Nicolaus Copernicus
Nicolaus Copernicus, born in the year 1473, was an astronomer, scientist and mathematician who changed the world's view of the solar system and our planet dramatically. He identified the concept of a heliocentric solar system, which is where the sun is the centre of the universe that everything revolves around, not the Earth, unlike what people thought in back around 1514 and earlier.
A quick biography
Copernicus was born on February 19th 1473 in Torun, Poland. He was the fourth and youngest child to his parents. When he was ten years old, his father passed away. Copernicus's uncle took after Copernicus, making sure he got the best education possible. In 1491, Copernicus went to university and he studied painting and mathematics. Originally, he did not study astronomy but soon became fascinated by it and started collecting books about the topic. After many years, Copernicus had gone to many schools and studied astronomy in his spare time. It was only in 1508 that he started developing his own celestial model, a globe like sphere of space and how it all would all work. Copernicus used Ptolemy's model that was inconsistent to Aristotle's, to try and remove any certain inconsistencies which is how he ended up questioning if in fact it was the sun that was in the centre. In his model, he made the sun the centre of the universe. Even though his theory was truly revolutionary and brought of controversy, Copernicus wasn't the first person to come up with this theory. in 207 BC, an ancient Greek astronomer named Aristarchus of Samos had also declared the sun to be in the centre of the universe, but those theories were tossed aside in Copernicus's time since the Roman Catholic Church agreed with ptolemy's theory better as they were used to it. However, Copernicus's theory has been proven to be more in detail and more accurate than Aristarchus's.
[The Biography.com website, 2015].
How this changed the world's view and the controversy that followed
In 1514 Copernicus wrote a book called Commentariolus (Latin for "Small Commentary") that was about his model of the universe, explaining how it all worked and his observations and theories as well. Later in his life he created another written work called
De revolutionibus orbium coelestium, both of which {his written works} caused much controversy from the main stakeholders at the time, although not as serious as with other astronomers, like Galileo. In Copernicus's case, his first work didn't become too widely published but many other astronomers did accept it. The reason not many people knew about it because the church gave Copernicus a sort of ultimatum. The church liked Copernicus as he was a respected figure, so they simply told him to publish quietly so that not many people would read his works and get influenced by it. That was the first consequence he had to deal with. When he wrote his second piece, a publisher sent him a formal note asking permission to publish Copernicus's second work. More letters came, urging him to publish. Copernicus did want to publish, but he remembered the asking of the church and decided that his theories were too radical for the church's taste and so he declined. Eventually in 1543, two years before his death, he agreed to publish it.
[Shneiderman, 2001].
It was after Copernicus's death that his works became controversial. They were popular amongst scientists, but those who were very religious heavily disagreed. Martin Luther even called Copernicus “the fool who went against holy writ.". By 1600, there were so many people against Copernicus, mostly because it was the Church who made them think that way. One of the biggest consequences was that after 67 years after the book's publication, the Catholic Church had completely banned the book completely. It was placed on "Index Librorum Prohibitorum,” -the list of forbidden books, and it stayed on that list until 1838. The true acceptance of Copernicus's theories started developing once it was taken off of the banned book list, scientists who agreed with it from the start voice their own opinions, and soon there were large groups of people who added more research and eventually it led to where we are today. However, even the restriction of Copernicus's theories was significant. It made people realise that just because you've been one thing over and over, doesn't mean it's true. It also gave us a better understanding of just what an influence the Catholic Church had back then, and connect it to modern stakeholders.
[Shneiderman, 2001]. [The Biography.com website, 2015].
A quick biography
Copernicus was born on February 19th 1473 in Torun, Poland. He was the fourth and youngest child to his parents. When he was ten years old, his father passed away. Copernicus's uncle took after Copernicus, making sure he got the best education possible. In 1491, Copernicus went to university and he studied painting and mathematics. Originally, he did not study astronomy but soon became fascinated by it and started collecting books about the topic. After many years, Copernicus had gone to many schools and studied astronomy in his spare time. It was only in 1508 that he started developing his own celestial model, a globe like sphere of space and how it all would all work. Copernicus used Ptolemy's model that was inconsistent to Aristotle's, to try and remove any certain inconsistencies which is how he ended up questioning if in fact it was the sun that was in the centre. In his model, he made the sun the centre of the universe. Even though his theory was truly revolutionary and brought of controversy, Copernicus wasn't the first person to come up with this theory. in 207 BC, an ancient Greek astronomer named Aristarchus of Samos had also declared the sun to be in the centre of the universe, but those theories were tossed aside in Copernicus's time since the Roman Catholic Church agreed with ptolemy's theory better as they were used to it. However, Copernicus's theory has been proven to be more in detail and more accurate than Aristarchus's.
[The Biography.com website, 2015].
How this changed the world's view and the controversy that followed
In 1514 Copernicus wrote a book called Commentariolus (Latin for "Small Commentary") that was about his model of the universe, explaining how it all worked and his observations and theories as well. Later in his life he created another written work called
De revolutionibus orbium coelestium, both of which {his written works} caused much controversy from the main stakeholders at the time, although not as serious as with other astronomers, like Galileo. In Copernicus's case, his first work didn't become too widely published but many other astronomers did accept it. The reason not many people knew about it because the church gave Copernicus a sort of ultimatum. The church liked Copernicus as he was a respected figure, so they simply told him to publish quietly so that not many people would read his works and get influenced by it. That was the first consequence he had to deal with. When he wrote his second piece, a publisher sent him a formal note asking permission to publish Copernicus's second work. More letters came, urging him to publish. Copernicus did want to publish, but he remembered the asking of the church and decided that his theories were too radical for the church's taste and so he declined. Eventually in 1543, two years before his death, he agreed to publish it.
[Shneiderman, 2001].
It was after Copernicus's death that his works became controversial. They were popular amongst scientists, but those who were very religious heavily disagreed. Martin Luther even called Copernicus “the fool who went against holy writ.". By 1600, there were so many people against Copernicus, mostly because it was the Church who made them think that way. One of the biggest consequences was that after 67 years after the book's publication, the Catholic Church had completely banned the book completely. It was placed on "Index Librorum Prohibitorum,” -the list of forbidden books, and it stayed on that list until 1838. The true acceptance of Copernicus's theories started developing once it was taken off of the banned book list, scientists who agreed with it from the start voice their own opinions, and soon there were large groups of people who added more research and eventually it led to where we are today. However, even the restriction of Copernicus's theories was significant. It made people realise that just because you've been one thing over and over, doesn't mean it's true. It also gave us a better understanding of just what an influence the Catholic Church had back then, and connect it to modern stakeholders.
[Shneiderman, 2001]. [The Biography.com website, 2015].
A picture of Copernicus's published work.
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References for this pageBiography.com, 2015. Nicolaus Copernicus. [Online]
Available at: http://www.biography.com/people/nicolaus-copernicus-9256984 [Accessed 29 August 2015]. Shneiderman, D., 2001. What Consequences Did Copernicus Face for His Beliefs?. [Online] Available at: http://classroom.synonym.com/consequences-did-copernicus-face-his-beliefs-6380.html [Accessed 29 August 2015]. |