Nicolaus Copernicus was a Renaissance-era mathematician and astronomer.
Nicolaus Copernicus was born on February 19, 1473, in Torun, a city in north-central Poland. Nicolaus was the son of Barbara Watzenrode and Nicolaus Copernicus Sr. Technically, he was a German, but his parents immigrated to Poland before he was born. Then, Copernicus's parents became official citizens of Poland.
Copernicus was the fourth and youngest child in his family. He had two sisters, Katharina and Barbra, and a brother, Andrew. He was the son of rich copper merchants but after his father died, Nicolaus was taken care of by his uncle, Lucas Watzenrode. Lucas was a bishop of the Catholic Church and this uncle was the most important person in Copernicus’s life. Nicolaus Copernicus didn’t get married and he never had children.
From his early life, Nicolaus Copernicus was raised with a good education. He could live a religious life because of his uncle, Lucas (Lucas was strict but respectful). His uncle helped Nicolaus and Andrew to get jobs in the church. Also, with the help of Lucas, Nicolaus and his brother were able to attend their first university. Unfortunately, his two sisters, Katharina and Barbra, couldn’t attend university because, at the time, girls should not learn more than grammar.
Nicolaus was able to go to four colleges because his family helped him to go to the universities. Nicolaus studied mathematics, geometry, and liberal arts including astrology, deeply, in his first university in Krakow from 1491-1495. From 1496-1500, he went to his second college, the University of Bologna, where he needed to study canon laws, but he focused more on astronomy. He visited Rome and stayed for four years in Padua. In Padua, he studied the laws of the church and he could get a new job in the church through his uncle’s help again and then, later, he studied medicine at the University of Padua from 1501-1503. Finally, he continued his studies at the University of Ferrara in Italy where he stopped studying at the age of 30.
As we can see from his scientific works, we notice that he was quite creative and brave. However, he was timid and afraid of the church. As evidence, he was afraid to publish his ideas because of the reaction of the church.
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Copernicus was known for science and mathematics, but he was quite an economist. He was the first person who formulated the original quantity theory of money. The quantity theory of money is indicating that the prices differ from the supply of money in society. The causal chain of this theory started with the lowering of prices, which increased the money supply. He pointed out that the supply of money is the main factor determining price.
Today, he is very famous as an astronomer because he established most parts of the heliocentric theory. The heliocentric theory is the theory that the Earth revolves around the Sun. He was inspired by Aristarchus of Samos, who first presented heliocentrism and Nicolaus influenced another astronomer, Johannes Kepler. Also, by his observation, he was able to discover that the planets in the solar system orbited the Sun rather than the Earth, and the Moon is revolving around the Earth. But his observation of the sky (heaven) was made with naked eyes. While he was concentrating on the heliocentric theory, he also noticed that the Earth rotates daily on its own axis and the motion of the Earth affected what people saw in the skies. He concluded that the Sun is the center of the universe.
Nicolaus finished the first manuscript book in 1532 titled Dē revolutionibus erbium coelestium (Revolutions of orbium heaven). He published the book in 1543, just before he died, even though his theory was rejected by the Roman Catholic Church. He published the book on his deathbed. Dē revolutionibus orbium coelestium showed the works of Copernicus about heliocentric theory and he set the first models in the solar system. However, the book was banned to be published because of the Catholic Church after he died. His theory would be accepted by the late 18th century.
Nicolaus Copernicus faced death on 24th May 1543 at the age of 70 in Frombork, Poland. His death was caused by a stroke on his deathbed. He used his life for science, the church, and the government during the 15th century. According to legend, on the day he died, his final page of Dē revolutionibus orbium coelestium was presented to say goodbye to his life. His grave is located in the cathedral where he worked. His grave was lost for many years, but it was found in 2005.
There is a chemical element name that comes from his name, Copernicus. In the periodic table, you can see a symbol, ‘Cn’. This symbol is called Copernicium, with the atomic number 112. It was named in 2010 to give honor to Nicolaus Copernicus as he set most parts of the solar system so our sciences today, such as astronomy, were able to be developed.
Quote: Finally, we shall place the Sun himself at the center of the Universe.
Nicolaus Copernicus was a straightforward man and his theory and quotes were straightforward, too. His pieces of knowledge and ideas from his theories created a better world and developed the science by telling the truth. He could be very straightforward because he was a true believer in only what he directly saw with his two eyes rather than what he learned from the schools or books. For example, in his whole life, he learned that the Earth is always the center of the universe, not the Sun, which was Ptolemy’s theory, so all the planets, including the Sun, are always traveling around the Earth according to Ptolemy’s theory. However, Nicolaus was still having many equivocal thoughts about Ptolemy’s theory as he didn’t exactly see it. According to his personality, the quote means that Copernicus is almost sure that his heliocentric theory was more accurate than Ptolemy’s Earth-centered theory as he mentioned ‘Finally’ in his quote. In the quote, the word ‘Finally’ shows that he made the last conclusion of his investigation. As I mentioned, he was also afraid to publish his ideas of heliocentrism because of the church’s reaction (The churches suspected him of heresy and gave punishment who agreed with Copernicus’s theory such as Galileo Galilei) but he also was commanding the church because he was able to say this quote in the front of the people. Additionally, this quote is very honored and took a long time to be spoken by Copernicus because he was very concerned, and he used most of his time of himself for finding out the center of the solar system and prove his theory. Overall, in the quote, we could notice that he was convinced by his heliocentric system and he changed his personality toward the church as he did not afraid of the church anymore.
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