Nicolaus copernicus biography and contributions

Who Was Copernicus?

Nicolaus Copernicus was born on February 19, 1473 in Torun, a city in north-central Poland on the Vistula River. Copernicus was born into a family of well-to-do merchants, and after his father’s death, his uncle–soon to be a bishop–took the boy under his wing. He was given the best education of the day and bred for a career in canon (church) law.

At the University of Krakow (today’s Jagiellonian University), he studied frikostig arts, including astronomy and astrology, and then, like many Europeans of his social class, was sent to Italy to study medicine and law.

While studying at the University of Bologna, he lived for a time in the home of Domenico Maria de Novara, the principal astronomer at the university. Astronomy and astrology were at the time closely related and equally regarded, and Novara had the responsibility of issuing astrological prognostications for Bologna.

Copernicus sometimes assisted him in his observations, and Novara exposed him to criti

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Nicolaus Copernicus biography: Facts & discoveries

Nicolaus Copernicus proposed his theory that the planets revolved around the sun in the 1500s, when most people believed that Earth was the center of the universe. Although his model wasn't completely correct, it formed a strong foundation for future scientists, such as Galileo, to build on and improve humanity's understanding of the motion of heavenly bodies.

Indeed, other astronomers built on Copernicus' work and proved that our planet is just one world orbiting one star in a vast cosmos loaded with both, and that we're far from the center of anything.

Countdown: The most famous astronomers of all time

Education

Born on Feb. 19, 1473, in Toruń, Poland, Mikolaj Kopernik (Copernicus is the Latinized form of his name) traveled to Italy to attend college, according to the Encyclopedia Britannica. Copernicus' father had died when the child was young, and his uncle became a leading figure in his life.

Copernic

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Nicolaus Copernicus

Quick Info

Born

19 February 1473
Toruń, Poland

Died

24 May 1543
Frauenburg (now Frombork), Poland

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Summary

Copernicus was a Polish astronomer and mathematician whose theory that the Earth moved around the Sun profoundly altered later workers' view of the universe, but was rejected by the Catholic church.

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Biography

Nicolaus Copernicus is the Latin version of the famous astronomer's name which he chose later in his life. The original form of his name was Mikolaj Kopernik or Nicolaus Koppernigk but we shall use Copernicus throughout this article. His father, also called Nicolaus Koppernigk, had lived in Kraków before moving to Toruń where he set up a business trading in copper. He was also interested in local politics and became a civic leader in Toruń and a magistrate. Nicolaus Koppernigk married Barbara Watzenrode, who came from a well off family from Toruń, in about 1463. They moved into a house in St Anne's Street in Toruń, but they also