NICHOLAS COPERNICUS (MIKOLAJ KOPERNIK) Samantha, Matt, Mike, Owen, Neil, Luis

Who is Nicholas Copernicus  Born in Torun, Prussia, in the Kingdom of Poland (Currently Poland) on February 19 th, 1473  Died on May 24 th, 1543 in Frauenburg in the kingdom of Poland

Educational Training  Copernicus studied in Mathematics, Astronomy, Canon Law, Medicine, and Economics  Studied at 4 prominent universities including Kraków University, Bologna University, University of Padua, and the University of Ferrara

Educational Training  His education allowed him to become an active mathematician, astronomer, physician, quadrilingual polyglot, classical scholar, translator, artist, Catholic cleric, jurist, governor, militaryleader, diplomat and economist.

Education Access in Europe (Renaissance)  In the 1500’s (when Copernicus was alive), society was at the beginning of the Renaissance era, this was the revolution in knowledge and science. Fields such as law, political theory and medicine were increasing very quickly during this time period.

Education Access in Europe  At the end of the Renaissance the European society was structured similar to today’s, including access to education.  However, Copernicus was alive during the beginning of the Renaissance, which was a society much more resembling medieval times.  Although during Copernicus’ time education opportunities were increasing rapidly, there was a huge rift between those that were in the high end of the hierarchy and those in the low end.

Copernicus vs. General Public  Copernicus was at the high end of the hierarchy of the time.  He had relatives, notably his Uncle Watzenrode who maintained contacts with leading intellectual figures in Poland.  The strong connections with these figures allowed Copernicus to have access to the best education available. This in comparison to the education received by the general public was a huge gap.  The majority of the public would still spend most of their life doing manual labour and would remain illiterate for all their lives.

Patronage  Copernicus came from a wealthy and powerful background so he was able to get an education. This shows how knowledge came from having power.  He was able to live his life as a scholar instead of working in the fields.  He was able to fund his own science because it was not expensive.

Heliocentric model  Copernicus was responsible for first proposing the heliocentric model in Europe, through his work “on the revolution of the celestial spheres”.  The heliocentric model was a huge change from the geocentric model that was used before. The geocentric model is that the earth is stationary, and the skies, the sun and the universe rotate around the earth  The heliocentric model is the theory, however, proposes that the earth turns on it’s axis, rotates around the sun and the moon rotates around the earth.

Heliocentric model (cont.)  The heliocentric model was a revolutionary idea and is the same model we use today.  He came to his conclusion through the inspiration of Aristarchus of Samos, as well as through philosophical deduction, rather than though actual empirical evidence  It was Galileo who later proved this theory

HeliocentricGeocentric Models Compared

Opposition  His work on “the Revolutions of the Celestial Spheres”, published in 1543 created a stir among educated Europeans as his theory of a heliocentric universe contradicted theirs  Copernicus was a devote Catholic, and thus did not intend to contradict the Church’s teachings. He went as far as to delay publically announcing his theories in order to avoid criticism

Opposition by Church  Luther, Calvin, & Melancthon objected on the ground that a moving Earth contradicted scriptures.  Due to Copernicus’ precautious measures, the Church remained silent on his view (at first)  Though the Church did not oppose Copernicus, they highly opposed his Heliocentric theory.  This is seen as it was later fought by the church against those such as Galileo who further developed the theory.  POWER, was more important than the TRUTH.

Opposition by Science  A rotating and revolving Earth was deemed an absurdity by strict Aristotelians (Speed of rotation at Columbus: 1280 km/hour while Orbital Speed: 107,000 km/hr = 30 km/sec!)  There was no observational evidence of Earth's orbital motion  There was no observational evidence of Earth's rotation

Multiple Choice  1) Does Heliocentric mean: a) Earth Centered b) Heaven Centered c) Science Centered d) Sun Centered e) Moon Centered

Multiple Choice  2) Which Career(s) did he Pursue: a) Military leader b) Translator c) Economist d) Physician e) All of the Above

Multiple Choice  3) Copernicus came to his conclusion through: a) Astronomical Observation b) Experiments involving motion of Earth c) Philosophical Redemptions d) Church Teachings e) Geological Observations