3. Laid the foundation for modern astronomy
• Nicolaus Copernicus was a Polish astronomer who put forth the
theory that the Sun is at rest near the center of the Universe, and that
the Earth, spinning on its axis once daily, revolves annually around the
Sun. This is called the heliocentric, or Sun-centered, system.
4. Laid the foundation for modern astronomy
• Copernicus was born on February 19, 1473, in Thorn (now Torun),
Poland. Nicolaus Copernicus is the Latin version of his name, which he
chose later in life as was the custom among scientists of the day. His
original name may have been Mikolaj Kopernik.
5. Laid the foundation for modern astronomy
• After his father died when Copernicus was only ten, his uncle, Bishop
Lukasz Watzenrode, took him under his care, and ensured Copernicus
received a good education prior to entering the priesthood. From
1491 to 1495, Copernicus attended the Cracow Academy, where he
first learned astronomy.
6. For more than a thousand years
• . For more than a thousand years, astronomy had been based on the
Ptolemaic, or Geocentric Model of the Universe, which stated that
the Earth was the center of all creation, with the Sun, planets, and
stars all orbiting it.
7. witnessing a lunar eclipse in Rome in 1500
• Copernicus studied law and medicine at the Universities of Bologna
and Padua, then returned to Poland after witnessing a lunar eclipse in
Rome in 1500. In 1501 he went back to Italy for further studies at the
Universities of Padua and Ferrara, and received a doctorate in canon
law from the later in 1502.
8. in direct contradiction . . . . . .
• It was in this period that he probably read ancient Greek theories on
the movement of the Earth through the heavens, including some
writings that espoused a heliocentric view that all of the planets,
including the Earth, orbited the Sun. This was in direct contradiction
of the teachings of the Catholic Church, which espoused the
Ptolemaic view of the Universe.
9. A link of science to the church . . .
• In 1504, Copernicus began the research that culminated in his
heliocentric theory. He had already returned to Poland, taking a
position at the Collegiate Church of the Holy Cross in Breslau, Silesia
(now Wroclaw, Poland).
10. “Canonization is the act by which a Christian church declares
that a person who has died was a saint”
• In 1512, Copernicus became canon in the Ermland Chapter at
Frauenburg (now Frombork, Poland). In his new position he was able
to devote more time to his study of astronomy, and had an
observatory built in one of the towers in the town wall
11. invention of the telescope
• Until just before his death, Copernicus conducted most of his
astronomical observations and calculations there, usually working
alone. His observations were made with the "naked eye," as the
invention of the telescope would not occur for decades after his
death
12. What he concluded. . . . . .
• In 1514, he distributed a hand-written, unpublished manuscript entitled
the Little Commentary that included the following axioms:
• 1) There is no one center in the Universe.
• 2) The Earth's center is not the center of the Universe.
• 3) The center of the universe is near the Sun.
• 4) The distance from the Earth to the Sun is imperceptible compared with
the distance to the stars.
• 5) The rotation of the Earth accounts for the apparent daily rotation of the
stars.
• 6) The apparent annual cycle of movements of the Sun is caused by the
Earth revolving around it, and,
13. which one observes
• 7) the apparent retrograde motion of the planets is caused by the
motion of the Earth from which one observes.
14. On the Revolutions
• After years of observation and calculations he published his
masterpiece, On the Revolutions (De revolutionibus orbium
coelestium) , just before his death in 1543. It contained the
mathematical and astronomical data that form the basis of the
Copernican system.
15. the 25,800-year long cycle
• Central to his model is his proposal that the Earth has three distinct
motions: a daily axial rotation, an annual rotation about the Sun, and
a third motion related to precession (the 25,800-year long cycle
reflecting the changing position of the Earth in space).
16. • In the book's introduction Copernicus credits his heliocentric
hypothesis to the ideas of ancient Greek writers such as Aristarchus
and Philolaus.
17. • Copernicus had hesitated for years to publish his theory, not because
he feared he had contradicted Catholic dogma (though De
Revolutionibus was on the Vatican's Index of Forbidden Works from
1616 until 1835), but rather because he thought, even after working
on it for three decades, that his theory was still incomplete.
18. • According to legend, he first saw a published copy of his work from
his deathbed.
19. • Copernicus died of a cerebral hemorrhage on May 24, 1543. His
writings soon created controversy in European scientific and religious
circles by challenging many beliefs that had become religious dogma
since the end of the Classical Era a thousand years before.
20. • Copernicus was the first to combine physics, astronomy, and
mathematics into a fact-based model of the universe. Ironically,
Copernicus, a devout Catholic, believed his theory did not actually
contradict what the Bible said about the structure of the Universe.
21. • Two Italians who lived decades after Copernicus suffered for
supporting his beliefs. Giordano Bruno not only agreed that the Earth
revolved around the Sun, he even suggested space might be infinite,
that our solar system was but one of many, and that there were
possibly other worlds inhabited by beings that might have intelligence
equal to or even superior to man's.
22. • In 1600 Bruno was condemned by the Papal Inquisition and burned at
the stake for his views. Galileo Galilei, whose discovery of the moons
of Jupiter in 1610 lent credence to the Copernican model was
condemned by the Church in 1633, and forced to renounce all belief
in the heliocentric system lest he suffer the same fate as Bruno.
23. • Despite such initial reactions, by 1700 most scientists had embraced
Copernicus' ideas, and the Copernican theory, after further
refinement by other researchers, foremost among them Johannes
Kepler, forever changed man's view of the universe and his role in it.
24. • Asteroid 1322 Copernicus, Copernicus Crater on Mars, and the
Nicolaus Copernicus University in Torun, Poland are named in honor
of the man some credit with beginning the Scientific Revolution.
25. Nicolaus Copernicus quotes:
• "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."
26. • "The strongest affection and utmost zeal should, I think, promote the
studies concerned with the most beautiful objects. This is the
discipline that deals with the universe's divine revolutions, the stars'
motions, sizes, distances, risings and settings . . . for what is more
beautiful than heaven?"
