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| Nicolaus (or Nicholas) Copernicus (Low German Koppernigk)(1473-1543) was born in Thorn Prussia and died in Ermeland Prussia. He became an astronomer, who developed a heliocentric (Sun-centered) theory of the solar system. He was also Domherr of Frauenburg , Prussia and he administered medicine to the people of Prussia. | |||
| ⚫ | His major theory was published in the book De revolutionibus orbium coelestium ("On the Revolutions of the Heavenly Spheres") in the year of his death 1543, even though he had arrived at it several decades earlier. This book marks the beginning of the shift from a geocentric? (and anthropocentric?) universe. Copernicus held that the Earth is another planet revolving around the fixed sun once a year, and turning on its axis once a day. The theory, unfortunately, still had some serious defects, like circular as opposed to elliptical orbits and epicycle?s, that made it no more precise in predicting ephemerides than the then current tables based on Ptolemy's model. But it had a large influence on scientists such as Galileo and Kepler, who adopted, championed and, in Kepler's case, improved the model. The book was put on the ? in 1616 by the Roman Catholic Church. Galileo's observation of the phases of Venus produced the first observational evidence for Copernicus' theory. | ||
| ⚫ | His major theory was published in the book |
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| ⚫ | Legend says that a printed copy of De revolutionibus was put in Copernicus's hands shortly before his death so that he could say goodbye to his opus vitae. He awoke from his stroke induced coma, looked at his book, and died peacefully. | ||
| ⚫ | Legend says that a printed copy of |
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| Erasmus Reinhold helped spread the Copernican Theory throughout the empire. | |||
| Outside link to a map of Prussia . The city of Thorn is on the bottom left of the Prussia map at the Vistula River] | |||
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| <b>Polish or German?</b> | |||
| Copernicus is generally regarded as Polish, and in terms of the political geography of his time, this is undoubtedly correct. ], his place of birth, had passed from the suzerainty of the Order of ] to that of the King of ] shortly after his father's arrival there from ]. However, ethnically both his mother and father were most likely of German origin. The family name can be traced to the town of Koppernigk near ] in ], which was inhabited by Germans in the 14th century at the time of emigration from that region eastwards into Poland. No known letter written by him was in the ] -- they were all in ] or ]. However, that means little, as Latin was at the time the international language of scholars and those letters in German may have been addressed to Germans and therefore written in that language. | |||
| He was definitely Polish by allegiance (in terms of the politics of the time). In 1512, when he was Canon of the Chapter of Frombork, Copernicus swore allegiance to King ] of Poland. In 1520, after the outbreak of war between Poland and the Teutonic Knights, Copernicus was a member of the Polish embassy to the Grand Master requesting restoration of Braniewo to Poland. He also organized the defence of Olsztyn against the Order. | |||
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Revision as of 01:20, 19 December 2001
Nicolaus (or Nicholas) Copernicus (Low German Koppernigk)(1473-1543) was born in Thorn Prussia and died in Ermeland Prussia. He became an astronomer, who developed a heliocentric (Sun-centered) theory of the solar system. He was also Domherr of Frauenburg , Prussia and he administered medicine to the people of Prussia.
His major theory was published in the book De revolutionibus orbium coelestium ("On the Revolutions of the Heavenly Spheres") in the year of his death 1543, even though he had arrived at it several decades earlier. This book marks the beginning of the shift from a geocentric? (and anthropocentric?) universe. Copernicus held that the Earth is another planet revolving around the fixed sun once a year, and turning on its axis once a day. The theory, unfortunately, still had some serious defects, like circular as opposed to elliptical orbits and epicycle?s, that made it no more precise in predicting ephemerides than the then current tables based on Ptolemy's model. But it had a large influence on scientists such as Galileo and Kepler, who adopted, championed and, in Kepler's case, improved the model. The book was put on the ? in 1616 by the Roman Catholic Church. Galileo's observation of the phases of Venus produced the first observational evidence for Copernicus' theory.
Legend says that a printed copy of De revolutionibus was put in Copernicus's hands shortly before his death so that he could say goodbye to his opus vitae. He awoke from his stroke induced coma, looked at his book, and died peacefully.
Erasmus Reinhold helped spread the Copernican Theory throughout the empire.
Outside link to a map of Prussia . The city of Thorn is on the bottom left of the Prussia map at the Vistula River1
/Talk