-
Born in Torun in Ermland (under the Polish crown) on 19 February 1473, and at an early age attended St John's School there. After the death of his father in 1483, however, it was arranged for him to study at the cathedral school in Wloclawek. From 1491–94 Copernicus studied mathematics and classics at the University of Krakow, under Brudzewski.(2005). Copernicus, Nicolaus (1473-1543). Copernicus, Nicolaus (1473-1543). Helicon Publishing. Retrieved from http://elibrary.bigchalk.com
-
-
This was probably where he was first introducedto astronomy and learned to use astronomical instruments. Copernicus studied there for four years, trying painting among other subjects. Mikolaj Kopernik also perfected his Latin.
An unlikely Revolutionary Sullivant, Rosemary. Astronomy 27. 10 (Oct 1999): 52-57. -
The first such known observation occurred on March 9, 1497 at Bologna. In De Revolutionibus, book 4, chapter 27, Copernicus reported that he had seen the Moon eclipse, "the brightest star in the eye of the Bull," Alpha Tauri (Aldebaran).
Nicoalus copernicus (2012) Encylopedia Britannica, http://www.britannica.com.libproxy.noctrl.edu/EBchecked/topic/136591/Nicolaus-Copernicus -
outlined the material he later discussed more fully. His main points were that the Ptolemaic system of a geocentric planetary model was complex, unwieldy and inaccurate. Copernicus proposed to replace Ptolemy's ideas with a model in which the planets (including the Earth) orbited a centrally situated Sun. The Earth would describe one full orbit of the Sun in a year, while the Moon orbited the Earth.
-
His treatise De monetae cudendae ratione, 1526 (first printed in 1816), written by order of King Sigismund I, is an exposition of the principles on which it was proposed to reform the currency of the Prussian provinces of Poland. It advocates unity of the monetary system throughout the entire state, with strict integrity in the quality of the coin, and the charge of a seigniorage sufficient to cover the expenses of mintage.
http://www.nndb.com/people/041/000029951/ -
Rheticus, a Lutheran from the University of Wittenberg, Germany, stayed with Copernicus at Frauenburg for about two and a half years, between 1539 and 1542. The Narratio Prima was, in effect, a joint production of Copernicus and Rheticus, something of a "trial balloon" for the main work.It provided a summary of the theoretical principles contained in the manuscript of De revolutionibus. http://www.britannica.com.libproxy.noctrl.edu/EBchecked/topic/136591/Nicolaus-Copernicus
-
Copernicus was seized with apoplexy and paralysis towards the close of 1542, and died on the 24th of May 1543, happily unconscious that the fine Epistle, in which he had dedicated his life's work to Pope Paul III, was marred of its effect by an anonymous preface, http://www.nndb.com/people/041/000029951/
-
Copernicus published On the Revolution of the Heavenly Spheres. The book was a revolution making rather than a revolutionary text. It was to provide intellectual springboard for a complete critism of the then-dominant view of the postion of the earth in the universe.
(Craig, Graham, Kagan, Ozment, Turner. The Heritage of World Civilizations 639)
