Nicolaus Copernicus

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Nicolaus Copernicus was born on February 19, 1473 in Torun, Poland. When Copernicus was ten, his father died and his uncle, Bishop of Varmia Lucas Watzenrode, took him and his siblings in. He attended quite a few universities in his life some were University of Cracow, University of Bologna, University of Padua, and University of Ferrara. In 1494 he took a canon’s position at Frombork’s cathedral, which he held for the rest of his life. With the help of that position it afforded him the opportunity to fund the continuation of his studies in different fields. Then in 1496, he left to Italy and met an astronomer and professor, Domenico Maria Novara. They exchanged astronomical idea and observations. Later in 1508, he began to develop his own celestial model, a heliocentric planetary system. When coming up with the heliocentric planetary system he brought about changes that transformed the way people would think. People originally thought the earth was the center of the universe, however Copernicus proved that the sun was in fact, the center of the universe. It was an important event in science history because it started the Copernican Revolution and helped aid the scientific revolution. Copernicus also rejected the long accepted Aristotelian/Ptolemaic view of the universe, stating that the earth was in center. Then on May 24, 1543 Nicolaus Copernicus died. (Ravetz, J.R.)
Copernicus’ major accomplishment was developing his own celestial model of a heliocentric planetary system. His model was simple but it apparently was no better at predicting the way the planets moved like the previous model before his. However, his model was still easier to use and understand. Some of what the model provided was the Earth’s center is not the cente...

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...ation of the Quincentenary of Nicolaus Copernicus 1473-1543 (Jan. 15, 1974), pp. 5-9

Shaer, Matthew. "How Nicolaus Copernicus Rewrote the Rules of the Solar System." The Christian Science Monitor: 22. Feb 19 2013. ProQuest. Web. 2 Dec. 2013 .

Tenn, Joe. "The Copernican Revolution." The Copernican Revolution. Sonoma State University, 19 Jan. 2007. Web. 03 Dec. 2013.

"Nicolaus Copernicus." 2013. The Biography Channel website. Dec 02 2013, 04:39 http://www.biography.com/people/nicolaus-copernicus-9256984.

"Copernicus, Nicolaus" 23 April 2009. HowStuffWorks.com. 02 December 2013.

"Copernicus , Nicolaus, Mikolaj Kopernik (Pol) (1473 - 1543)." The Cambridge Dictionary of Scientists. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2002. Credo Reference. Web. 04 December 2013.

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