The classic book from 1543 shattered scientific tradition by challenging Ptolemy's view that the earth is at the center of the universe. Read why this talented Polish astronomer and mathematician came to believe that our earth and all the other planets must circle the glorious sun.
About the author
Nicolaus
Copernicus, a Polish astronomer who died in 1543, developed
the theory that the earth is a moving planet. In his masterpiece, On the
Revolutions of the Heavenly Spheres, he demonstrated how the earth's motion
could be used to explain the movements of other heavenly bodies. Copernicus
could not prove his theory, but his explanation of heavenly motion was mathematically
strong and was less complicated than Ptolemy's theory. By the early 1600's,
such astronomers as Galileo in Italy and Johannes Kepler in Germany began
to develop the physics that would prove Copernicus' theory correct. |