Nicolas Copernicus Biography

Nicolas Copernicus Biography

Nicolas Copernicus was an early Polish scientist that found Ptolemy's ancient astronomical work to be too complicated, leading to him to form his own theories which proved vital in creating the layout of the solar system we know today. He laid out the foundation that provided a support structure for other astronomers to build upon in the Copernican Revolution, such as Kepler's discovery of elliptical orbits. His many discoveries were responsible for giving Copernicus the title "the founder of modern astronomy". Nicolas Copernicus was born in Thorn, Poland on February 19, 1473. At the age of ten, his father died and he went to live with his uncle, Bishop of Varmia Lucas Watzenrode, where he stayed until he was eighteen years of age. At eighteen, Copernicus attended the University of Cracow to learn of painting and mathematics while preparing to work at the church with his uncle. Copernicus attended many universities, such as the University of Bologna, where he studied religious law while rooming with and aiding an astronomy professor (Domenico Maria de Novara); the University of Padua, where he went for medicine but never graduated; and the University of Ferrara, which was the location of where he took the cannon law test to take his place in the church (he remained a canon of the church his whole life).

 Copernicus' earliest recorded observation was on March 9, 1497 and by the time March 31, 1513 rolled around, he had constructed a small roofless tower in Frauenburg, Poland, in order to view the sky. All of Copernicus' observations were made with the naked eye, only aided by three instruments; a parallactic instrument to observe the moon, a quadrant for the sun, and an armillary sphere to study the stars. His first work was De hypothesibus motuum coelestium a se constitutis commentarioulus and in this composition, Copernicus challenged Earth being the center of the universe, believe that instead, it was the sun in the center (heliocentric model) and the stars were at the outermost limit of the universe. He believed that Earth's rotation was responsible for the rising and setting of the sun, the movement of the stars, and the cycles of the four seasons. Copernicus also believed that Earth's motion through space was the cause of the retrograde motion of the planets as seen when observing the sky from Earth. His first official work was Commentariolus or the "Little Commentary". Copernicus described the span of the universe to be "similar to the infinite" rather than choosing one particular side, leaving that solution to be found by other astronomers. Earth's "motion of declination" was stated in his works and Nicolas Copernicus believed that the axis Earth rotates on meets the firmament at the celestial poles. In between the two celestial poles, was the celestial equator. Copernicus named the plane that cut the celestial sphere in the ecliptic orbit of the sun the "grand circle". On June 1542, he composed his final ideas in his second book, Derevolutionibus orbium coelestium (Revolutions of the Heavenly Spheres); in which, he mentioned two Pythagoreans in: Philolaus' idea that Earth orbits and imaginary central fire, and Ecphantus' idea that Earth is on an axial rotation. After his death on May 24, 1543, Derevolutionibus orbium coelestium was banned by the Catholic Church.

            Despite not having the technology to prove his theories, Copernicus was an important factor in developing modern astronomy and kick starting a hunger for the true answers of the universe in the Copernican Revolution.  Copernicus disputed conventional wisdom and his work later upset the Church and composed groundbreaking science that we use to this day.