FREE ESSAY ON THE LIFE COPERNICUS

THE LIFE COPERNICUS

Nicolas Copernicus
(1473-1543) 
Copernicus is said to be the founder of modern astronomy. He was born in Poland,1 and
eventually was sent off to Cracow University, there to study mathematics and optics; at
Bologna, cannon law. Returning from his studies in Italy, Copernicus, through the
influence of his uncle, was appointed as a canon in the cathedral of Frauenburg where he
spent a sheltered and academic life for the rest of his days. Because of his clerical
position, Copernicus moved in the highest circles of power; but as student he remained.
His interest in astronomy gradually grew to be one in which he had a primary interest.
His investigations were carried on quietly and alone, without help or consultation. He
made his celestial observations from a turret situated on the protective wall around the
cathedral, observations were made bare eyeball, so to speak, as a hundred more years were
to pass before the invention of the telescope. In 1530, Copernicus completed and gave to
the world his great work De Revolutionibus, which asserted that the earth rotated on its
axis once daily and traveled around the sun once yearly: a fantastic concept for the
times. Up to the time of Copernicus the thinkers of the western world believed in the
Ptolemiac theory that the universe was a closed space bounded by a spherical envelope
beyond which there was nothing. Claudius Ptolemy, an Egyptian living in Alexandria, at
about 150 A.D., gathered and organized the thoughts of the earlier thinkers. Ptolemy's
findings were that the earth was a fixed, inert, immovable mass, located at the center of
the universe, and all celestial bodies, including the sun and the fixed stars, revolved
around it. It was a theory that appealed to human nature. It fit with the casual
observations that a person might want to make in the field; and second, it fed man's ego.

Copernicus was in no hurry to publish his theory, though parts of his work were
circulated among a few of the astronomers that were giving the matter some thought;
indeed, Copernicus' master work might not have ever reached the printing press if it had
not been for a young man who sought out the master in 1539. George Rheticus was a 25 year
old German mathematics professor who was attracted to the 66 year old cleric, having read
one of his papers. Intending to spend a few weeks with Copernicus, Rheticus ended up
staying as a house guest for two years, so fascinated was he with Copernicus and his
theories. Now, up to this time, Copernicus was reluctant to publish, -- not so much that
he was concerned with what the church might say about his novel theory (De Revolutionibus
was placed on the Index in 1616 and only removed in 1835), but rather because he was a
perfectionist and he never thought, even after working on it for thirty years, that his
complete work was ready, -- there were, as far as Copernicus was concerned, observations
to be checked and rechecked. 
(Interestingly, Copernicus' original manuscript, lost to the world for 300 years, was
located in Prague in the middle of the 19th century; it shows Copernicus' pen was, it
would appear, continually in motion with revision after revision; all in Latin as was the
vogue for scholarly writings in those days.) 
Copernicus died in 1543 and was never to know what a stir his work had caused. It went
against the philosophical and religious beliefs that had been held during the medieval
times. Man, it was believed (and still believed by some) was made by God in His image,
man was the next thing to God, and, as such, superior, especially in his best part, his
soul, to all creatures, indeed this part was not even part of the natural world (a
philosophy which has proved disastrous to the earth's environment as any casual observer
of the 20th century might confirm by simply looking about). Copernicus' theories might
well lead men to think that they are simply part of nature and not superior to it and
that ran counter to the theories of the political powerful churchmen of the time. 
Two other Italian scientists of the time, Galileo and Bruno, embraced the Copernican
theory unreservedly and as a result suffered much personal injury at the hands of the
powerful church inquisitors. Giordano Bruno had the audacity to even go beyond
Copernicus, and, dared to suggest, that space was boundless and that the sun was and its
planets were but one of any number of similar systems: Why! There even might be other
inhabited worlds with rational beings equal or possibly superior to ourselves. For such
blasphemy, Bruno was tried before the Inquisition, condemned and burned at the stake in
1600. Galileo was brought forward in 1633, and, there, in front of his betters, he was,
under the threat of torture and death, forced to his knees to renounce all belief in
Copernican theories, and was thereafter sentenced to imprisonment for the remainder of
his days.
Bibliography
Bibliography
Copernicus, Nicolaus 
(Catholic Encyclopedia) 
http://www.knight.org/advent/cathen/04352b.htm 
Nicolaus Copernicus 
Discovered that the Earth is not in the center of the Universe but it circles the Sun.
Facts of life and pictures of the Polish astronomer. 
http://www.frombork.art.pl/Ang02.htm 
Copernicus, Nicolaus 
(Encarta? Concise Encyclopedia Article) 
http://encarta.msn.com/index/conciseindex/4D/04D27000.h...
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