Nicolaus
Copernicus, was born in
Torun, Poland, in 1473. His Polish name was Mikolaj Kopernik. His
father, a copper merchant, died when Copernicus was only ten years
old. His uncle, Lukasaz Watzenrode, who later became a powerful
bishop in the Catholic church, took care of him.
Uncle Watzenrode sent Copernicus to the University of Carcow, and later to Italy where he could study law at the University of Bolagna. Bishop Watzenrode also sent Copernicus to study medicine at the University of Ferrara. His uncle planned for Copernicus to help in the administrative work at the Frombork Catherdral in Poland, headquarters of the Church in the district of Warmia, and to also work as a doctor.
Copernicus obeyed his uncle, even though astronomy remained his favorite subject. In 1501 he returned to Poland where he became involved in politics, worked as a doctor among the poor, and served as his uncle's secretary and assistant. In his spare time, he continued to study the stars.
For years, Copernicus took careful notes on the movement of the stars and planets. He compared his figures with that of previous astronomers, dating all the way back to Ptolemy who lived in Egypt in the second century. He concluded that, either all the stars and planets had moved, or the earth had moved. In those days, people believed the earth was the center of the universe, not the sun. At the end of his life, Copernicus published a book entitled On the Revolution of the Heavenly Shperes. His book explained his theory that the earth revolved around the sun and that the sun did not revolve around the earth. Few astronomers took his theory seriously until Johannes Kepler (1571-1630) and Galileo (1564-1642).
Designed by: Marie Sontag
Adamczewski, Adam with Piszek, E.J. (1974). Nicolaus Copernicus and His Epoch. PA: Copernicus Society of America.
Thomas, Henry (1960). Copernicus. New York: Julian Messner, Inc.
Veglahn, Nancy (1979). Dance of the Planets. New York: Coward, McCann & Geohegan
http://www-groups.dcs.st-and.ac.uk/history/References/Copernicus.html