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Nicolaus copernicus: an essay on his life and work
Nicolaus copernicus: an essay on his life and work
Nicolaus copernicus: an essay on his life and work
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Nicolaus Copernicus
Have you ever wondered who discovered that the sun is the center of our universe? If so, the answer is Nicolai Copernicus. This man was a well-respected as well as well educated man. He explored many different subjects including mathematics, medicine, canon law, and his favorite astronomy. The Earth-centered universe of Aristotle and Ptolemy were Western thinking for almost 2000 years until the 16th century when Copernicus proposed his theory.
Copernicus was born on February 19, 1473 in Thorn, Poland. He was the youngest son of four children and the son of a prosperous merchant. Following his father's death, his Uncle Lukas Watzelrode, bishop of Ermland, adopted him. Copernicus began his studies in Thorn and then at the University of Cracow where he studied mathematics and became very interested in humanistic studies.1 Copernicus left Cracow for Italy where he went to the Universities of Bologna and later Padua. He studied many different subjects including mathematics, canon law, and astronomy. Copernicus received a degree in medicine at the University of Padua, and went on to receive his doctorate from the University of Ferrara in canon law.
His Uncle Lukas became very sick and Copernicus returned to Poland to care for him. After his Uncle's death he became canonist at the cathedral of Frauenburg. Copernicus not only did his canonist duties, but also practiced medicine, wrote a treatise on monetary reform, and turned his attention to a subject in which he had long been interested - Astronomy.2
Until Copernicus, the teachings of the Greek astronomer Ptolemy were considered the indisputable truth. His idea was that the Earth was the stationary center of the universe. The sun, moon, planets, and th...
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6. See number 4
7. See number 4
8. See number 4
9. Stephen P. Mizwa, A.m., LL.d., Nicholas Copernicus (New York: The Kosciuso
Foundation, 1943), p.11.
Bibliography
- McCarty, Rick. "Nicolaus Copernicus." The Catholic Encyclopedia, (1996). Online.
Inernet. 21 Oct. 1999.
Available http:// www.knight.org/advent/cathen/04332b.html.
- Mizwa, Stephen p. Nicholas Copernicus. New York: The Kosciuso Foundation, 1943.
- "Nicholos Copernicus". Online. Inernet. 21 Oct. 1999. Available
http://www.phy.hr/~dpaar/fizicari/xcopern.html.
- "The Copernican Model: ASun-Centered Solar System". Online. Internet. 21 Oct. 1999.
Available http://csep10.phsyutk.edu/astr161/lect/retrograde/copernican.html.
- Wallis, Charles Glenn. On the Revolutions of the Heavenly Spheres. New York:
Prometheus Books, 1995.
The youngest of four children, Nicolaus Koppernigk was born February 19, 1473 to Barbara Watzenrode and Nicolaus Koppernigk. His father, also named Nicolaus Koppernigk was a wealthy copper merchant who had relocated his family from Kracow to Torun. Technically German, when Torun ceded to Poland, Copernicus became a Polish citizen, thus his first language was German but he also spoke Latin fluently as well as some Polish. During his education at Krakow he changed his name to the Latin form, Nicolaus Copernicus. This would be the name that would be remembered for his brilliant works.
In the year of 1473, on the 19th of February, a soon-to-be, well remembered, mathematician/astronomer was born in the city of Torun, Poland. Born with the name of Nicolaus Copernicus, he was the fourth and youngest child of Nicolaus Copernicus Sr., and Barbara Watzenrode. Copernicus was, technically, born into German heritage. That being said, his primary language was german, bt many scholars believe he spoke fluently in Polish also. At ten years of age, the unfortunate happened to Nicolaus; His father passed away. After the passing of Nicolaus Sr., a maternal uncle stepped in and took over the parenting role. Nicolaus’ uncle took matters into his own hands to make sure Copernicus acquired the most outstanding education possible. Copernicus enrolled in the University of Cracow in the year of 1491. While at the university, he studied painting and mathematics. At that time, Copernicus took no classes over astronomy. Nicolaus developed a growing interest in cosmos and books. He then started a collection of books on astronomy. Following Nicolaus’s graduation from Cracow in 1494, he returned back to the city Torun. Copernicus's uncle had already had a job as a cannon arranged for him prior to his arrival. This job at Frombork Cathedral, was usually only given to priests. Such a fortunate and unusual opportunity, Copernicus took the job. He then held that job for the rest of his life. The position of a cannon allowed him to fund money to continue his studies for as long as he desired. There was really only one major downfall of the job. It took up a lot of his time, leaving him very little free time. It came to the point where academics had to come second. In the year of 1496, Nicolaus took a leave from his job. Not a two-week leave,...
To begin, many people did not support the new scientific discoveries because it would contradict religious doctrine. John Calvin, a French Protestant theologian, believed that science was only useful if it was used to glorify God (Doc 2). For many people, God was held higher than science and they took offense at the radical idea of the opposite, that science was higher than God. In fact, Giovanni Ciampoli, an Italian monk, wrote to Galileo telling him that he understood his ideas but that he should not share them publicly because he is not a clergyman, therefore people would not listen to him (Doc 3). Being a monk himself, Ciampoli's statement is very credibly since he is a prominent figure in religious work and he is very closely acquainted
Once upon a time we were told of the earth being the center of the universe. The sun, moon, and all planets even unknown were all revolving around our planet. We now look at that statement and wonder in amazement how our species could have pondered such a thought. Through advanced mathematical and persistently working to prove his theory, Rene Descartes transformed yet another one of these worldly assumptions and proved it all wrong.
In 1543 Nicholas Copernicus, a Polish Canon, published “On the Revolution of the Celestial Orbs”. The popular view is that Copernicus discovered that the earth revolves around the sun. The notion is as old as the ancient Greeks however. This work was entrusted by Copernicus to Osiander, a staunch Protestant who though the book would most likely be condemned and, as a result, the book would be condemned. Osiander therefore wrote a preface to the book, in which heliocentrism was presented only as a theory which would account for the movements of the planets more simply than geocentrism did, one that was not meant to be a definitive description of the heavens--something Copernicus did not intend. The preface was unsigned, and everyone took it to be the author’s. That Copernicus believed the helioocentric theory to be a true description of reality went largely unnoticed. In addition to the preface, this was partly because he still made reassuring use of Ptolemy's cycles and epicycles; he also borrowed from Aristotle the notion that the planets must move in circles because that is the only perfect form of motion.
The first record of the movement of the planets was produced by Nicolaus Copernicus. He proposed that the earth was the center of everything, which the term is called geocentric. Kepler challenged the theory that the sun was the center of the earth and proposed that the sun was the center of everything; this term is referred to as heliocentric. Kepler’s heliocentric theory was accepted by most people and is accepted in today’s society. One of Kepler’s friends was a famous person named Galileo. Galileo is known for improving the design and the magnification of the telescope. With improvement of the telescope Galileo could describe the craters of the moon and the moons of Jupiter. Galileo also created the number for acceleration of all free falling objects as 9.8 meters per second. Galileo’s and Kepler’s theories were not approved by all people. Their theories contradicted verses in the bible, so the protestant church was extremely skeptical of both Galileo and Kepler’s
Within Ptolemy’s 13 part series, Mathematike, Syntaxis, and Mathematical Composition, he, “developed a theory of the universe which claims that the earth is stationary and all the planets and stars revolve around it,” (Document C). Ptolemy’s theory was accepted as the standard view of the universe, until Nicolaus Copernicus’ astronomical studies were published in 1543. Copernicus’ theory was the “simplest,” and “most accurate,” (Document C); it encompassed that the Sun is at rest near the center of the Universe, and that the Earth, spinning on its axis once daily, revolves annually around the Sun. The heliocentric, or Sun-centered, system is still used today, and without these discoveries we would not be as advanced as we are
Nicholas Copernicus was the first to question the universal truths and teachings of the church. He devised a theory that the earth along with the other planets revolved around the sun. This theory disagreed with Aristotle and the old teachings that the universe revolved around the earth, and that man was the center of the universe.
Copernicus was a scientist and philosopher whose theory proposed that the sun was stationary, and the heavens orbit around the sun. Galileo tried to convince the Church not to abolish the Copernican theory but was told that he was not to entertain such thoughts with others.... ... middle of paper ... ...(n.d.).
A key parallel between the scientific revolution and the enlightenment was the decreasing belief in authority. The scientific revolution lead to great advances in astronomy, mathematics, geography, botany and medicine (7). A key discovery was that of Copernicus’ heliocentric theory (2). The heliocentric theory proposed that the sun was at the centre of the universe as opposed to the earth which was the common belief held strongly at the time. Copernicus discovered that the sun was at the centre of the universe, and that the moon orbited the earth while the earth orbited the sun. This theory raised profound qu...
In 1513, Nicholas Copernicus, composed a brief theory that stated that the sun is at rest and the earth is in rotation around the sun. In 1543, just days before his death, Copernicus published this theory in On the Revolutions of the Heavenly Spheres. This theory was meant to dissolve the long lived belief in Ptolemyís theory which stated, "The earth was at the center because it was the heaviest of objects(Kagan331)." This was a common belief at that time, which supported the religious beliefs that the earth was the center of the universe and God in the heavens were surrounding the earth. Copernicusís theory was shocking, but he published such a controversial theory without sufficient evidence, it had to be considered invalid.
Much to the dismay of the Church, two astronomers Galileo and Kepler had the audacity to challenge the authorities by suggesting that the sun-not the earth-was at the center of the universe. The church had a stronghold on the way the spiritual and physical world worked, so these discoveries only added to the Church’s resistance to their aims. Their discoveries came only after Kepler and Galileo began to question ancient theories about how the world functioned. These ancient truths were widely held but were inconsistent with the new observations that they had made. Kepler had discovered the laws of planetary motion which suggested that the planet would move in elliptical orbits, while Galileo followed with his discovery of the principle of inertia. Galileo concluded his finding b...
Galileo was born in Pisa, Italy on February 15th, 1564. His father, Vincenzo was a music teacher and musician. After his family moved to Florence, Galilei was sent to a monastery to be educated. He was so happy there that he decided to become a monk, but his father wanted him to be a medical doctor and brought him home to Florence. He was never really interested in medicine and studied mathematics at the University of Pisa. He was especially interested in famous mathematicians like Euclid (geometry) and Archimedes. In fact in 1586 he wrote his first book about one of Archimedes theories. He eventually became head of mathematics at the University of Pisa where he first wrote about a very important idea that he developed. It was about using experiments to test theories. He wrote about falling bodies in motion using inclined planes to test his theories.
Nicholaus Copernicus is one of the most well known astronomers of all time. He is even labeled as the founder of modern astronomy for the proposition of his heliocentric theory (“Nicolaus Copernicus”, Scientists: Their Lives and Works). The heliocentric theory was revolutionary for Copernicus’ time. Copernicus lived during the Renaissance. “The era of the Renaissance (roughly 1400-1600) is usually known for the “rebirth” of an appreciation of ancient Greek and Roman art forms, along with other aspects of classical teachings that tended to diminish the virtually exclusive concentration on religious teachings during the preceding centuries of the “Dark Ages.” New thinking in science was also evident in this time…” This time period became known as the scientific revolution (“Copernicus: On The Revolutions Of Heavenly Bodies). In other words, old ideas were revived in the arts and other means and less emphasis was placed o...
...centred universe, like Aristotle, and Ptolemy posed new questions for Copernicus's successors. Galileo, Kepler, Descartes, and finally Newton would be viewed as the successors to the Copernicus theory, and their contributions would complete the Copernicus revolution. Galileo with his telescope, Kepler with his ellipses, and Newton with his laws of motion and gravity.