Nicolaus Copernicus
1473 – 1543 Polish astronomer, mathematician, canon
The astronomer who placed the sun at the center of the universe, ending the Ptolemaic era and beginning the scientific revolution.
- Religion
- Catholic; a canon of the Church who quietly upended its cosmos.
- Affiliations
- The cathedral chapter of Frombork.
Nicolaus Copernicus argued that the Earth and planets revolve around the sun, published as On the Revolutions of the Heavenly Spheres in the year of his death, 1543. It overturned the fourteen-century reign of Ptolemy's Earth-centered cosmos and set the scientific revolution in motion.
Connections
- influenced Galileo Galilei — Galileo's telescope gathered evidence for the Copernican system.
- rival of Ptolemy — Copernicus displaced his geocentric system with a Sun-centered one.
In the timeline
- 1543 Copernicus publishes De revolutionibus mentioned
- 1543 Copernicus overturns Ptolemy mentioned
- 1543 Copernicus sets the Earth in motion mentioned