Engraving of Nicholas Copernicus depicting the sun as the center of the universe (Kean Collection/Getty Images)
This city in northern Poland is called Thorn or Toruń. Its medieval quarter, whose appearance has been preserved seven centuries ago, has been declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO. was born there Nicholas Copernicus on February 19, 1473, and the house where he is believed to have lived is a museum.
At the age of 10 he lost his father and his uncle Lucas Watzelrode, a Catholic priest who became a bishop, took care of his education. He decided on a church career.
At the age of 19 he went to the university in Kraków, where his uncle had studied and astronomy and mathematics seduced him. His favorite teacher was the humanist Albert Brudzewski, who eventually left this university due to the dominance of reactionary scholastics. Copernicus and other students followed him and asked his uncle to complete his education elsewhere.
Astronomy has revealed it. He did not understand why mathematicians were unable to calculate the length of a regular year. He came up with the idea of doing this in light of the possibility of the Earth moving around the Sun, an idea that was completely contradictory to what the Church held.
He summarized his conclusions in a book that took a long time to publish.
He lived in an incredible time. When Christopher Columbus reached what he believed to be the West Indies, there were sailors sailing around the world. Writers and artists such as Leonardo, Michelangelo, Dürer, Raphael, Machiavelli and Rabelais dominated the scene and the advent of the movable type printing press was a true revolution and an advance in the distribution of works.
While young Nicholas pondered the sky and space, his uncle decided that the boy needed a job and exerted his influence in 1497. was appointed canon from Frauenburg Cathedral in Ermeland, in his uncle's diocese.
Immediately after taking office, he was allowed to take a leave of absence to continue his studies at the University of Bologna, where he studied mathematics, physics and astronomy for three years. He joined forces with Domenico María Novara, one of the best astronomers. Meanwhile, Copernicus learned Greek so that he could read Pythagoras and his students.
Copernicus during his time in the city of Rome (Science and its Men, 1879. Private collection. Planella y Rodríguez, Juan Getty Images).
He adopted the idea from the Pythagoreans The orbit of the planets and stars was circular and that the earth was round. If only the other planets were too.
Copernicus claimed that various phenomena could be explained by the rotation of the Earth and the other planets around the Sun. He increasingly came to believe that the Earth was not the center of the universe.
He had also read Plato, who initially claimed that the Earth was the center of the universe, but later claimed the opposite.
In 15th-century Rome, he lectured on mathematics and mathematics Sometimes he included the possibility that the earth could move. He beamed as he talked about a lunar eclipse in that city.
At work he received a new study permit medicine in Padua and returned to his homeland after completing his studies. His uncle hired him as his personal physician and Copernicus discovered his calling in the art of medicine He distinguished himself by serving the poor free of charge.. He immediately gained a reputation as a very good doctor. And he continued to study the sky every night.
Galileo Galilei was based on the studies of Copernicus, which earned him two ecclesiastical examinations. Portrait around 1636
He focused his attention on Mars, one of the easiest planets to observe. He noticed that it followed a strange orbit, with a speed that gradually decreased until it became still, and when it moved again, it did so in the opposite direction.
He noticed it on other planets changing size. He concluded that heliocentrism was the answer. The sun rose in the east and set in the west every day. He discovered that the other planets and stars moved together. He deduced that the Earth rotates on its axis and that it rotates once a day with one of its sides always facing the sun, creating day and night.
To him it was absurd that a body with such a small mass as the Earth could exert such a strong attraction on the Sun and the planets.
When his uncle died in 1512, he had to resume his work in the cathedral. He had finished and written down his conclusions, but did not publish them. Despite it He wasn't entirely sure whether he should exhibit his work. because he feared hostile and destructive criticism and did not know how the church would react.
The Pole in a portrait from 1580. He went down in history as one of the forerunners of modern astronomy (Fine Art Images/Heritage Images/Getty Images)
He didn't just devote himself to astronomy. He had written a treatise on currency and proved that he could be a man of action when he took part in the defense of a Germanic invasion that threatened a city under his administration.
In Frauenburg he chose a tower from which he wanted to make his observations. Since he didn't have a telescope, He made a vertical depression in a wall and recorded the orbit of the planets night after night, data I compared with previous notes. He used a quadrant to calculate the height of the stars on the horizon. However, he could not devote himself fully as medicine took up a lot of his time.
He declined an invitation from a council of astronomers to review the calendar because he would be forced to present his theory and he knew this would be a very controversial point. He informed that the task was impossible because the movements of the sun and moon were not precisely known.
In 1522 he published “Brief outline of Nikolai Copernicus’ hypotheses about celestial movements”, a small manuscript previewing his studies that was widely accepted until the work fell into the hands of Pope Leo X, who suggested that he prove his thesis mathematically. In reality, the Pope was convinced that Copernicus was just a theory and posed no threat to the Church.
The one who was alarmed was Martin Luther when he learned of Copernicus' conclusions. Yes, the Bible says that Joshua commanded the sun, not the earth, to remain still. The Pole dared to contradict Holy Scripture. Luther never called him by name and Copernicus did not answer him.
The city's new bishop made his life impossible because Copernicus was on the list as one of the candidates for this office. He brought the astronomer to the fire Anna Schillings, his housekeeper and distant relative, spread the rumor that they were in a relationship. Copernicus had no choice but to fire them. Nevertheless, the bishop continued to accuse him of seeing the woman secretly.
In 1539, Joachim Rheticus, a 25-year-old student at the Protestant University of Wittenberg, visited him. I wanted to meet this 66 year old man and study his theory. It was he who convinced him to publish his work, which was sent to Nuremberg for printing. According to his biographers He was more afraid of ridicule than of church reprisals.
To calm the situation, he dedicated the book to the Pope, saying: “I kept it hidden not only for nine years, but four times for nine years.”
At the end of 1542 he fell ill, suffered hemorrhage and paralysis, which left him dejected. The only thing that kept him alive was waiting for his book. “On the revolutions of the celestial bodies”. He remained unconscious for most of the day. On May 24th he woke up. Next to the bed he saw a messenger holding the book in his hands.
He took it, read the first page, and as he tried to continue, he died. He did not see that on this second page, Andrea Osiander, a Lutheran preacher working in Nuremberg, managed to insert a preface in a reprehensible manner in which it was made clear that the theory presented was Solo “An interesting hypothesis”. Since this text was unsigned, it was believed that the author of the clarification was Copernicus, who would definitely go down in history as a forerunner of modern astronomy and the study of the universe and nature.