閱讀哥白尼 Nicolaus Copernicus在百家争鸣的作品!!! | |||
哥白尼尼古拉•哥白尼（拉丁語名字：Nicolaus Copernicus，波蘭語名字：Mikołaj Kopernik，1473年2月19日～1543年5月24日）是波蘭天文學家，是第一位提出太陽為中心——日心說的歐洲天文學家，一般認為他著的《天體運行論》是現代天文學的起步點。
哥白尼 （Nicolaus Copernicus 1473年2月19日 --- 1543年5月24日）出生於波蘭維斯杜拉河畔的托倫市的一個富裕家庭。18歲時就讀於波蘭舊都的剋萊考大學，學習醫學期間對天文學産生了興趣。1496年，23歲的哥白尼來到文藝復興的策源地意大利，在博洛尼亞大學和帕多瓦大學攻讀法律、醫學和神學，博洛尼亞大學的天文學家徳•諾瓦拉（de novara，1454-1540）對哥白尼影響極大，在他那裏學到了天文觀測技術以及希臘的天文學理論。後來在費拉拉大學獲宗教法博士學位。哥白尼作為 一名醫生，由於醫術高明而被人們譽名為“神醫”。哥白尼成年的大部分時間是在費勞恩譯格大教堂任職當一名教士。哥白尼並不是一位職業天文學家，他的成名是在業餘時間完成的。在意大利期間，哥白尼就熟悉了希臘哲學家阿裏斯塔剋斯（前三世紀）的學說，確信地球和其它行星都圍繞太陽運轉這個日心說是正確的。他大約在40歲時開始在朋友中散發一份簡短的手稿，初步闡述了他自己有關日心說的看法。哥白尼經過長年的觀察和計算終於完成了他的偉大著作《天體運行論》。他在《天體運行論》（de revolutionibus orbium coelestium）中觀測計算所得數值的精確度是驚人的。例如，他得到恆星年的時間為365天6小時9分40秒，比現在的精確值約多30秒，誤差衹有百萬分之一；他得到的月亮到地球的平均距離是地球半徑的60.30倍，和現在的60.27倍相比，誤差衹有萬分之五。
1533年，60歲的哥白尼在羅馬做了一係列的講演，提出了他的學說的要點，並未遭到教皇的反對。但是他卻害怕教會會反對，甚至在他的書完稿後，還是遲遲不敢發表。直到在他臨近古稀之年纔終於决定將它出版。1543年5月24日去世的那一天才收到出版商寄來的一部他寫的書。
尼古拉·哥白尼 - 生平
哥白尼
哥白尼（Nicolaus Copernicus），1473年生於波蘭西部托倫城聖阿娜港，死與1543年。他的父親是富商，曾任過市政官吏，在他10歲時，父親去世，由舅父路加斯·瓦茲路德撫養。瓦茲路德於1489年開始任艾姆蘭教會主教，他曾留學意大利，博學多才，思想開朗，提倡研究實際，這對少年時期的哥白尼有較深刻的影響。
哥白尼18歲時到波蘭首都剋拉科夫的雅蓋隆大學學習。23歲時到文藝復興的中心意大利求學，10年中，先在波倫亞大學的法律學院學習3年半，又到首都羅馬居住1年。1501年到帕多瓦大學。後又到法拉臘大學學習。在此期間他曾訪問過達·芬奇。1506年回到波蘭後，在其舅父身邊當醫生。
1512年，舅父去世後，哥白尼開始到波羅的海之濱的弗洛恩堡大教堂任神甫，此後的30餘年，他一直在教會任職。在這一期間，他完成了著名著作《天體運行論》。1506年到1512年間，他完成了日心說觀點的簡要《淺說》。1530年發表了論文摘要，曾受到教皇剋力門七世的贊許。《天體運行論》初稿曾於1512--1516年、1525年和1540年作了三次重大修改。1543年正式出版時，他已神志不清，不久便與世長辭了。
哥白尼一生最偉大的成就是創立了“日心說”。他所著《天體運行論》以科學的觀點否定了在西方統治了一千多年的地心說，這是天文學史上一次偉大的革命，引起了人類宇宙觀的重大革新，沉重地打擊了封建神權統治，從此自然科學便開始從神學中解放出來，走上了大踏步發展的徵程。
《天體運行論》的發表具有劃時代的偉大意義。這本巨著的著成，花費了哥白尼一生的心血。在神教至上，教會擁有巨大權力，人們的精神被千餘年長期束縛處於愚昧落後的時代，哥白尼學說的産生，表現了他驚人的勇氣、膽略、毅力和科學態度。
哥白尼博物館
哥白尼學說的産生是社會發展的必然結果，15世紀開始，天文學受到了社會發展的巨大推動，特別是文藝復興運動給神學以沉重的打擊，亞裏士多德、托勒密的地心說，作為基督教的教義已開始受到懷疑。航海業的發展，對天文學和歷法等提出了新的要求。資本主義的産生和發展，已感到地心說是一個思想解放的巨大障礙。在哥白尼以前已有許多人對地心說提出了質疑，並且取得了天文觀測中的許多科學依據，天文儀器也有了很大的改進。這無疑為哥白尼學說的創立奠定了基礎。哥白尼的巨大貢獻在於，係統地總結了前人的經驗，又作了嚴縝周密的數年如一日的實際觀測，從而完成了日心說的完整理論。
哥白尼的日心說認為，太陽是宇宙的中心，並規定地球有三種運動，即繞軸的自轉，繞太陽的公轉和用以解釋二分歲差的地軸的回轉運動。這些觀點最早出現於1530年哥白尼寫的小册子《短論》上，並以手抄本形式在他的朋友中傳閱。數學家喬治·萊蒂剋斯（George Rheticus,1514--1576）曾給予鼓勵和支持，並與哥白尼共同研究二年多，1540年曾刊印出版。
在《天體運行論中》，哥白尼深刻地剖析了托勒密的學說，澄清了許多錯誤的認識，同時對亞裏士多德的運動理論也在全面分析的基礎上加以否定。他認為，地球同其他天體一樣，都具有引力和勻速圓周運動，並無特殊之處。
由於時代的限製和科學研究條件的製約，哥白尼雖然提出了嶄新的學說，但他在方法上卻是保守的。他始終認為天體運動是勻速圓周運動。他的體係雖然比托勒密的體係簡單得多，但與後來開普勒創立的體係相比要復雜得多。日心說的穩固的科學基礎是在以後開普勒發現行星運動三定律和牛頓發現萬有引力定律纔建立起來的。
哥白尼的日心說，在中國也很有影響，最早是由清代數學家李善蘭在其翻譯的《談天》18捲中正確地加以介紹而在中國傳播的。
可以說，哥白尼是歷史上最傑出的天文學家。同時，他興趣廣泛，精通多種語言，對神學和教會法也有深刻的瞭解。他還是著名的醫生、機械師，在數學、地理學、文學、繪畫方面也是第一流的學者。他對經濟學也頗有研究。
尼古拉·哥白尼 - 歷史背景
尼古拉·哥白尼的肖像畫 Nicolaus Copernicus Portrait from Toruń, 1580
哥白尼的科學成就，是他所處的時代的産物，又轉過來推動了時代的發展。
十五、六世紀的歐洲，正是從封建社會嚮資本主義社會轉變的關鍵時期，在這一二百年間，社會發生了巨大的變化。14世紀以前的歐洲，到處是四分五裂的小城邦。後來，隨着城市工商業的興起，特別是采礦和冶金業的發展，涌現了許多新興的大城市，小城邦有了聯合起來組成國傢的趨勢。到15世紀末葉，在許多國傢裏都出現了基本上是中央集權的君主政體。當時的波蘭不僅有像剋拉科夫、波茲南這樣的大城市，也有許多手工業興盛的城市。1526 年歸併於波蘭的華沙已成為一個重要的商業、政治、文化和地理的中心，在16世紀末成了波蘭國傢的首都。
與這種政治經濟變革相適應，文化、科學上也開始有所反映。當時，歐洲是“政教合一”，羅馬教廷控製了許多國傢，聖經被宣佈為至高無上的真理，凡是違背聖經 的學說，都被斥為“異端邪說”，凡是反對神權統治的人，都被處以火刑。新興的資産階級為自己的生存和發展，掀起了一場反對封建制度和教會迷信思想的鬥爭， 出現了人文主義的思潮。他們使用的戰鬥武器，就是未被神學染污的古希臘的哲學、科學和文藝。這就是震撼歐洲的文藝復興運動。文藝復興首先發生於意大利，很快就擴大到波蘭及歐洲其它國傢。
與此同時，商業的活躍也促進了對外貿易的發展。在“黃金”這個符咒的驅使下，許多歐洲冒險者遠航非洲、印度及整個遠東地區。遠洋航行需要豐富的天文和地理知識，從實際中積纍起來的觀測資料，使人們感到當時流行的“地靜天動”的宇宙學說值得懷疑，這就要求人們進一步去探索宇宙的秘密，從而推進了天文學和地理學的發展。1492年，意大利著名的航海傢哥倫布發現新大陸，麥哲倫和他的同伴繞地球一周，證明地球是圓形的，使人們開始真正認識地球。
中世紀建築
在教會嚴密控製下的中世紀，也發生過轟轟烈烈的宗教革命。因為天主教的很多教義不符合聖經的教誨，而加入了太多教皇的個人意志以及各類神學家的自身成果，所以很多信徒開始質疑天主教的教義和組織，發起回歸聖經的行動來。
捷剋的愛國主義者、布拉格大學校長揚•鬍斯（1369～1415年）在君士坦丁堡的宗教會議上公開譴責德意志封建主與天主教會對捷剋的壓迫和剝削。他雖然被反動教會處以火刑，但他的革命活動在社會上引起了強烈的反應。捷剋農民在鬍斯黨人的旗幟下舉行起義，這次運動也波及波蘭。1517年，在德國，馬丁•路德 （1483～1546年）反對教會販賣贖罪符，與羅馬教皇公開决裂。1521年，路德又在沃爾姆國會上揭露羅馬教廷的罪惡，並提出建立基督教新教的主張。 新教的教義得到許多國傢的支持，波蘭也深受影響。
就在這樣一個大變革大動蕩的年代裏，1473年2月19日哥白尼在維斯瓦河畔的托倫城誕生了。他的父親是個當議員的富商，他有一個哥哥和兩個姐姐。哥白尼10歲的時候，他的父親死了，他被送到舅舅務卡施大主教傢中撫養。務卡施是一個人文主義者，他和當時波蘭進步的知識界來往極為密切，並與意大利卓越的革命傢、人文主義者菲利普•布奧納剋西是摯友。在哥白尼念中學的時候，務卡施就帶着他參加人文主義者的聚會。1491年，按照舅父的安排，哥白尼到剋拉科夫大學去學習天文和數學。
當時，波蘭已經産生了一些有名的天文學家，如馬爾卿•剋洛爾，他於1450年寫成《亞爾峰斯星象表訂正》一書，並在許多國傢講學。又如著名的天文學家沃伊切赫，曾編製天文歷表，他就在剋拉科夫大學講課，是哥白尼求學時的數學和天文教授。哥白尼的“太陽中心學說”就是在剋拉科夫大學求學時孕育起來的。
儘管《聖經》沒有涉及諸如“地球是宇宙的中心”以及“天圓地方”等各類天文知識。但是在中世紀，天文學也有着延伸於古希臘的，經過經院神學家們構架好的官 方論點。為了鞏固封建統治，天主教會的宗教裁判所燒掉了許多珍貴的科學著作，有時一天竟燒掉20大車。1327年，意大利天文學家采科•達斯科裏被活活燒死，他的“罪名”就是違背聖經的教義，論證地球呈球狀，在另一個半球上也有人類存在。
尼古拉·哥白尼 - 日心說發展及其意義
匈牙利 郵票 《日心說與哥白尼》
哥白尼的“日心說”發表之前，“地心說”在中世紀的歐洲一直居於統治地位。自古以來，人類就對宇宙的結構不斷地進行着思考，早在古希臘時代就有哲學家提出 了地球在運動的主張，衹是當時缺乏依據，因此沒有得到人們的認可。 在古代歐洲，亞裏士多德和托勒密主張“地心說”，認為地球是靜止不動的，其它的星體都圍着地球這一宇宙中心旋轉。這個學說的提出與基督教《聖經》中關於天 堂、人間、地獄的說法剛好互相吻合，處於統治地位的教廷便竭力支持地心學說，把“地心說”和上帝創造世界融為一體，用來愚弄人們，維護自己的統治。因而 “地心學”說被教會奉為和《聖經》一樣的經典，長期居於統治地位。
隨着事物的不斷發展，天文觀測的精確度漸漸提高，人們逐漸發現了地心學說的破綻。到文藝復興運動時期，人們發現托勒密所提出的均輪和本輪的數目竟多達八十 個左右，這顯然是不合理、不科學的。人們期待着能有一種科學的天體係統取代地心說。在這種歷史背景下，哥白尼的地動學說應運而生了。 約在1515年前，哥白尼為闡述自己關於天體運動學說的基本思想撰寫了篇題為《淺說》的論文，他認為天體運動必須滿足以下七點： 不存在一個所有天體軌道或天體的共同的中心；地球衹是引力中心和月球軌道的中心，並不是宇宙的中心；所有天體都繞太陽運轉，宇宙的中心在太陽附近；地球到太陽的距離同天穹高度之比是微不足道的；在天空中看到的任何運動，都是地球運動引起的；在空中看到的太陽運動的一切現象，都不是它本身運動産生的，而是地 球運動引起的，地球同時進行着幾種運動；人們看到的行星嚮前和嚮後運動，是由於地球運動引起的。地球的運動足以解釋人們在空中見到的各種現象了。
此外，哥白尼還描述了太陽、月球、三顆外行星(土星、木星和火星)和兩顆內行星(金星、水星)的視運動。書中，哥白尼批判了托勒密的理論。科學地闡明了天體運行的現象，推翻了長期以來居於統治地位的地心說，並從根本上否定了基督教關於上帝創造一切的謬論，從而實現了天文學中的根本變革。 他正確地論述了地球繞其軸心運轉、月亮繞地球運轉、地球和其它所有行星都繞太陽運轉的事實。但是他也和前人一樣嚴重低估了太陽係的規模。他認為星體運行的軌道是一係列的同心圓，這當然是錯誤的。他的學說裏的數學運算很復雜也很不準確。但是他的書立即引起了極大的關註，驅使一些其它天文學家對行星運動作更為 準確的觀察，其中最著名的是丹麥偉大的天文學家泰壽•勃萊荷，開普勒就是根據泰壽積纍的觀察資料，最終推導出了星體運行的正確規律。
尼古拉·哥白尼的肖像畫
Nicolaus Copernicu
這是一個前所未聞的開創新紀元的學說，對於千百年來學界奉為定論的托勒密地球中心說無疑是當頭一棒。 雖然阿裏斯塔剋斯比哥白尼提出日心學說早1700多年，但是事實上哥白尼得到了這一盛譽。阿裏斯塔剋斯衹是憑藉靈感做了一個猜想，並沒有加以詳細的討論， 因而他的學說在科學上毫無用處。哥白尼逐個解决了猜想中的數學問題後，就把它變成了有用的科學學說──一種可以用來做預測的學說，通過對天體觀察結果的檢 驗並與地球是宇宙中心的舊學說的比較，你就會發現它的重大意義。 顯然哥白尼的學說是人類對宇宙認識的革命，它使人們的整個世界觀都發生了重大變化。但是在估價哥白尼的影響時，我們還應該註意到，天文學的應用範圍不如物 理學、化學和生物學那樣廣泛。
從理論上來講，人們即使對哥白尼學說的知識和應用一竅不通，也會造出電視機、汽車和現代化學廠之類的東西。但是不應用法拉第、麥剋斯韋、拉瓦錫和牛頓的學說則是不可想象的。 僅僅考慮哥白尼學說對技術的影響就會完全忽略它的真正意義。哥白尼的書對伽利略和開普勒的工作是一個不可缺少的序幕。他倆又成了牛頓的主要前輩。是這兩者的發現纔使牛頓有能力確定運動定律和萬有引力定律。 哥白尼的日心宇宙體係既然是時代的産物，它就不能不受到時代的限製。反對神學的不徹底性，同時表現在哥白尼的某些觀點上，他的體係是存在缺陷的。哥白尼所指的宇宙是局限在一個小的範圍內的，具體來說，他的宇宙結構就是今天我們所熟知的太陽係，即以太陽為中心的天體係統。宇宙既然有它的中心，就必須有它的邊界，哥白尼雖然否定了托勒玫的“九重天”，但他卻保留了一層恆星天，儘管他回避了宇宙是否有限這個問題，但實際上他是相信恆星天球是宇宙的“外殼”，他仍 然相信天體衹能按照所謂完美的圓形軌道運動，所以哥白尼的宇宙體係，仍然包含着不動的中心天體。
但是作為近代自然科學的奠基人，哥白尼的歷史功績是偉大 的。確認地球不是宇宙的中心，而是行星之一，從而掀起了一場天文學上根本性的革命，是人類探求客觀真理道路上的里程碑。 哥白尼的偉大成就，不僅鋪平了通嚮近代天文學的道路，而且開創了整個自然界科學嚮前邁進的新時代。從哥白尼時代起，脫離教會束縛的自然科學和哲學開始獲得 飛躍的發展。
尼古拉·哥白尼 - 《天體運行論》的誕生
準備
哥白尼與天體論
哥白尼在一個秋雨綿綿的日子離開意大利。當時天空出現了彗星斷天的異象，廣大地區瘟疫流行。正在這時，羅馬教皇亞歷山大又誤喝了謀害別人的毒酒而喪命。意 大利教會就趁機提出種種“警告”，招搖撞騙，愚弄人民。當哥白尼回到波蘭時，天空出現另一個罕見的星象，教會也在大肆活動，鬧得首都剋拉科夫烏煙瘴氣。
原來，教會宣告天空將連續出現四次土星和木星“會合”的異象，說這是上天對世人的一個嚴重警告。世上將出現一個冒牌的先知，洪水和瘟疫將接連而來，並將引起社會騷亂和國傢崩潰。這種種謠言鬧得人心不安，有錢的人拚命尋歡作樂，希望擺脫對於未來的恐懼；窮苦的老百姓為了嚮教會購買“贖罪符”，更是弄得傾傢蕩産，難以活命。天空一嚮是教會敲詐勒索的搖錢樹，他們把“天堂中的位置”裝在自己的錢包裏，大量兜售“贖罪符”，搜括民財。當時波蘭赫赫有名的宗教裁判官鐵哲爾就說過，嚮他孝敬錢財的人可以消災免禍，連死去的人也可以贖洗罪孽。他的口頭禪是：“銀錢投入聖櫃，靈魂升入天堂！”
這時，哥白尼和他的朋友們也在剋拉科夫研究兩星“會合”的問題。哥白尼發現教會的說法包含數據的錯誤，顯然是妖言惑衆。於是，他和朋友們决定各自在不同的地區進行觀測，以便一起來揭發教會的邪招。
當第四次“會合”發生的時候，哥白尼正在赫爾斯堡他舅父務卡施的主教官邸，主持與十字騎士團的鬥爭，雖然政務繁忙，哥白尼仍然堅持觀測星象。
觀測的結果證實了哥白尼的預見。“會合”的日期，和教會所說的不符，而和哥白尼的推算卻是相符的——它提前了一個多月。哥白尼的朋友們也觀測到同一個星象。
在赫爾斯堡，由於朋友們不斷催促，哥白尼把他的“太陽中心學說”寫出了一個提綱，取了一個樸素的名字，叫《試論天體運行的假設》，抄送給他的幾個心腹朋友。它宣佈：“所有的天體都圍繞着太陽運轉，太陽附近就是宇宙中心的所在。地球也和別的行星一樣繞着圓周運轉。它一晝夜繞地軸自轉一周，一年繞太陽公轉一周……。”
哥白尼所宣佈的是一個巨大的學說體係的輪廓，它在參加聚會的朋友中間引起了許多爭論。哥白尼對許多疑問都作瞭解答。在結束辯論的時候，他引用了古羅馬大詩人西塞羅的話：“沒有什麽東西趕得上宇宙的完整，趕得上德行的純潔。”他用這句話表明了一具信念，那就是：宇宙是完整的、對稱的、和諧的，是具有可以理解的規律和秩序的。
《試論天體運行的假設》是哥白尼學說的第一塊基石，但要在這塊基石上建立起宏偉的理論大廈，還需要做許多準備工作。
1512年，務卡施病死，哥白尼離開了赫爾斯堡，遷居到教區大教堂所在寺的弗隆堡。弗隆堡瀕臨波羅的海，是個小小的漁港。哥白尼在弗隆堡定居以後，就買下城堡的一座箭樓。這座箭樓本來是作戰用的，三角形的樓頂嚮前傾側，幾乎伸到圍墻的外邊。樓頂的最上層有三個窗口，那裏是哥白尼的工作室。下面兩層是臥房， 各有一個射擊用的槍眼。從最上層的窗口可以嚮四面八方觀測天象。遇到樓頂妨礙觀測的時候，外邊的露臺就成了他的觀測臺。他在這裏一直住到去世。
這時，哥白尼已將他未來的著作取名為 《運行》。在他看來，運動纔是生命的真諦——運動存在於萬物之中，上達天空，下至深海。沒有什麽東西是靜止的，一切東西都在生長、變化、消失，千秋萬代繼 續不停。《運行》這一著作，就是要揭示大自然這一最本質的秘密。哥白尼的這一觀點，肯定了客觀世界的存在和它的規律性，閃耀着樸素的唯物主義哲學的光輝。
哥白尼對地球的形狀，曾多次作過間接的觀測。早在1500年11月6日，他就在羅馬近郊的一個高崗上觀測月食，研究地球投射在月球表面的弧狀陰影，從而證 實了亞裏士多德關於地球呈球狀的論斷。在定居弗隆堡時，他曾多次站在波羅的海岸邊觀察帆船。有一次，哥白尼請求一艘帆船在桅頂綁上一個閃光的物體，他站在岸邊看着這艘帆船慢慢駛運。他描寫這次觀察的情況說：“隨着帆船的遠去，那個閃光的物體逐漸降落，最後完全隱沒，好像太陽下山一樣。”這次觀察使他得出一 個結論：“就連海面也是圓形的。”
在陰濕多霧的波羅的海的岸邊，逢到嚴寒的鼕夜，天空沒有雲影，星星在藍天閃爍着耀眼的寒光，哥白尼總是利用這種難得的機會，穿上皮襖，束緊風帽，把儀器搬 到箭樓的露臺上，進行通宵達旦的觀測。他所用的儀器都是自己動手做的，一共有三種。測量行星距離的“三弧儀”，是用樅樹桿削成的，用墨水劃上刻度，照準器也是雕出來的。測量月球和行星位置的“捕星器”，是用六根樹條繞成圓圈做成的。測定太陽中天時高度的“象限儀”，是一塊很大的正方形木板，右上角裝着帶刻度的木環，擱架上有個“水準儀”，其實衹是一個盛了水的玻璃管。觀測日食本來要在水裏觀測倒影，為了減少提水上箭樓的麻煩，他打破常規，改用一塊帶孔眼的 護窗板把日影映到墻上。哥白尼就是利用這些簡陋的設備，在弗隆堡前後進行了有紀錄可查的50多次觀測，其中包括日食、月食、火星、金星、木星和土星的方位 等等。這些觀測在望遠鏡發明以前能做得那麽精確，是很不容易的，難怪後來許多傑出的天文學家都非常欽佩。
1516年秋天，盤踞在波蘭以北的十字騎士團，屢次進犯邊境。教會藉重哥白尼的聲望和才學，派他擔任俄爾斯丁教産總管，去對付大軍壓境的強敵。
就在那烽火連天的歲月裏，哥白尼開始撰寫他的不朽著作——《運行》。他在俄爾斯丁城堡的哨塔上佈置了一個簡單的觀測臺，並隨身帶去一些必要的資料。當時整 部著作的內容已有個輪廓了，全書計劃寫成八捲（出版時是六捲）。第一捲已經動筆了，但是進展很慢，這是因為大敵當前，哥白尼必須全力以赴地對付敵人的挑釁和騷擾。
1519年秋天，哥白尼辭去教産總管的職務，又回到弗隆堡，用他的全部精力來撰寫 《運行》。但是，戰爭的風暴很快席捲到這裏，弗隆堡陷入十字騎士團的重圍之中。敵人燒殺虜掠，斷絶糧草，企圖迫使守軍投降。這時，教堂的神父都逃跑了，有的甚至叛國投敵。但哥白尼仍舊留在城中，同居民一起支援守軍作戰。他們還修築運河，興修水利，哥白尼設計修建的水閘和水磨，在當時對支持戰爭和繁榮經濟是 具有重大意義的。
第二年秋天，哥白尼再度擔任俄爾斯丁教産總管。這時十字騎士團已經侵占了附近的許多城堡，直逼俄爾斯丁。哥白尼把由他保管的錢財全部拿出來支持作戰，並親自部署防務，登城督戰。十字騎士團用燃燒彈攻城，哥白尼叫人用浸濕的皮子去捂滅敵人的燃燒彈。經過五天五夜的激烈戰鬥，城市依然屹立着。十字騎士團大公霍亨侖惱羞成怒，特地派人到弗隆堡去，把他的藏書、手稿和儀器一把火燒光。但哥白尼始終堅守城堡，霍亨侖無可奈何，衹好撤軍，同意休戰。戰後，波蘭國王齊格蒙特論功行賞，委派哥白尼為俄爾斯丁的行政長官。
成書
1525年秋天，哥白尼寫作《運行》的工作，纔在弗隆堡全力展開。這時，哥白尼的箭樓上來了一個女管傢，名叫安娜。安娜出身名門，性情嫻淑，衷心愛慕哥白尼，毅然拋棄世俗的成見，和被教會剝奪了結婚權利的哥白尼同居。哥白尼在安娜的幫助和照顧下，書桌上的手稿迅速地一疊疊地增加起來了。
中文版《天體運行論》
《運行》的第一捲 鳥瞰式地介紹了宇宙的結構。在論證的開始，哥白尼列舉了許多觀測資料來證明地球是圓形的。接着他指出了地球呈圓狀的理由。他說：“所有的物體都傾嚮於將自己凝聚成為這種球狀，正如同一滴水或一滴其它的流體一樣，總是極力將自己形成一個獨立的整體。”“物體呈球狀的原因在 於它的重量，即在於物體的微粒或者說原子的一種自然傾嚮，要把自己凝聚成一個整體，並收縮成球狀。”他對這個問題的解答，給一百多年以後牛頓發現萬有引力開闢了道路。
關於原子他還寫了這樣一段：“所謂原子，是最細微的、不能再分割的微粒，它們重疊地或是成倍地相聚在一起，但由於它們看不見，並不立即形成看得見的物體； 可是它們的數量可以增加到這種程度，足夠纍積到可以看見的大小。”這一段話是針對唯心主義者的論調而說的，他們藉口“原子無法看見”而抹煞原子的存在。在唯心主義者的唆使下，這一段話在《運行》出版時被刪去了；在以後300年間的三中版本裏都不見一個字。
《運行》的第二捲介紹了有關的數學原理，其中平面三角和球面三角的演算方法都是哥白尼首創的。這裏陳述了三角形的規則，即從三角形的已知某些邊和角去推算其它邊和角的規則。這包括了三邊是直綫的平面三角形和三邊是球面上圓弧作成的球面三角形。
《運行》的第三捲是恆星表。
《運行》的第四捲介紹地球的繞軸運行和周年運行。
第五捲論述了地球的衛星——月球。哥白尼非常重視研究月球，特別是月食。他認為在月食的時候，人們可以從月球、地球和太陽的相對位置，得到關於宇宙的真實 結構的暗示。“因為，當宇宙別的部份都是澄明的和充滿日光的時候，所謂黑夜就不是什麽別的東西，而衹是地球本身的陰影。這個陰影形成一個圓椎形，尾端尖 削。月亮一接觸到這個陰影，就會失去光澤，而當它出現在陰影正中央時，它的位置正好和太陽相對。”
他的最後一捲準備寫關於行星運行的理論。
《運行》的不朽的貢獻，在於它根據相對運動的原理，解釋了行星運行的視運動。在哥白尼以前，這一原理從來沒有被人這樣詳盡地闡述過，也沒有人從這一原理得出過這樣重要的結論。
哥白尼對這個問題是這樣說：“所有被我們觀測的物體的位置變動，不是由於被觀測的物體的運動所引起，就是由於觀測者的運動，或由於物體和人的不一致的變動 所引起的。”既然地球是我們在它的移動中進行觀測的基地，那麽我們觀測到的天空中的運動，例如太陽的運動，就可能是一種表面的運動，是一種由於地球本身的 運動所引起的幻覺，而其它天體的運動，就可能是那個天體以及地球的不一致的運動所引起的結果。因此，如果承認‘地球從西嚮東地自轉’，那麽顯然會覺得好像 是太陽、月亮、和星辰在升起和降落。”
“事情正是像維吉裏烏斯所闡明的，”哥白尼寫道，“他讓伊尼斯說：我們駛出港埠，而陸地和城市卻在後退’。因為船衹駛過風平浪靜的海面時，所有外界的東 西，在船上的人看來，正好像它們在按照船衹的運動移動着，衹是方向相反——他們覺得，他們自己和身邊的東西都留在原處。這同一情況毫無疑問可能出現在地球 運動的現象中，並引起整個宇宙都在旋轉的印象。”
哥白尼還論證說：“地球雖是一個巨大的球體，但比起宇宙來卻微不足道。”他註意到地平綫把天球剖分為均勻的兩半，曾利用這一現象來證實宇宙是無限的這個論 斷。“根據這一論斷，可見宇宙跟地球相比是無法測度的，它是一個無邊無際的龐然大物。”哥白尼還認為太陽是行星中相對不動的中心。
哥白尼的功績在於：他用科學的太陽中心說，推翻了在天文學上統治了幾千年的地球中心說。這是天文學上一次重大的革命，引起了人類宇宙觀的革新。
尼古拉·哥白尼 - 歷史地位
哥白尼繪製的宇宙圖
哥白尼的“日心說”沉重地打擊了教會的宇宙觀，這是唯物主義和唯心主義鬥爭的偉大勝利。因此使天文學從宗教神學的束縛下解放出來，自然科學從此獲得了新生，這在近代科學的發展上具有劃時代的意義。
哥白尼是歐洲文藝復興時期的一位巨人。他用畢生的精力去研究天文學，為後世留下了寶貴的遺産。由於時代的局限，哥白尼衹是把宇宙的中心從地球移到了太陽， 並沒有放棄宇宙中心論和宇宙有限論。在德國的開普勒總結出行星運動三定律、英國的牛頓發現萬有引力定律以後，哥白尼的太陽中心說纔更加的穩固。從後來的研究結果證明，宇宙空間是無限的，它沒有邊界，沒有形狀，因而也就沒有中心。雖然哥白尼的觀點並不完全正確，但是他的理論人類的宇宙觀帶來了巨大的變革。
恩格斯在《自然辯證法》中對哥白尼的《天體運行論》給予了高度的評價。他說：“自然科學藉以宣佈其獨立並且好像是重演路德焚燒教諭的革命行動，便是哥白尼那本不朽著作的出版，他用這本書(雖然是膽怯地，而且可說是衹在臨終時)來嚮自然事物方面的教會權威挑戰，從此自然科學便開始從神學中解放出來。”
尼古拉·哥白尼 - 宗教信仰
尼古拉·哥白尼
寫出了《天體運行》的哥白尼，他自始至終都是一個虔誠的天主教徒。他用科學的觀察否定了天主教會毫無《聖經》根據卻又影響深廣的舊有知識。
他對宗教的虔誠達到什麽程度呢？讓我們從他那部傑作《天體之運行：導言》裏找出他作的答復吧。他在《導言》裏是這樣寫的：“如果真有一種科學能夠使人心靈高貴，脫離時間的污穢，這種科學一定是天文學。因為人類果真見到天主管理下的宇宙所有的莊嚴秩序時，必然會感到一種動力促使人趨嚮於規範的生活，去實行各種道德，可以從萬物中看出來造物主確實是真美善之源。”
在哥白尼別的著作裏同樣充滿了天主的名字以及天主的智慧與慈愛。他一生維護着天主教的信仰，他對從天主教的革命出的新教派給予了反擊。
哥白尼死於1543年，享年七十歲。死前他為自己預作墓志銘，其銘文是：“你不必賞我像賞給聖保羅的恩寵，但求你賞賜我像你給聖伯多祿的寬赦和右盜的仁慈。”
一直以反基督教着稱的思想傢羅素也這麽評價哥白尼，說：“哥白尼是一位波蘭教士，抱着真純無暇的正統信仰……他的正統信仰很真誠，他不認為他的學說與《聖經》相抵觸。”（《西方哲學史》）
尼古拉·哥白尼 - 與哥白尼相關的歷史事件
1687年，牛頓的《自然哲學的數學原理》的問世，標志着哥白尼體係的最後勝利。
1685年在大馬士革已有了哥白尼學說體係的譯本和詳盡的說明。
意大利文藝復興時期的唯物主義哲學家布魯諾，由於批判《聖經》並堅决贊同哥白尼的日心說，1660年２月，在羅馬鮮花廣場被燒死。
17世紀30年代至1646年波蘭傳教士穆 尼閣(nieolas smoglenski,1609——1655年)來華為第一階段 在這短短的十幾年時間裏,以徐光啓組建和主持歷局,編譯係統介紹西方天文學的大型叢書《崇禎歷書》為契機,哥白尼的名字在中國學者 當中迅速傳播。
1634年，《論宇宙或光》脫稿,此書以哥白尼學說為基礎,與教會的觀點不相容,而伽利略又正遭緻教會迫害,笛卡爾衹得暫不發表。
1634年編成的《崇禎歷書》中譯用了《天體運行論》中的大量材料,但由於傳教士的隱瞞、歪麯,哥白尼學說卻沒有被介紹過來。
1633年6月22日，宗教法庭宣佈哥白尼學說為邪說，判處伽利略終身監禁，宣佈（對話）為禁書，然後，逼迫伽利略進行發誓。
1633年，伽利略受到宗教裁利所審利,利處終身監禁,其著作《關於托勒密和哥白尼兩大世界體係的對話》被列入《禁書目錄》
1632年，伽利略着書立說捍衛哥白尼體係時已年過半百。
伽利略在1632年發表了《關於托勒密和哥白尼兩大世界的對話）給哥白尼體係以决定性支持，1638年發表了《關於力學與位移運動兩門新科學的討論及數學證明》批駁了統治歐洲達兩千多年之久的亞裏斯多德關於運動和運動原因的理論，創建了實驗、物理思維和數學演繹三者巧妙結合的研究方法。
1632年，伽利略《關於托勒密和哥白尼兩大體係的對話》問世。
1632年，伽利略發表《關於托勒密和哥白尼兩大宇宙體係的對話》以新的觀測事實再次猛烈抨擊荒謬的托勒密宇宙體係。
1622年來華的湯若望在其後來寫的《歷法西傳》中,已提到哥白尼,並說“已上哥白尼所著,後人多祖述焉。
1618～1621年，開普勒發表了《哥白尼天文學概要》簡明扼要地敘述了哥白尼的理論，並以自己的發現補充、修正和發展了哥白尼的學說。
1618～1621年，開普勒寫了《哥白尼天文學概要》一書，把天文學的研究概括為5個方面: 觀測天象；提出對觀測到的天象進行解釋的假說；宇宙論的物理或哲學；推算天體過去與未來的方位； 有關的儀器製造和使用的機械學。
尼古拉·哥白尼 - 趣聞軼事
人小志大
哥白尼從小受到良好的學校教育，喜歡觀察天象。他常常獨自仰望繁星密佈的夜空。有一次，哥哥不解地問哥白尼：“你整夜守在窗邊，望着天空發呆，難道這表示你對天主的孝敬？”哥白尼回答說：“不。我要一輩子研究天時氣象，叫人們望着天空不害怕。我要讓星空跟人交朋友，讓它給海船校正航綫，給水手指引航 程。”
千呼萬喚始出來
由於托勒玫的地心說在當時已經成為維持教會統治的神學理論基礎，哥白尼深知發表日心說的後果，這樣寫到：“我清楚地知道，一旦他們弄清楚我在論證天體運行的時候認為地球是運動的，就會竭力主張我必須為此受到宗教裁判……”，“他們就會大叫大嚷，當即把我轟下臺。”因此，哥白尼遲遲不願意發表他的著作《天體運行論》。直到1539年春天，在德國青年學者雷迪卡斯（1514—1576年）和其它一此朋友的敦促下，哥白尼纔同意發表。1541年秋天，雷迪卡斯把修改稿帶到紐倫堡，請路德派的一位神學家奧幸德匿名撰寫一篇前言，宣稱“這部書不可能是一種科學的事實，而是一種富於戲劇性的幻想”。在這樣的情況下，纔於1543年3月出版，從寫成初稿到出版，前後競擱置了近“四個九年”。
Copernicus' epochal book, De revolutionibus orbium coelestium (On the Revolutions of the Celestial Spheres), published just before his death in 1543, is often regarded as the starting point of modern astronomy and the defining epiphany that began the scientific revolution. His heliocentric model, with the Sun at the center of the universe, demonstrated that the observed motions of celestial objects can be explained without putting Earth at rest in the center of the universe. His work stimulated further scientific investigations, becoming a landmark in the history of science that is often referred to as the Copernican Revolution.
Among the great polymaths of the Renaissance, Copernicus was a mathematician, astronomer, physician, quadrilingual polyglot, classical scholar, translator, artist, Catholic cleric, jurist, governor, military leader, diplomat and economist. Among his many responsibilities, astronomy figured as little more than an avocation—yet it was in that field that he made his mark upon the world.
Life
Toruń birthplace (ul. Kopernika 15, left). Together with the house at no. 17 (right), it forms the Muzeum Mikołaja Kopernika.
Nicolaus Copernicus was born on 19 February 1473, in the city of Thorn (Toruń) in Royal Prussia, part of the Kingdom of Poland.
His father was a merchant from Kraków and his mother was the daughter of a wealthy Toruń merchant. Nicolaus was the youngest of four children. His brother Andreas (Andrew) became an Augustinian canon at Frombork (Frauenburg). His sister Barbara, named after her mother, became a Benedictine nun and, in her final years (she died after 1517), prioress of a convent in Chełmno (Culm, Kulm). His sister Katharina married the businessman and Toruń city councilor Barthel Gertner and left five children, whom Copernicus looked after to the end of his life.
Copernicus neither married nor had children.
Father's family
The father’s family can be traced to a village in Silesia near Nysa (Neiße). The village's name has been variously spelled Kopernik, Köppernig, Köppernick, and today Koperniki. In the 14th century, members of the family began moving to various other Silesian cities, to the Polish capital, Kraków (Cracow, 1367), and to Toruń (1400). The father, likely the son of Jan, came from the Kraków line.
Nicolaus was named after his father, who appears in records for the first time as a well-to-do Catholic merchant who dealt in copper, selling it mostly in Danzig (Gdańsk). He moved from Kraków to Toruń around 1458. Toruń, situated on the Vistula River, was at that time embroiled in the Thirteen Years' War (1454–66), in which the Kingdom of Poland and the Prussian Confederation, an alliance of Prussian cities, gentry and clergy, fought the Teutonic Order over control of the region. In this war predominantly German-culture and German speaking Hanseatic cities like Danzig (Gdańsk) and Thorn (Toruń), the hometown of Nicolaus Copernicus, chose to support the Polish king, who promised to respect the cities' traditional vast independence, which the Teutonic Order had challenged. The father of Nicolaus was actively engaged in the politics of the day, and supported Poland and the cities against the Teutonic Order. In 1454 he mediated negotiations between Poland’s Cardinal Zbigniew Oleśnicki and the Prussian cities for repayment of war loans. In the Second Peace of Thorn (1466), the Teutonic Order formally relinquished all claims to its western provinces, which as Royal Prussia remained a region of Poland for the next 300 years.
The father married Barbara Watzenrode, the astronomer's mother, between 1461 and 1464. He died sometime between 1483 and 1485. Upon the father’s death, young Nicolaus’ maternal uncle, Lucas Watzenrode the Younger (1447–1512), took the boy under his protection and saw to his education and career.
Mother's family
Copernicus' maternal uncle, Lucas Watzenrode the Younger
Nicolaus’ mother, Barbara Watzenrode, was the daughter of Lucas Watzenrode the Elder and his wife Katherine (née Modlibóg). Not much is known about her life, but she is believed to have died when Nicolaus was a small boy. The Watzenrodes, who were Roman Catholic, had come from the Świdnica (Schweidnitz) region of Silesia and had settled in Toruń after 1360, becoming prominent members of the city’s patrician class. Through the Watzenrodes' extensive family relationships by marriage, they were related to wealthy families of Toruń, Danzig and Elbląg (Elbing), and to the prominent Czapski, Działyński, Konopacki and Kościelecki noble families. The Modlibógs (literally, in Polish, "Pray to God") were a prominent Roman Catholic Polish family who had been well known in Poland's history since 1271. Lucas and Katherine had three children: Lucas Watzenrode the Younger, who would become Copernicus' patron; Barbara, the astronomer's mother; and Christina, who in 1459 married the merchant and mayor of Toruń, Tiedeman von Allen.
Lucas Watzenrode the Elder was well-regarded in Toruń as a devout man and honest merchant, and he was active politically. He was a decided opponent of the Teutonic Knights and an ally of Polish King Casimir IV Jagiellon. In 1453 he was the delegate from Toruń at the Grudziądz (Graudenz) conference that planned to ally the cities of the Prussian Confederation with Casimir IV in their subsequent war against the Teutonic Knights. During the Thirteen Years' War that ensued the following year, he actively supported the war effort with substantial monetary subsidies, with political activity in Toruń and Danzig, and by personally fighting in battles at Łasin (Lessen) and Marienburg (Malbork). He died in 1462.
Lucas Watzenrode the Younger, the astronomer's maternal uncle and patron, was educated at the University of Krakow (now Jagiellonian University) and at the universities of Cologne and Bologna. He was a bitter opponent of the Teutonic Order and its Grand Master, who once referred to Watzenrode as “the devil incarnate.” In 1489 Watzenrode was elected Bishop of Warmia (Ermeland, Ermland) against the preference of King Casimir IV, who had hoped to install his own son in that seat. As a result, Watzenrode quarreled with the king until Casimir IV’s death three years later. Watzenrode was then able to form close relations with three successive Polish monarchs: John I Albert, Alexander Jagiellon, and Sigismund I the Old. He was a friend and key advisor to each ruler, and his influence greatly strengthened the ties between Warmia and Poland proper. Watzenrode came to be considered the most powerful man in Warmia, and his wealth, connections and influence allowed him to secure Copernicus’ education and career as a canon at Frombork (Frauenberg) Cathedral.
Language
German-language letter from Copernicus to Duke Albert of Prussia, giving medical advice for George von Kunheim (1541)
Copernicus is postulated to have spoken Latin, German, and Polish with equal fluency. He also spoke Greek and Italian. The vast majority of Copernicus’ surviving works are in Latin, which in his lifetime was the language of academia in Europe. Latin was also the official language of the Roman Catholic Church and of Poland's royal court, and thus all of Copernicus’ correspondence with the Church and with Polish leaders was in Latin.
There survives a German-language correspondence between Copernicus and Duke Albert of Prussia. Some scholars hold that German should be considered Copernicus’ native language because Thorn/Toruń was then predominantly German-speaking, because a German-language correspondence survives to illustrate Copernicus' proficiency in that language, and because, while studying law at Bologna in 1496, he signed into the German natio (Natio Germanorum)—a student organization which, according to its 1497 by-laws, was open to German-speaking students of all kingdoms and states.
On the other hand, Renaissance Poles wrote variously in Latin, in Polish or in both languages.
Name
In Copernicus’ day, people were often called after the places where they lived. Like the Silesian village that inspired it, Copernicus’ surname has been spelled variously. Today the English-speaking world knows the astronomer principally by the Latinized name, "Nicolaus Copernicus."
The surname likely had something to do with the local Silesian copper-mining industry, though some scholars assert that it may have been inspired by the dill plant (in Polish, "koperek" or "kopernik") that grows wild in Silesia.
As was to be the case with William Shakespeare a century later, numerous spelling variants of the name are documented for the astronomer and his relatives. The name first appeared as a place name in Silesia in the 13th century, where it was spelled variously in Latin documents. Copernicus "was rather indifferent about orthography." During his childhood, the name of his father (and thus of the future astronomer) was recorded in Toruń as Niclas Koppernigk around 1480. At Kraków he signed his name "Nicolaus Nicolai de Torunia." At Bologna in 1496, he registered in the Matricula Nobilissimi Germanorum Collegii resp. Annales Clarissimae Nacionis Germanorum of the Natio Germanica Bononiae as Dominus Nicolaus Kopperlingk de Thorn – IX grosseti. At Padua, Copernicus signed his name "Nicolaus Copernik", later as "Coppernicus." He signed a self-portrait, a copy of which is now at Jagiellonian University, "N Copernic." The astronomer Latinized his name to Coppernicus, generally with two "p"s (in 23 of 31 documents studied), but later in life he used a single "p". On the title page of De revolutionibus, Rheticus published the name as (in the genitive, or possessive, case) "Nicolai Copernici".
Education
Collegium Maius, Kraków
Nicolaus Copernicus Monument in Kraków
Copernicus' uncle Watzenrode maintained contacts with the leading intellectual figures in Poland and was a friend of the influential Italian-born humanist and Kraków courtier, Filippo Buonaccorsi. Watzenrode seems first to have sent young Copernicus to the St. John's School at Toruń where he himself had been a master. Later, according to Armitage (some scholars differ), the boy attended the Cathedral School at Włocławek, up the Vistula River from Toruń, which prepared pupils for entrance to the University of Krakow, Watzenrode's alma mater in Poland's capital.
In the winter semester of 1491–92 Copernicus, as "Nicolaus Nicolai de Thuronia," matriculated together with his brother Andrew at the University of Krakow (now Jagiellonian University). Copernicus began his studies in the Department of Arts (from the fall of 1491, presumably until the summer or fall of 1495) in the heyday of the Kraków astronomical-mathematical school, acquiring the foundations for his subsequent mathematical achievements. According to a later but credible tradition (Jan Brożek), Copernicus was a pupil of Albert Brudzewski, who by then (from 1491) was a professor of Aristotelian philosophy but taught astronomy privately outside the university; Copernicus became familiar with Brożek's widely read commentary to Georg von Peuerbach's Theoricæ novæ planetarum and almost certainly attended the lectures of Bernard of Biskupie and Wojciech Krypa of Szamotuły and probably other astronomical lectures by Jan of Głogów, Michael of Wrocław, Wojciech of Pniewy and Marcin Bylica of Olkusz.
Copernicus' Kraków studies gave him a thorough grounding in the mathematical-astronomical knowledge taught at the university (arithmetic, geometry, geometric optics, cosmography, theoretical and computational astronomy), a good knowledge of the philosophical and natural-science writings of Aristotle (De coelo, Metaphysics) and Averroes (which later would play an important role in shaping his theory), stimulated his interest in learning, and made him conversant with humanistic culture. Copernicus broadened the knowledge that he took from the university lecture halls with independent reading of books that he acquired during his Kraków years (Euclid, Haly Abenragel, the Alfonsine Tables, Johannes Regiomontanus' Tabulae directionum); to this period, probably, also date his earliest scientific notes, now preserved partly at Uppsala University. At Kraków Copernicus began collecting a large library on astronomy; it would later be carried off as war booty by the Swedes during the Deluge and is now at the Uppsala University Library.
Copernicus' four years at Kraków played an important role in the development of his critical faculties and initiated his analysis of the logical contradictions in the two "official" systems of astronomy—Aristotle's theory of homocentric spheres, and Ptolemy's mechanism of eccentrics and epicycles--the surmounting and discarding of which constituted the first step toward the creation of Copernicus' own doctrine of the structure of the universe.
Without taking a degree, probably in the fall of 1495, Copernicus left Kraków for the court of his uncle Watzenrode, who in 1489 had been elevated to Prince-Bishop of Warmia and soon (after November 1495) sought to place his nephew in a Warmia canonry vacated by the 26 August 1495 death of its previous tenant. For unclear reasons—probably due to opposition from part of the chapter, who appealed to Rome--Copernicus' installation was delayed, inclining Watzenrode to send both his nephews to study law in Italy, seemingly with a view to furthering their ecclesiastic careers and thereby also strengthening his own influence in the Warmia chapter.
Leaving Warmia in mid-1496—possibly with the retinue of the chapter's chancellor, Jerzy Pranghe, who was going to Italy—in the fall (October?) of that year Copernicus arrived in Bologna and a few months later (after 6 January 1497) signed himself into the register of the Bologna University of Jurists' "German nation," which also included Polish youths from Silesia, Prussia and Pomerania as well as students of other nationalities.
It was only on 20 October 1497 that Copernicus, by proxy, formally succeeded to the Warmia canonry, which had been granted to him two years earlier. To this, by a document dated 10 January 1503 at Padua, he would add a sinecure at the Collegiate Church of the Holy Cross in Wrocław (Breslau), Silesia, Bohemia. Despite having received a papal indult on 29 November 1508 to receive further benefices, through his ecclesiastic career Copernicus not only did not acquire further prebends and higher stations (prelacies) at the chapter, but in 1538 he relinquished the Wrocław sinecure. It is uncertain whether he was ordained a priest; he may only have taken minor orders, which sufficed for assuming a chapter canonry.
Via Galliera 65, Bologna, site of house of Domenico Maria Novara. Plaque on portico commemorates Copernicus.
"Here, where stood the house of Domenico Maria Novara, professor of the ancient Studium of Bologna, NICOLAUS COPERNICUS, the Polish mathematician and astronomer who would revolutionize concepts of the universe, conducted brilliant celestial observations with his teacher in 1497–1500. Placed on the 5th centenary of [Copernicus'] birth by the City, the University, the Academy of Sciences of the Institute of Bologna, the Polish Academy of Sciences. 1473 [—] 1973."
During his three-year stay at Bologna, between fall 1496 and spring 1501, Copernicus seems to have devoted himself less keenly to studying canon law (he received his doctorate in law only after seven years, following a second return to Italy in 1503) than to studying the humanities--probably attending lectures by Filippo Beroaldo, Antonio Urceo, called Codro, Giovanni Garzoni and Alessandro Achillini--and to studying astronomy. He met the famous astronomer Domenico Maria Novara da Ferrara and became his disciple and assistant. Copernicus was developing new ideas inspired by reading the "Epitome of the Almagest" (Epitome in Almagestum Ptolemei) by George von Peuerbach and Johannes Regiomontanus (Venice, 1496). He verified its observations about certain peculiarities in Ptolemy's theory of the Moon's motion, by conducting on 9 March 1497 at Bologna a memorable observation of Aldebaran, the brightest star in the Taurus constellation, whose results reinforced his doubts as to the geocentric system. Copernicus the humanist sought confirmation for his growing doubts through close reading of Greek and Latin authors (Pythagoras, Aristarchos of Samos, Cleomedes, Cicero, Pliny the Elder, Plutarch, Philolaus, Heraclides, Ecphantos, Plato), gathering, especially while at Padua, fragmentary historic information about ancient astronomical, cosmological and calendar systems.
Copernicus spent the jubilee year 1500 in Rome, where he arrived with his brother Andrew that spring, doubtless to perform an apprenticeship at the Papal Curia. Here, too, however, he continued his astronomical work begun at Bologna, observing, for example, a lunar eclipse on the night of 5–6 November 1500. According to a later account by Rheticus, Copernicus also—probably privately, rather than at the Roman Sapienza--as a "Professor Mathematum" (professor of astronomy) delivered, "to numerous... students and... leading masters of the science," public lectures devoted probably to a critique of the mathematical solutions of contemporary astronomy.
On his return journey doubtless stopping briefly at Bologna, in mid-1501 Copernicus arrived back in Warmia. After on 28 July receiving from the chapter a two-year extension of leave in order to study medicine (since "he may in future be a useful medical advisor to our Reverend Superior [Bishop Lucas Watzenrode] and the gentlemen of the chapter"), in late summer or in the fall he returned again to Italy, probably accompanied by his brother Andrew and by Canon B. Sculteti. This time he studied at the University of Padua, famous as a seat of medical learning, and—except for a brief visit to Ferrara in May–June 1503 to pass examinations for, and receive, his doctorate in canon law—he remained at Padua from fall 1501 to summer 1503.
Copernicus studied medicine probably under the direction of leading Padua professors—Bartolomeo da Montagnana, Girolamo Fracastoro, Gabriele Zerbi, Alessandro Benedetti—and read medical treatises that he acquired at this time, by Valescus de Taranta, Jan Mesue, Hugo Senensis, Jan Ketham, Arnold de Villa Nova, and Michele Savonarola, which would form the embryo of his later medical library.
One of the subjects that Copernicus must have studied was astrology, since it was considered an important part of a medical education. However, unlike most other prominent Renaissance astronomers, he appears never to have practiced or expressed any interest in astrology.
As at Bologna, Copernicus did not limit himself to his official studies. It was probably the Padua years that saw the beginning of his Hellenistic interests. He familiarized himself with Greek language and culture with the aid of Theodorus Gaza's grammar (1495) and J.B. Chrestonius' dictionary (1499), expanding his studies of antiquity, begun at Bologna, to the writings of Bessarion, J. Valla and others. There also seems to be evidence that it was during his Padua stay that there finally crystallized the idea of basing a new system of the world on the movement of the Earth.
As the time approached for Copernicus to return home, in spring 1503 he journeyed to Ferrara where, on 31 May 1503, having passed the obligatory examinations, he was granted the degree of doctor of canon law. No doubt it was soon after (at latest, in fall 1503) that he left Italy for good to return to Warmia.
Work
Astronomer Copernicus: Conversation with God, by Matejko. In background: Frombork Cathedral.
Having completed all his studies in Italy, 30-year-old Copernicus returned to Warmia, where — apart from brief journeys to Kraków and to nearby Prussian cities (Toruń, Gdańsk, Elbląg, Grudziądz, Malbork, Königsberg) — he would live out the remaining 40 years of his life.
The Prince-Bishopric of Warmia enjoyed substantial autonomy, with its own diet (parliament), army, monetary unit (the same as in the other parts of Royal Prussia) and treasury.
From 1503 to 1510, or perhaps till his uncle's death (29 March 1512), Copernicus was his personal secretary and physician and resided in the Bishop's castle at Lidzbark Warmiński (Heilsberg). It is there that he began work on his heliocentric theory. In his official capacity, he took part in nearly all his uncle's political, ecclesiastic and administrative-economic duties. From the beginning of 1504, Copernicus accompanied Watzenrode to sessions of the Royal Prussian diet held at Malbork and Elbląg and, write Dobrzycki and Hajdukiewicz, "participated... in all the more important events in the complex diplomatic game that that ambitious politician and statesman played in defense of the particular interests of Prussia and Warmia, between hostility to the [Teutonic] Order and loyalty to the [Polish] Crown."
Copernicus' translation of Theophylact Simocatta's Epistles. Cover shows coats-of-arms of (clockwise from top) Poland, Lithuania and Kraków.
In 1504–12 Copernicus made numerous journeys as part of his uncle's retinue—in 1504, to Toruń and Gdańsk (Danzig), to a session of the Royal Prussian Council in the presence of Poland's King Alexander Jagiellon; to sessions of the Prussian diet at Malbork (1506), Elbląg (1507) and Sztum (1512); and he may have attended a Poznań session (1510) and the coronation of Poland's King Sigismund I the Old in Kraków (1507). Watzenrode's itinerary suggests that in spring 1509 Copernicus may have attended the Kraków sejm.
It was probably on the latter occasion, in Kraków, that Copernicus submitted for printing at Jan Haller's press his translation, from Greek to Latin, of a collection, by the 7th-century Byzantine historian Theophylact Simocatta, of 85 brief poems called Epistles, or letters, supposed to have passed between various characters in a Greek story. They are of three kinds—"moral," offering advice on how people should live; "pastoral," giving little pictures of shepherd life; and "amorous," comprising love poems. They are arranged to follow one another in a regular rotation of subjects. Copernicus had translated the Greek verses into Latin prose, and he now published his version as Theophilacti scolastici Simocati epistolae morales, rurales et amatoriae interpretatione latina, which he dedicated to his uncle in gratitude for all the benefits he had received from him. With this translation, Copernicus declared himself on the side of the humanists in the struggle over the question whether Greek literature should be revived. Copernicus' first poetic work was a Greek epigram, composed probably during a visit to Kraków, for Johannes Dantiscus' epithalamium for Barbara Zapolya's 1512 wedding to King Zygmunt I the Old.
Some time before 1514, Copernicus wrote an initial outline of his heliocentric theory known only from later transcripts, by the title (perhaps given to it by a copyist), Nicolai Copernici de hypothesibus motuum coelestium a se constitutis commentariolus—commonly referred to as the Commentariolus. It was a succinct theoretical description of the world's heliocentric mechanism, without mathematical apparatus, and differed in some important details of geometric construction from De revolutionibus; but it was already based on the same assumptions regarding Earth's triple motions. The Commentariolus, which Copernicus consciously saw as merely a first sketch for his planned book, was not intended for printed distribution. He made only a very few manuscript copies available to his closest acquaintances, including, it seems, several Kraków astronomers with whom he collaborated in 1515–30 in observing eclipses. Tycho Brahe would include a fragment from the Commentariolus in his own treatise, Astronomiae instauratae progymnasmata, published in Prague in 1602, based on a manuscript that he had received from the Bohemian physician and astronomer Tadeáš Hájek, a friend of Rheticus. The Commentariolus would appear complete in print for the first time only in 1878.
Copernicus' tower at Frombork, where he lived and worked; rebuilt recently
Frombork Cathedral mount and fortifications. In foreground: statue of Copernicu
In 1510 or 1512 Copernicus moved to Frombork, a town to the northwest at the Vistula Lagoon on the Baltic Sea coast. There, in April 1512, he participated in the election of Fabian of Lossainen as Prince-Bishop of Warmia. It was only in early June 1512 that the chapter gave Copernicus an "external curia"—a house outside the defensive walls of the cathedral mount. In 1514 he purchased the northwestern tower within the walls of the Frombork stronghold. He would maintain both these residences to the end of his life, despite the devastation of the chapter's buildings by a raid against Frombork carried out by the Teutonic Order in January 1520, during which Copernicus' astronomical instruments were probably destroyed. Copernicus conducted astronomical observations in 1513–16 presumably from his external curia; and in 1522–43, from an unidentified "small tower" (turricula), using primitive instruments modeled on ancient ones—the quadrant, triquetrum, armillary sphere. At Frombork Copernicus conducted over half of his more than 60 registered astronomical observations.
Having settled permanently at Frombork, where he would reside to the end of his life, with interruptions in 1516-19 and 1520–21, Copernicus found himself at the Warmia chapter's economic and administrative center, which was also one of Warmia's two chief centers of political life. In the difficult, politically complex situation of Warmia, threatened externally by the Teutonic Order's aggressions (attacks by Teutonic bands; the Polish-Teutonic War of 1519-21; Albrecht's plans to annex Warmia), internally subject to strong separatist pressures (the selection of the prince-bishops of Warmia; currency reform), he, together with part of the chapter, represented a program of strict cooperation with the Polish Crown and demonstrated in all his public activities (the defense of his country against the Order's plans of conquest; proposals to unify its monetary system with the Polish Crown's; support for Poland's interests in the Warmia dominion's ecclesiastic administration) that he was consciously a citizen of the Polish-Lithuanian Republic. Soon after the death of uncle Bishop Watzenrode, he participated in the signing of the Second Treaty of Piotrków Trybunalski (7 December 1512), governing the appointment of the Bishop of Warmia, declaring, despite opposition from part of the chapter, for loyal cooperation with the Polish Crown.
That same year (before 8 November 1512) Copernicus assumed responsibility, as magister pistoriae, for administering the chapter's economic enterprises (he would hold this office again in 1530), having already since 1511 fulfilled the duties of chancellor and visitor of the chapter's estates.
His administrative and economic dutes did not distract Copernicus, in 1512-15, from intensive observational activity. The results of his observations of Mars and Saturn in this period, and especially a series of four observations of the Sun made in 1515, led to discovery of the variability of Earth's eccentric and of the movement of the solar apogee in relation to the fixed stars, which in 1515-19 prompted his first revisions of certain assumptions of his system. Some of the observations that he made in this period may have had a connection with a proposed reform of the Julian calendar made in the first half of 1513 at the request of the Bishop of Fossombrone, Paul of Middelburg. Their contacts in this matter in the period of the Fifth Lateran Council were later memorialized in a complimentary mention in Copernicus' dedicatory epistle in De revolutionibus orbium coelestium and in a treatise by Paul of Middelburg, Secundum compendium correctionis Calendarii (1516), which mentions Copernicus among the learned men who had sent the Council proposals for the calendar's emendation.
Olsztyn Castle
During 1516–21, Copernicus resided at Olsztyn Castle as economic administrator of Warmia, including Olsztyn (Allenstein) and Pieniężno (Mehlsack). While there, he wrote a manuscript, Locationes mansorum desertorum (Locations of Deserted Fiefs), with a view to populating those fiefs with industrious farmers and so bolstering the economy of Warmia. When Olsztyn was besieged by the Teutonic Knights during the Polish–Teutonic War (1519–21), Copernicus directed the defense of Olsztyn and Warmia by Royal Polish forces. He also represented the Polish side in the ensuing peace negotiations.
Copernicus worked for years with the Royal Prussian diet, and with Duke Albert of Prussia (against whom Copernicus had defended Warmia in the Polish-Teutonic War), and advised King Sigismund, on monetary reform. He participated in discussions in the East Prussian diet about coinage reform in the Prussian countries; a question that concerned the diet was who had the right to mint coin. Political developments in Prussia culminated in the 1525 establishment of the Duchy of Prussia as a Protestant state in vassalage to Poland.
In 1526 Copernicus wrote a study on the value of money, Monetae cudendae ratio. In it he formulated an early iteration of the theory, now called Gresham's Law, that "bad" (debased) coinage drives "good" (un-debased) coinage out of circulation—70 years before Thomas Gresham. He also formulated a version of quantity theory of money. Copernicus' recommendations on monetary reform were widely read by leaders of both Prussia and Poland in their attempts to stabilize currency.
Thorvaldsen's Copernicus Monument in Warsaw
In 1533, Johann Widmanstetter, secretary to Pope Clement VII, explained Copernicus' heliocentric system to the Pope and two cardinals. The Pope was so pleased that he gave Widmanstetter a valuable gift.
In 1535 Bernard Wapowski wrote a letter to a gentleman in Vienna, urging him to publish an enclosed almanac, which he claimed had been written by Copernicus. This is the first and only mention of a Copernicus almanac in the historical records. The "almanac" was likely Copernicus' tables of planetary positions. Wapowski's letter mentions Copernicus' theory about the motions of the earth. Nothing came of Wapowski's request, because he died a couple of weeks later.
Following the death of Prince-Bishop of Warmia Mauritius Ferber (1 July 1537), Copernicus participated in the election of his successor, Johannes Dantiscus (20 September 1537). Copernicus was one of four candidates for the post, written in at the initiative of Tiedemann Giese; but his candidacy was actually pro forma, since Dantiscus had earlier been named coadjutor bishop to Ferber.
At first Copernicus maintained friendly relations with the new Prince-Bishop, assisting him medically in spring 1538 and accompanying him that summer on an inspection tour of Chapter holdings. But that autumn, their friendship was strained by suspicions over Copernicus' housekeeper, Anna Schilling, whom Dantiscus removed from Frombork in 1539.
Copernicus with medicinal plant
In his younger days, Copernicus the physician had treated his uncle, brother and other chapter members. In later years he was called upon to attend the elderly bishops who in turn occupied the see of Warmia—Mauritius Ferber and Johannes Dantiscus—and, in 1539, his old friend Tiedemann Giese, Bishop of Chełmno (Kulm). In treating such important patients, he sometimes sought consultations from other physicians, including the physician to Duke Albert and, by letter, the Polish Royal Physician.
In the spring of 1541, Duke Albert summoned Copernicus to Königsberg to attend the Duke's counselor, George von Kunheim, who had fallen seriously ill, and for whom the Prussian doctors seemed unable to do anything. Copernicus went willingly; he had met von Kunheim during negotiations over reform of the coinage. And Copernicus had come to feel that Albert himself was not such a bad person; the two had many intellectual interests in common. The Chapter readily gave Copernicus permission to go, as it wished to remain on good terms with the Duke, despite his Lutheran faith. In about a month the patient recovered, and Copernicus returned to Frombork. For a time, he continued to receive reports on von Kunheim's condition, and to send him medical advice by letter.
Throughout this period of his life, Copernicus continued making astronomical observations and calculations, but only as his other responsibilities permitted and never in a professional capacity.
Some of Copernicus' close friends turned Protestant, but Copernicus never showed a tendency in that direction. The first attacks on him came from Protestants. Wilhelm Gnapheus, a Dutch refugee settled in Elbląg, wrote a comedy in Latin, Morosophus (The Foolish Sage), and staged it at the Latin school that he had established there. In the play, Copernicus was caricatured as a haughty, cold, aloof man who dabbled in astrology, considered himself inspired by God, and was rumored to have written a large work that was moldering in a chest.
Elsewhere Protestants were the first to react to news of Copernicus' theory. Melanchthon wrote:
Some people believe that it is excellent and correct to work out a thing as absurd as did that Sarmatian [i.e., Polish] astronomer who moves the earth and stops the sun. Indeed, wise rulers should have curbed such light-mindedness.
Nevertheless, in 1551, eight years after Copernicus' death, astronomer Erasmus Reinhold published, under the sponsorship of Copernicus' former military adversary, the Protestant Duke Albert, the Prussian Tables, a set of astronomical tables based on Copernicus' work. Astronomers and astrologers quickly adopted it in place of its predecessors.
Heliocentrism
Mid-16th-century portrait
Some time before 1514 Copernicus made available to friends his "Commentariolus" ("Little Commentary"), a forty-page manuscript describing his ideas about the heliocentric hypothesis. It contained seven basic assumptions. Thereafter he continued gathering data for a more detailed work.
About 1532 Copernicus had basically completed his work on the manuscript of De revolutionibus orbium coelestium; but despite urging by his closest friends, he resisted openly publishing his views, not wishing—as he confessed—to risk the scorn "to which he would expose himself on account of the novelty and incomprehensibility of his theses."
In 1533, Johann Albrecht Widmannstetter delivered a series of lectures in Rome outlining Copernicus' theory. Pope Clement VII and several Catholic cardinals heard the lectures and were interested in the theory. On 1 November 1536, Cardinal Nikolaus von Schönberg, Archbishop of Capua, wrote to Copernicus from Rome:
Some years ago word reached me concerning your proficiency, of which everybody constantly spoke. At that time I began to have a very high regard for you... For I had learned that you had not merely mastered the discoveries of the ancient astronomers uncommonly well but had also formulated a new cosmology. In it you maintain that the earth moves; that the sun occupies the lowest, and thus the central, place in the universe... Therefore with the utmost earnestness I entreat you, most learned sir, unless I inconvenience you, to communicate this discovery of yours to scholars, and at the earliest possible moment to send me your writings on the sphere of the universe together with the tables and whatever else you have that is relevant to this subject...
By then Copernicus' work was nearing its definitive form, and rumors about his theory had reached educated people all over Europe. Despite urgings from many quarters, Copernicus delayed publication of his book, perhaps from fear of criticism—a fear delicately expressed in the subsequent dedication of his masterpiece to Pope Paul III. Scholars disagree on whether Copernicus' concern was limited to possible astronomical and philosophical objections, or whether he was also concerned about religious objections.
The book
De revolutionibus, 1543. Click on image to read book.
Copernicus was still working on De revolutionibus orbium coelestium (even if not convinced that he wanted to publish it) when in 1539 Georg Joachim Rheticus, a Wittenberg mathematician, arrived in Frombork. Philipp Melanchthon, a close theological ally of Martin Luther, had arranged for Rheticus to visit several astronomers and study with them.
Rheticus became Copernicus' pupil, staying with him for two years and writing a book, Narratio prima (First Account), outlining the essence of Copernicus' theory. In 1542 Rheticus published a treatise on trigonometry by Copernicus (later included in the second book of De revolutionibus).
Under strong pressure from Rheticus, and having seen the favorable first general reception of his work, Copernicus finally agreed to give De revolutionibus to his close friend, Tiedemann Giese, bishop of Chełmno (Kulm), to be delivered to Rheticus for printing by the German printer Johannes Petreius at Nuremberg (Nürnberg), Germany. While Rheticus initially supervised the printing, he had to leave Nuremberg before it was completed, and he handed over the task of supervising the rest of the printing to a Lutheran theologian, Andreas Osiander.
Osiander added an unauthorised and unsigned preface, defending the work against those who might be offended by the novel hypotheses. He explained that astronomers may find different causes for observed motions, and choose whatever is easier to grasp. As long as a hypothesis allows reliable computation, it does not have to match what a philosopher might seek as the truth.
Death
Copernicus' 1735 Latin epitaph in Frombork Cathedral. An earlier 1580 epitaph had been destroyed during wars.
Casket with Copernicus' remains, St. James' Cathedral Basilica, Olsztyn, March 2010
Frombork Cathedral
Copernicus' 2010 grave, Frombork Cathedral
Copernicus died in Frombork on 24 May 1543. Legend has it that the first printed copy of De revolutionibus was placed in his hands on the very day that he died, allowing him to take farewell of his life's work. He is reputed to have awoken from a stroke-induced coma, looked at his book, and then died peacefully.
Copernicus was reportedly buried in Frombork Cathedral, where archaeologists for over two centuries searched in vain for his remains. Efforts to locate the remains in 1802, 1909, 1939 and 2004 had come to nought. In August 2005, however, a team led by Jerzy Gąssowski, head of an archaeology and anthropology institute in Pułtusk, after scanning beneath the cathedral floor, discovered what they believed to be Copernicus' remains.
The find came after a year of searching, and the discovery was announced only after further research, on November 3, 2008. Gąssowski said he was "almost 100 percent sure it is Copernicus."
Forensic expert Capt. Dariusz Zajdel of the Polish Police Central Forensic Laboratory used the skull to reconstruct a face that closely resembled the features—including a broken nose and a scar above the left eye—on a Copernicus self-portrait.
The expert also determined that the skull belonged to a man who had died around age 70—Copernicus' age at the time of his death.
The grave was in poor condition, and not all the remains of the skeleton were found; missing, among other things, was the lower jaw. The DNA from the bones found in the grave matched hair samples taken from a book owned by Copernicus which was kept at the library of the University of Uppsala in Sweden.
On 22 May 2010 Copernicus was given a second funeral in a Mass led by Józef Kowalczyk, the former papal nuncio to Poland and newly named Primate of Poland. Copernicus' remains were reburied in the same spot in Frombork Cathedral where part of his skull and other bones had been found. A black granite tombstone now identifies him as the founder of the heliocentric theory and also a church canon. The tombstone bears a representation of Copernicus' model of the solar system—a golden sun encircled by six of the planets.
Copernican system
Main article: Copernican heliocentrism
Predecessor
Philolaus (c. 480–385 BCE), a Greek philosopher of the Pythagorean school, described an astronomical system in which the Earth, Moon, Sun, planets, and stars all revolved about a central fire. Heraclides Ponticus (387–312 BCE) proposed that the Earth rotates on its axis. According to Archimedes, Aristarchus of Samos (310–230 BCE) wrote of heliocentric hypotheses in a book that does not survive. Plutarch wrote that Aristarchus was accused of impiety for "putting the Earth in motion".
In a manuscript of De revolutionibus, Copernicus wrote, "It is likely that... Philolaus perceived the mobility of the earth, which also some say was the opinion of Aristarchus of Samos", but later struck out the passage and omitted it from the published book.
Ptolemy
Main article: Almagest
The prevailing theory in Europe during Copernicus' lifetime was the one that Ptolemy published in his Almagest circa 150 CE. Ptolemy's system drew on previous Greek theories in which the Earth was the stationary center of the universe. Stars were embedded in a large outer sphere which rotated rapidly, approximately daily, while each of the planets, the Sun, and the Moon were embedded in their own, smaller spheres. Ptolemy's system employed devices, including epicycles, deferents and equants, to account for observations that the paths of these bodies differed from simple, circular orbits centered on the Earth. Ptolemy's model was refined by the 10th-century astronomer Muhammad al Battani, working at Ar-Raqqah in modern-day Syria. Although al Battani accepted the validity of the Ptolemaic model, Copernicus made much use of his astronomical observations in demonstrating the heliocentric theory, and gave acknowledgement to his predecessor in De revolutionibus.
Copernicu
Copernicus' vision of the universe in De revolutionibus orbium coelestium
Copernicus' major theory was published in De revolutionibus orbium coelestium (On the Revolutions of the Celestial Spheres), in the year of his death, 1543, though he had formulated the theory several decades earlier.
Copernicus' "Commentariolus" summarized his heliocentric theory. It listed the "assumptions" upon which the theory was based as follows:
1. There is no one center of all the celestial circles or spheres.
2. The center of the earth is not the center of the universe, but only of gravity and of the lunar sphere.
3. All the spheres revolve about the sun as their mid-point, and therefore the sun is the center of the universe.
4. The ratio of the earth's distance from the sun to the height of the firmament (outermost celestial sphere containing the stars) is so much smaller than the ratio of the earth's radius to its distance from the sun that the distance from the earth to the sun is imperceptible in comparison with the height of the firmament.
5. Whatever motion appears in the firmament arises not from any motion of the firmament, but from the earth's motion. The earth together with its circumjacent elements performs a complete rotation on its fixed poles in a daily motion, while the firmament and highest heaven abide unchanged.
6. What appear to us as motions of the sun arise not from its motion but from the motion of the earth and our sphere, with which we revolve about the sun like any other planet. The earth has, then, more than one motion.
7. The apparent retrograde and direct motion of the planets arises not from their motion but from the earth's. The motion of the earth alone, therefore, suffices to explain so many apparent inequalities in the heavens.
De revolutionibus itself was divided into six parts, called "books":
General vision of the heliocentric theory, and a summarized exposition of his idea of the World
Mainly theoretical, presents the principles of spherical astronomy and a list of stars (as a basis for the arguments developed in the subsequent books)
Mainly dedicated to the apparent motions of the Sun and to related phenomena
Description of the Moon and its orbital motion
Concrete exposition of the new system
Concrete exposition of the new system
Successor
Georg Joachim Rheticus could have been Copernicus' successor, but did not rise to the occasion. Erasmus Reinhold could have been his successor, but died prematurely. The first of the great successors was Tycho Brahe (though he did not think the earth orbitted the sun), followed by Johannes Kepler, who had worked as Tycho's assistant in Prague.
Copernicanism
See also: Catholic Church and science
Copernicus, astronomer
At original publication, Copernicus' epoch-making book caused only mild controversy, and provoked no fierce sermons about contradicting Holy Scripture. It was only three years later, in 1546, that a Dominican, Giovanni Maria Tolosani, denounced the theory in an appendix to a work defending the absolute truth of Scripture. He also noted that the Master of the Sacred Palace (i.e., the Catholic Church's chief censor), Bartolomeo Spina, a friend and fellow Dominican, had planned to condemn De revolutionibus but had been prevented from doing so by his illness and death.
Arthur Koestler, in his popular book The Sleepwalkers, asserted that Copernicus' book had not been widely read on its first publication. This claim was trenchantly criticised by Edward Rosen, and has been decisively disproved by Owen Gingerich, who examined every surviving copy of the first two editions and found copious marginal notes by their owners throughout many of them. Gingerich published his conclusions in 2004 in The Book Nobody Read.
It has been much debated why it was not until six decades after Spina and Tolosani's attacks on Copernicus's work that the Catholic Church took any official action against it. Proposed reasons have included the personality of Galileo Galilei and the availability of evidence such as telescope observations.
In March 1616, in connection with the Galileo affair, the Roman Catholic Church's Congregation of the Index issued a decree suspending De revolutionibus until it could be "corrected," on the grounds that the supposedly Pythagorean doctrine that the Earth moves and the Sun does not was "false and altogether opposed to Holy Scripture." The same decree also prohibited any work that defended the mobility of the Earth or the immobility of the Sun, or that attempted to reconcile these assertions with Scripture.
On the orders of Pope Paul V, Cardinal Robert Bellarmine gave Galileo prior notice that the decree was about to be issued, and warned him that he could not "hold or defend" the Copernican doctrine. The corrections to De revolutionibus, which omitted or altered nine sentences, were issued four years later, in 1620.
In 1633 Galileo Galilei was convicted of grave suspicion of heresy for "following the position of Copernicus, which is contrary to the true sense and authority of Holy Scripture," and was placed under house arrest for the rest of his life.
The Catholic Church's 1758 Index of Prohibited Books omitted the general prohibition of works defending heliocentrism, but retained the specific prohibitions of the original uncensored versions of De revolutionibus and Galileo's Dialogue Concerning the Two Chief World Systems. Those prohibitions were finally dropped from the 1835 Index.
Nationality
Bust by Schadow, 1807, Walhalla temple
Former Polish coins with image of Copernicus, by Gosławski
The question of Copernicus' nationality, and indeed whether it is meaningful to ascribe to him a nationality in the modern sense, has been the subject of some discussion.
Historian Michael Burleigh describes the nationality debate as a "totally insignificant battle" between German and Polish scholars during the interwar period.
Astronomer Konrad Rudnicki calls the discussion a "fierce scholarly quarrel in... times of nationalism", and describes Copernicus as an inhabitant of a German-speaking territory belonging to Poland, himself of mixed Polish-German extraction.
According to Czesław Miłosz, the debate is an "absurd" projection of a modern understanding of nationality on Renaissance people, who identified with their home territories rather than with a nation.
Similarly, historian Norman Davies states that Copernicus, as was common for his era, was "largely indifferent" to nationality, being a local patriot who considered himself "Prussian".
Miłosz and Davies both say that despite Copernicus' German-speaking background, his working language was Latin, though according to Davies there is evidence that Copernicus also knew Polish. Davies concludes: "Taking everything into consideration, there is good reason to regard him both as a German and as a Pole, yet in the sense that modern nationalists understand it, he was neither."
The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy describes Copernicus as "the child of a German family [who] was a subject of the Polish crown." Encyclopædia Britannica, Encyclopedia Americana, The Columbia Encyclopedia, The Oxford World Encyclopedia, and the Microsoft Encarta Online Encyclopedia identify Copernicus as Polish.
Copernicium
On July 14, 2009, the discoverers, from the Gesellschaft für Schwerionenforschung in Darmstadt, Germany, of chemical element 112 (temporarily named ununbium) proposed to the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry that its permanent name be "copernicium" (symbol Cn). "After we had named elements after our city and our state, we wanted to make a statement with a name that was known to everyone," said Hofmann. "We didn't want to select someone who was a German. We were looking world-wide." On the 537th anniversary of his birthday the official naming was released to the public.
Veneration
Copernicus is honored, together with Johannes Kepler, in the liturgical calendar of the Episcopal Church (USA), with a feast day on May 23.