Nicolaus Copernicus (19 February 1473 – 24 May

1543) was the first astronomer to formulate a

comprehensive heliocentric cosmology, which displaced

the Earth from the center of the universe
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,[3] 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.

In 1491 Copernicus enrolled in the Kraków Academy

(now Jagiellonian University). It was there that he

probably first encountered astronomy with Professor

Albert Brudzewski. Astronomy soon fascinated him,

and he began collecting a large library on the subject.

Copernicus' library would later be carried off as war

booty by the Swedes during the Deluge; it is now at

the Uppsala University Library.

After four years in Kraków, followed by a brief stay

back home in Toruń, Copernicus went to study law and

medicine at the universities of Bologna and Padua.

Copernicus' uncle, Lucas Watzenrode the Younger,

financed his education. Copernicus, however, while

studying canon and civil law at Bologna, met the

famous astronomer, Domenico Maria Novara da

Ferrara. Copernicus attended Novara's lectures and

became his disciple and assistant. Copernicus'

published the his first astronomical observations,

made with Novara in 1497, in De revolutionibus.

In 1497, Watzenrode was ordained Bishop of Warmia,

and Copernicus was named a canon at Frombork

Cathedral. But Copernicus remained in Italy, where he

attended the Jubilee of 1500. He also went to Rome,

where he observed a lunar eclipse and gave lectures in

astronomy and mathematics.

Copernicus returned to Frombork in 1501. As soon as

he arrived, he obtained permission to complete his

studies in Padua, where he studied medicine with

Guarico and Girolamo Fracastoro, and at Ferrara

where he received a doctorate in canon law in 1503.

One of the subjects that Copernicus must have

studied was astrology, since it was considered an

important part of a medical education.However, unlike

most other prominent Renaissance astronomers, he

appears never to have practiced or expressed any

interest in astrology.
His inventions
Polish astronomer Nicholas Copernicus (1473–1543;

also known as Mikolaj Kopernik) was the first scientist

to gain acceptance for the theory that the Earth

orbits around the Sun with other bodies in Earth's

galaxy (a large group of stars and other bodies). An

astronomer is a scientist who specializes in the study

of matter (anything that has form) in outer space.

This heliocentric (revolving around the Sun) theory

contradicted the ideas of Greek-Egyptian astronomer

Ptolemy (second century A.D.), who stated that the

Earth is the center of the universe. Ptolemy's theory

had been accepted for more than 1,400 years. In

270 B.C. Greek astronomer Aristarchus of Samos (c.

310–c. 230 B.C.) had suggested that the Earth

revolves around the Sun, but Copernicus's concept was

the first to be accepted as a valid scientific

possibility. Once...