Nicolaus Copernicus

BIO

Copernicus is often considered the beginning of the so-called Scientific Revolution. His work De revolutionibus orbium coelestium was delivered to his hands on his deathbed, as he waited to publish for unknown reasons. Certainly he was aware of the conflict his helio-centric model of the universe would create with Church authorities and Aristotelian dogma. Copernicus was a product of the intellectualism and academic environment of the late middle ages and what would later be called the Renaissance. He most certainly was not the first to speculate on a sun-centered cosmos. Early ancient Greek Ionians like Aristarchus of Samos had done that milliniea before. His math and diagrams in De revolutionibus are much more than strikingly and suspiciously similar to those of earlier famous Arab mathematicians.

However, Artistotle—having been thoroughly Christianized during a “medieval synthesis”—ruled the heavens. Aristotle claimed that the celestial spheres—the moon and beyond—were immutable. His philosophy also includes that less perfect matter sinks to the center of the universe, thus creating the sphere of earth.  Perfect matter would rise to the heavens. Copernicus’ model placed the Sun at the center; a sun—regarded by Aristotelians as part of that perfect matter—was now in a less that perfect place.

It is unclear whether he truly believed that his helio-centric universe was a model or a system. As a model it would mean that Copernicus’ arguments were for the sake of philosophy and math; as a system it would imply that the celestial spheres were in fact created (by God of course) and were truly spheres as Copernicus had outlined.

The astronomical data certainly worked better than Aristotle’s system or Ptolemy’s model based on the Aristotle’s system. Copernicus’ math was only marginally better; however the mathematical simplicity and the eliminations of certain problems, would lead the next generation of natural philosophers, Galileo and Kepler, to build on his model.

LINKS

Nicolaus Copernicus - Wikipedia

Nicolaus Copernicus - Standford Encyclopedia of Philosophy

The Copernican System - The Galileo Project

Nicolaus Copernicus - Encyclopædia Britannica 

Nicholaus Copernicus - Eric Weisstein's World of Science

VIDEOS