A Mosaic of Science and Culture

Mikołaj Kopernik was born into a well-to-do merchant family on 19 February 1473 in Toruń (Poland). His parents died when he was twelve, and he was entrusted to his uncle and Protector Lucas Watzenrode, the Bishop of Warmia who sent him to the to the University of Krakow where Copernicus studied astronomy. University of Krakow where Copernicus studied astronomy.
After he went to Bologna to study Greek, mathematics, Plato.
In Padua he studied law and medicine and later to Ferrara to become Doctor of Canon Law.
Copernicus’ interests were many and varied, including theology, poetry, and the natural and social sciences. First of all he is remembered, however, for his work as an astronomer.

Copernicus is said to be the founder of modern astronomy. In his days, the common view of the world was the geocentric model the theory that the Earth is at the center of the universe and the Sun and other objects go around it.

However, as the astronomers of the day measured the motions of the heavenly bodies with increasing accuracy, and the theory was patched up to fit the measurements, it became an increasingly awkward theory. Copernicus proposed to simplify it by supposing that the sun, not the earth, was at the center. He first produced a summary of his theory in 1530 in a paper called the Commentariolus, which received papal approval.

He then spent the next thirteen years revising it, expanding it to book length, rechecking his calculations, rewriting his arguments, postponing publication until he was sure that he had not overlooked something. Finally, he entrusted it to Georg Rhaeticus, a 25 year old German mathematics professor at Leipzig who was attracted to the 66 year old cleric, having read one of his papers. Intending to spend a few weeks with Copernicus, Rheticus ended up staying as a house guest for two years, so fascinated was he with Copernicus and his theories.

He published the work, with a preface added by the Lutheran pastor Osiander stating that the heliocentric model was only a device to simplify computations. Copernicus was in no hurry to publish his theory, though parts of his work were circulated among a few of the astronomers that were giving the matter some thought; indeed, Copernicus' work might not have ever reached the printing press if it had not been for a young man who sought out the master in 1539. Now, up to this time, Copernicus was reluctant to publish, not so much that he was concerned with what the church might say about his novel theory.

The printed book, called De Revolutionibus Orbium Coelestium (The Revolutions of the Heavenly Bodies), was brought to Copernicus only a few hours before his death on 24 May 1543. His work roused little opposition at first, but when Galileo quarreled with the University establishment in Italy and finally with the Pope, the whole geocentric model fell under suspicion and Copernicus's book was placed on the Index "donec corrigetur" ("until it be corrected") from 1616 to 1758, but rather because he was a perfectionist and he never thought, even after working on it for thirty years, that his complete work was ready, -- there were, as far as Copernicus was concerned, observations to be checked and rechecked.
Interestingly, Copernicus' original manuscript, lost to the world for 300 years, was located in Prague in the middle of the 19th century; it shows Copernicus' pen was, it would appear, continually in motion with revision after revision; all in Latin as was the vogue for scholarly writings in those days.

The heliocentric model was eventually universally accepted by the scientific community, but it spread quite slowly. There were several reasons for this, on the one hand there certainly was a reticence to oppose the authority of the Church and of Aristotle.
The most important aspect of Copernicus' work is that it forever changed the place of man in the cosmos; no longer could man legitimately think his significance greater than his fellow creatures; with Copernicus' work, man could now take his place among that which exists all about him, and not of necessity take that premier position which had been assigned immodestly to him by the theologians.

"Of all discoveries and opinions, none may have exerted a greater effect on the human spirit than the doctrine of Copernicus. The world had scarcely become known as round and complete in itself when it was asked to waive the tremendous privilege of being the center of the universe. Never, perhaps, was a greater demand made on mankind - for by this admission so many things vanished in mist and smoke! What became of our Eden , our world of innocence, piety and poetry; the testimony of the senses; the conviction of a poetic - religious faith? No wonder his contemporaries did not wish to let all this go and offered every possible resistance to a doctrine which in its converts authorized and demanded a freedom of view and greatness of thought so far unknown, indeed not even dreamed of." [Goethe.]

Copernicus died on 24 May in 1543 and was never to know what a stir his work had caused. It went against the philosophical and religious beliefs that had been held during the medieval times. Man, it was believed (and still believed by some) was made God in His image, man was the next thing to God, and, as such, superior, especially in his best part, his soul, to all creatures, indeed this part was not even part of the natural world (a philosophy which has proved disastrous to the earth's environment as any casual observer of the 20th century might confirm by simply looking about). Copernicus' theories might well lead men to think that they are simply part of nature and not superior to it and that ran counter to the theories of the politically powerful churchmen of the time. In 2005 his body had been discovered under Frombork cathedral, where he was a canon, on Poland 's Baltic coast. The great astronomer had been buried under one of 16 altars on the south side of the building.