Nicolaus Copernicus (19 February 1473 – 24 May 1543) was the first
astronomer to formulate a comprehensive
heliocentric cosmology, which displaced the
Earth from the center of the
universe.
[1] His epochal book,
De revolutionibus orbium coelestium (
On the Revolutions of the Celestial Spheres), published in 1543 just before his death, 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,[2] classical scholar, translator, artist,[3] 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.
Nicolaus Copernicus was born on 19 February 1473 in a house on St. Anne's Street (now Copernicus Street) in the city of Torun (Thorn). That city, situated on the Vistula River, had since the Second Peace of Thorn (1466) been part of Royal Prussia, a region of the Kingdom of Poland.[4][5]
Nicolaus was named after his father, who about 1458 had moved to Torun from Kraków, then the capital of Poland, in Lesser Poland. The father was a wealthy copper trader who had become a respected citizen of Torun. Nicolaus' mother, Barbara Watzenrode, had been born into a wealthy merchant family that was part of the city's patrician class.
