Copernican system
Copernicus' major work, De revolutionibus orbium coelestium - On the Revolutions of the Celestial Spheres, was published during the year of his death, though he had arrived at his theory several decades earlier. The book marks the beginning of the shift away from a geocentric universe with the Earth at its center. Copernicus held that the Earth is another planet revolving around the fixed sun once a year, and turning on its axis once a day. But while Copernicus put the Sun at the center of the celestial spheres, he did not put it at the exact centre of the universe, but near it.
The Copernican system can be summarized in several propositions, as Copernicus himself did in his early Commentariolus that he handed only to friends probably in the 1510s. The "little commentary" was never printed. Its existence was only known indirectly until a copy was discovered in Stockholm around 1880, and another in Vienna a few years later. The major features of Copernican theory are:
Heavenly motions are uniform, eternal, and circular or compounded of several circles.
The center of the universe is near the Sun.
Around the Sun, in order, are Mercury, Venus, Earth and Moon, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, and the fixed stars.
The Earth has three motions: daily rotation, annual revolution, and annual tilting of its axis.
Retrograde motion of the planets is explained by the Earth's motion.
The distance from the Earth to the Sun is small compared to the distance to the stars.
The Copernican system by banishing the idea that the Earth was the center of the Solar System, immediately led to a simple explanation of both the varying brightness of the planets and retrograde motion:
The planets in such a system naturally vary in brightness because they are not always the same distance from the Earth.
The retrograde motion could be explained in terms of geometry and a faster motion for planets with smaller orbits.
Notable Achievements
Copernicus wrote a six-page manuscript entitle "Little Commentary" in 1514. He distributed the pamphlet to a number of friends, detailing his hypothesis on the heliocentric model of the solar system.
The theories of Copernicus were the subject of series of lectures by Johann Albrecht Widmannstetter in 1533. The speeches were delivered to Roman Catholic cardinals and Pope Clement VII.
Copernicus postulated that there was no center of the universe.
He stated that Earth was not the center of the universe, but the center of the gravitational pull which held the moon.
His research showed that the movement of the stars was not the result of the stars, but of Earth.
The motion of the Sun does not occur because of the Sun, but because the Earth moves.
Copernicus published his theories in the book "On the Revolutions of the Celestial Spheres" in 1543, the same year as his death.
Facts
Copernicus is sometimes referred to as the father of modern astronomy because of his Heliocentric theory.
There is much controversy over the true spelling of Copernicus's name. During the majority of his life, he spelled his last name "Coppernic."
Nicolaus Copernicus led the Royal Polish defense forces of the cities of Olsztyn and Warmia during the Polish-Teutonic War. From 1519 to 1521, Olsztyn was besieged by Teutonic Knights. Copernicus himself participated in the peace negotiations that brought the conflict to an end.
Copernicus was essential in bringing monetary reform to Poland and Prussia, writing a study that described "Gresham's Law" of debased coinage and helped postulate the quantity theory of money in 1526. The concept dealt with the price of goods compared to the volume of money in circulation.
Copernicus was also trained as a medical doctor. During his later life, he treated various illnesses of dignitaries of Duke Albert of Prussia.
