In the world of astronomy, there are people who have made numerous discoveries that revolutionize everything that was known so far. This is what happened to Nicolaus Copernicus. It is about a Polish astronomer born in 1473 who formulated the heliocentric theory. He was not only recognized for formulating this theory, but for initiating a whole scientific revolution in the face of astronomy at that time.
Do you want to know more about Nicolás Copernicus and his exploits? We explain everything to you.
Biography
The revolution in astronomy brought by Copernicus has been called the Copernican revolution. This revolution reached a significance far beyond the realm of astronomy and science. It marked a milestone in the history of ideas and culture of the world.
Nicolás Copernicus was born into a wealthy family whose main job was commerce. However, he was orphaned at the age of 10. Faced with loneliness, his maternal uncle took care of him. The influence of his uncle helped Copernicus a lot to develop in the culture and arouse more curiosity to know about the Universe. This is because he was canon in Frauenburg Cathedral and Bishop of Warmia.
In 1491 he entered the University of Krakow thanks to the instructions of his uncle. It is thought that, had he not been orphaned, Copernicus would be no more than a merchant like his family. Already more advanced in the university, he went on to travel to Bologna to complete his training. He took a course in canon law and was instructed in Italian humanism. All the cultural movements of that time were decisive for him to be inspired to develop the heliocentric theory that gave way to a revolution.
His uncle passed away in 1512. Copernicus continued to work in the ecclesiastical position of canon. It was already in 1507 when he elaborated his first exposition of the heliocentric theory. Unlike what was thought that the Earth was the center of the Universe and that all the planets, including the Sun, revolved around it, the opposite was exposed.
Heliocentric theory
In this theory it is observed how the Sun is the center of the Solar system and the Earth has an orbit around it. On this heliocentric theory, numerous handwritten copies of the scheme began to be made and it was circulated by all those who studied astronomy. Thanks to this theory, Nicolás Copernicus was considered a remarkable astronomer. All the investigations that he carried out on the Universe had to do on the basis of this theory in which the planets revolved around the Sun.
Later, he completed the writing of a great work that revolutionized everything known in astronomy. It is about the work On the revolutions of the celestial orbs. It was an astronomical treatise that expanded in order to explain in full detail and defend the heliocentric theory. As expected, in order to expose a theory that modified all current beliefs about the Universe, it had to be defended with evidence that could disprove the theory.
In the work you could see that the Universe had a finite and spherical structure, where all the predominant movements were circular, since they were the only ones appropriate to the nature of the celestial bodies. In his thesis, numerous contradictions could be found with the conception of the Universe until then. Although the Earth was no longer the center and the planets did not revolve around it, there was no single center common to all celestial movements in its system.
Impact of his work
He was aware at all times of the number of criticisms that this work could arouse when it was made public. Having that fear of being criticized, never got to give his work to print. What it did was that the publication spread thanks to the intervention of a Protestant astronomer. His name was Georg Joachim von Lauchen, known as Rheticus. He was able to visit Copernicus between 1539 and 1541 and convinced him so that he could print the treatise and extend it. That deserved to be read.
The work went public in a few weeks before the death of the author. Until then, the geocentric conception of the universe was had in a different way. Ptolemy and his geocentric theory had been at the fore for 14 centuries of history. This theory was known as the Almagest. In this theory you could see a complete development of all the methods that were established in the universe.
El Almagest He said that the Moon, the Sun and the fixed planets revolved around the Earth. We were in a fixed position and the rest of the celestial bodies revolved around us. It really made sense without an outside observation. You just have to see that we are standing still, we do not notice the rotation of the Earth and, furthermore, it is the Sun that "moves" in the sky during the day and at night.
With Nicolás Copernicus, the Sun would be the immobile center of the universe and the Earth would have two movements: the rotation itself, which gives rise to day and night, and the translation, which gives rise to the passing of the seasons.
Nicolaus Copernicus and the destruction of Ptolemaic astronomy
Although this theory was very correct for the time and taking into account the technology of that time, the Copernican universe was still finite and limited by the so-called sphere of fixed stars of ancient astronomy.
The destruction of the Ptolemaic system also occurred more easily since the heliocentric system of Copernicus helped reduce the number of variables to take into account for the understanding of the universe. Since the traditional system was in force for 14 centuries, led to his progress with observations that explained the motion of the 7 wandering planets. Nicolás Copernicus intuited that his hypothesis would make it easier to understand the universe. Only the center changed for the Sun.
I hope this information can help you to know more about Nicolaus Copernicus and his influence on the world of astronomy and science.