás CopérnicoKopernikoNikolas Kopernikoنیکلاس کوپرنیکNicolas CopernicNicolaus CopernicusNicolaus CopernicusNicolaus CopernicusNicolás Copérnico니콜라우스 코페르니쿠스Նիկոլայ Կոպեռնիկոսनिकोलस कोपरनिकसNikola KopernikNicolaus CopernicusNikulás KópernikusNiccolò Copernicoניקולאוס קופרניקוסNicolaus Copernicusნიკოლოზ კოპერნიკიNicolaus CopernicusNîkolaws KopernîkusNicolaus CopernicusNikolajs KoperniksMikalojus KopernikasNikolausz KopernikuszНикола Коперникനിക്കോളാസ് കോപ്പർനിക്കസ്निकोलस कोपर्निकसНиколай Коперникကော်ပါးနိကပ်စ်Nicolaas Copernicus(nds-nl:Nicolaus Copernicus)ニコラウス・コペルニクスNikolaus KopernikusNikolaus KopernikusMikołaj KopernikNicolau CopérnicoNicolaus CopernicNicolaus CopernicusКоперник, Николайनिकोलस कपरनिकसNikola Kopernikuනිකොලස් කොප'නිකස්Nicolaus CopernicusMikuláš KopernikNikolaj KopernikНикола КоперникNikola KopernikNikolaus KopernikusNicolaus CopernicusNicolaus Copernicusநிக்கோலாஸ் கோப்பர்னிக்கஸ்నికోలాస్ కోపర్నికస్นิโคเลาส์ โคเปอร์นิคัสНиколай КоперникNicolaus CopernicusМикола КоперникNicolaus CopernicusNicolaus Copernicus(fiu-vro:Kopernigu Mikołaj)Nicolaus Copernicus(zh-yue:哥白尼)(bat-smg:Mėkaluos Kuoperniks)尼古拉·哥白尼 |
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