Facts of 'Nicolaus Copernicus'

'Nicolaus Copernicus'(1473 - 1543)

He never earned a bachelor's degree.

Nicolaus Copernicus was an astronomer who changed how we viewed the positioning of the Sun, Earth and other celestial objects in space. He reasoned that it was the Sun at the middle of the known Universe and not the Earth, an idea that was strongly opposed at the time.

1. The astronomical model that Copernicus developed was called heliocentrism (helios means Sun). It has the Sun motionless at the center of the Universe while the Earth and other planets rotate around it in circular paths. Many believe that the theory and ideas put forward by Copernicus started modern astronomy and were the beginning of a scientific revolution.

2. Copernicus's skills were not limited to just astronomy. Among other things, Copernicus was also a physician, scholar, economist, translator, mathematician, artist and diplomat. The chemical element Copernicum is named after Copernicus. It has the symbol Cn and atomic number 112.

3. He went to a lot of college, but there's no record of him ever earning a bachelor's degree. He attended the University of Cracow, the University of Bologna and the University of Padua. At the time, men didn't need to get a bachelor's for a church career or to study for a higher degree, so Copernicus's career path wasn't unusual, according to Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy.

4. Famous Nicolaus Copernicus quote "For when a ship is floating calmly along, the sailors see its motion mirrored in everything outside, while on the other hand they suppose that they are stationary, together with everything on board. In the same way, the motion of the earth can unquestionably produce the impression that the entire universe is rotating."

5. Copernicus's work ‘On the Revolutions of Celestial Spheres’ was published shortly before he died in 1543. The sketch set forth seven axioms, each describing an aspect of the heliocentric solar system: 

• Planets don't revolve around one fixed point; 
• the earth is at the center of the moon's orbit; 
• The sun is at the center of the universe, and all celestial bodies rotate around it; 
• The distance between the earth and sun is only a tiny fraction of stars' distance from the earth and sun; 
• Stars do not move, and if they appear to, it is only because the earth itself is moving; 
• Earth moves in a sphere around the sun, causing the sun's perceived yearly movement; and
• Earth's orbit around the sun causes the planets to orbit in the opposite direction.

6. The Catholic Church banned De revolutionibus posthumously, and the book remained on the list of forbidden reading material for nearly three centuries thereafter. In the 17th century, when the ban on De revolutionibus orbium coelestiumwas lifted, Kepler revealed to the public that the preface had indeed been written by Osiander, not Copernicus.

7. Nicolaus Copernicus died of a stroke, at the age of 70, on May 24, 1543. He had not married and had no children. He had devoted his life to science, the church, and government .He was buried in Frombork Cathedral, Poland. His grave was lost for centuries, but found again in 2005. His remains were reburied in Frombork Cathedral in 2010. His new tombstone shows a golden sun with six planets orbiting it.