NICOLAUS COPERNICUS

BACKGROUND

• Born February 19, 1473, in Thorn, Poland
• Mother: Barbara Watzenrode
• Father: Nicolaus Copernicus Sr.
• Siblings: Andreas (brother), Barbara (sister), and Katharina (sister)
• At age 10 his father died, then went to live with his uncle, Bishop of Varmia Lucas Watzenrode
• Died: May 24, 1543 (age 70) from a stroke

EDUCATION

• University of Kraków (mathematics and astronomy)
• University of Bologna (law medicine)
• University of Padua (law of medicine)

CONTRIBUTIONS

• Thought all planets orbited the sun
• Earth was 3rd from the sun
• Planets were different sizes
• "...Nicolaus Copernicus...began the science revolution." ("Nicolaus Copernicus")
• Element in the periodic table: name: Copernicus aka. Cn; atomic number: 112,
• Wrote a book: Narratio Prima

OPPOSITION

• Andreas Osiander, printed Narratio Prima
• Made an unauthorized note in the front cover, "even though the book's theory was unusual, if it helped people do astronomy calculations, it didn't matter if it wasn't really true." ("Nicolaus Copernicus")
• No one came after him for his beliefs that were stated in the book
• Most popular astronomy book for 1300 years