February 19 marks the 552nd anniversary of the birth of Nicolaus Copernicus. This prominent astronomer played a crucial role in establishing the idea that it is the Earth that revolves around the Sun, not the other way around. But what else do we know about him?
Nicolaus Copernicus was a true Renaissance person – he was not only a brilliant astronomer but also a great doctor, cartographer, economist, and talented literary translator. In his main work, On the Revolutions of the Heavenly Spheres, he moved the center of the Universe from the Earth to the Sun, thus changing the view of the universe at the time. He confirmed by calculations the heliocentric system of the world proposed by ancient Greek philosophers, in particular Aristarchus of Samos. But it was Nicolaus Copernicus who first created a system for calculating the motion of the planets based on heliocentrism. In this system, the Sun is at the center of the world, and the planets revolve around it. “He stopped the Sun and made the Earth move” is how Nicolaus Copernicus has been characterized for centuries. His work, published in 1543 in Nuremberg, revolutionized the worldview of scientists of the time.
Nicolaus Copernicus was born on February 19, 1473, in the Polish city of Toruń on the banks of the Vistula River. His father was a wealthy German merchant also named Nicolaus, and the future astronomer’s mother, Barbara, came from the influential Toruń family of Watzenrode. Nicolaus had two older sisters and a younger brother. The family was quite wealthy, owning several houses; the one in which the future astronomer was born still exists in Toruń, and the street is named after the scientist.
It is known for certain that after the death of his father, his nephew was raised by his influential uncle, Bishop Lukas Watzenrode, his mother’s brother, who saw Nicolaus as his successor and assistant.
The youth of the future great astronomer remains the most unknown period of his life. In his 2015 book Mikołaj Kopernik: Szkice do Portretu, historian Janusz Mallek writes: “Given the lack of sources, the years from 1473 to 1491 are considered an unknown period in Copernicus’ life. All the astronomer’s biographers agree that he most likely attended a parochial school at the Church of St. John in Toruń, which was located about one hundred to two hundred meters from his home”.
In 1491, Nicolaus entered the Academy of Kraków, as the Jagiellonian University was then known. Most likely, the money for Copernicus’s education was provided by his maternal uncle, Lukas Watzenrode, who was then Bishop of Warmia and hoped that his nephew would become his secretary after graduation.
In his Nuremberg Chronicle of 1493, the German historian Hartmann Schedel wrote: “Astronomy is most flourishing at the Academy of Kraków, and in this respect, as I have heard from many people, there is no school more famous in all of Germany.” Indeed, the university was in its heyday, and Copernicus received a very good education there.
University professors Marcin Król and Martin Bylica, the founders of the Kraków School of Astronomy, had a strong influence on Copernicus, who was already interested in scientific works on astronomy. In Kraków, he studied not only astronomy and mathematics but also philosophy and natural sciences.
He was a broad-minded man, but contrary to the fashion and ideas that prevailed at the time about the influence of celestial bodies on human life, Copernicus, although he took a course in astrology, never took an interest in this science. The only exception was the horoscope he made for his mother, which could have been a task that had to be done. He was most interested in mathematical astronomy and cosmology from a philosophical point of view. He saw order and harmony in the cosmos, the same as the Greeks, who called the universe the cosmos.
At that time, the geocentric system of the world, which described the universe, had been generally accepted among the scientific community for many centuries. It was developed by the ancient Greek philosopher Ptolemy in his work Almagest. According to it, all the planets, the Sun, and the Moon move in epicycles, the centers of which, in turn, move in other differential circles, and the Earth is stationary in the center of the universe. The philosopher argued that his concept is a hypothesis that facilitates the understanding of observational phenomena, he believed that if observations contradict the theory, then another concept should be adopted.
While studying in Kraków, the young Copernicus noticed that the frequently observed motion of the planets did not coincide with the Alfonsine tables, based on the teachings of Ptolemy, which were used by astronomers at the time. Biographers suggest that some ideas from the general concept of a new world system could have come to the scientist’s mind while he was studying in Kraków. He began to look for solutions, which he found later and devoted most of his life to this.
Nicolaus Copernicus did not choose a career as an astronomer and did not associate his life with any university. For him, astronomy was a hobby, and he achieved incredible heights in this science. Dr. Maciej Mikołajewski from the Center for Astronomy at the Nicolaus Copernicus University in Toruń said: “Copernicus, as a researcher, was never under anyone’s protectorate. He was the first scientist to conduct research out of curiosity. If there are unanswered questions, it is human nature to seek them out. It is about the love of truth”.
While still studying in Kraków, the future astronomer began to build a library necessary for his research work. He bought lectures on Euclid’s geometry and collections of astronomical tables, in which he later recorded the results of his observations on the attached maps. In conversations with his friends, Copernicus often mentioned his studies in Kraków and said that he owed everything he had achieved in science to the Jagiellonian University.
In 1495, he graduated from Kraków, and in 1496 entered the University of Bologna to study law. On his trip to Italy, he took astronomical books he had purchased in Kraków.
Although the scientist had no great interest in law, he studied it to obtain a well-paid position in the diocese of Warmia, and after completing his studies, he was appointed a canon. This position provided Copernicus with a lifetime salary, which gave him the necessary funds to pursue his studies. In Bologna, in addition to theology, law, and languages, he had the opportunity to study astronomy under the guidance of the famous astronomer Domenico Maria Novara. The future scientist joined the astronomical observations that he made together with his teacher.
It was probably from him that Copernicus could have heard about the heliocentric theory of Aristarchus of Samos because Novara’s teacher was Regimontanus, who was familiar with it and had discussed it with other scientists on many occasions. The initial master-student relationship evolved into a collaboration of equal scientists looking for solutions to problems that originated in Ptolemy’s theory. The results of the observations made Copernicus doubt its truth once again.
In 1500, he completed a legal internship at the papal chancery in Rome and gave public lectures on mathematics there. In Padua, Nicolaus studied medicine and received a license to practice medicine, and at the University of Ferrara, he earned a doctorate in canon law.
Meetings with interesting people and the creative atmosphere of the Italian Renaissance had a significant impact on the scientist. He became a true Renaissance person – a man with many talents. It was during this period of his life that he began to translate from Greek into Latin the reflections on love and morality of Theophylact Simocatta, a famous Byzantine statesman. This translation is the only work by Copernicus published during his lifetime. The scientist’s biographers explain the reluctance to publish his works by his special character traits: shyness and constant doubts about the ability to convey his ideas to others.
Another evidence of Copernicus’s fascination with ancient culture, in addition to his translations, is his signet ring with the image of Apollo. Some biographers suggest that he might even have been a member of secret humanist communities like the Masons, but there is no convincing evidence for this. According to another unproven hypothesis, Copernicus was fond of painting. After his return from Italy to Poland, Nicolaus allegedly painted a self-portrait of himself looking at himself in the mirror. Unfortunately, the painting has not survived, but we know what it looked like thanks to a 16th-century copy by Tobias Stimmer that still adorns the clock of Strasbourg Cathedral. It depicts Copernicus with a lily of the valley in one hand, while his other hand rests on the inscription: “A portrait of Nicolaus Copernicus, made from his self-portrait”.
Perhaps the prominent astronomer used his ability to draw when he drew maps of Prussia and Warmia while working as a secretary for his uncle, a bishop. They were also used by historians of the 16th century.
Copernicus stayed in Italy until 1503. After returning to Poland, he lived and worked in Lidzbark, but the conditions there were not entirely conducive to astronomical observations, as there were no convenient sites in the city where they could be made, and his uncle, the bishop, kept him busy with additional work.
The scientist decided to move to Frombork. There, he had a modest house and a special observation deck in the garden outside the walls of the monastery complex, where he could properly install astronomical equipment. When the site was destroyed by Teutonic knights during one of their raids, Copernicus moved his observation post to the bell tower, which is now named in his honor.
In 1519, Poland’s war with the Teutonic Order began. At the time, Copernicus held a high position in the diocese and lived in a castle in Olsztyn. During the siege of the city by Teutonic knights, the astronomer led the defense and managed to organize a successful defense. He also proved to be not only an excellent organizer but also a loyal subject of the Polish king.
During the siege of Olsztyn, he wrote a letter to King Sigismund I asking for military assistance. The letter contained the following words: “We want to defend you as men of good character, honesty, and loyalty to Your Majesty should, even at the cost of our own lives”.
In other words, Copernicus would have preferred to die rather than surrender the castle to the Teutonic knights. The Poles won this confrontation, and in 1521, the war ended in a truce. At the end of 1521, Copernicus returned to Frombork and stayed there until his death on May 24, 1543.
In the postwar years, he participated in the development of a single currency for the Teutonic and Polish parts of Prussia. The scientist drew attention to a pattern that is now considered a fundamental economic truth and is known as Gresham’s law. According to this law, money with a more stable exchange rate, such as gold coins, is pushed out of circulation as people accumulate savings in this money, and the “worst” money, such as copper coins, is used in real circulation.
For us, Copernicus is known primarily as an astronomer. However, his contemporaries knew him as a physician who was knowledgeable in his field. As a result, many influential citizens turned to him, and he helped the poor for free. It is known that in 1519, he even had to fight the plague epidemic.
Although Nicolaus Copernicus was highly regarded as a physician, he led a rather lonely life in the last years of his life, as he wanted to devote most of his time to astronomy and his treatise On the Revolutions of the Heavenly Spheres.
In this work, he explained the heliocentric system of the world, first formulated in a work called the Commentariolus, which he initially distributed only to his friends, but it is known that in 1533, Copernicus’ work was presented even to Pope Clement VII. Despite the fact that the heliocentric system was his life’s work, Copernicus did not want to complete and publish it as soon as possible.
There are several reasons for this, according to Copernicus’ biographers, including his natural shyness and unwillingness to confront the church authorities, which he represented as a canon. Fortunately, a young professor of mathematics and his friend Rheticus, who came to visit him in Frombork, convinced him to finish this work.
The book was published in March 1543 in Nuremberg, and, according to legend, a copy was brought to Frombork on the day Copernicus was already ill. Shortly afterward, he died. It is not known for certain whether the scientist had time to hold this book in his hands.
The work on Copernicus’ main work, On the Revolutions of the Heavenly Spheres, took about 40 years, during which the author repeatedly made changes to the text and created new astronomical tables. In the preface to his work, Copernicus wrote: “Because of how ridiculous this doctrine may seem, I hesitated for a long time to publish my book and wondered whether it would not be better to follow the example of the Pythagoreans and others who imparted their teachings only to friends, spreading them only by tradition”.
For a long time, this was the case because Copernicus’ work had been on the Vatican’s list of forbidden books since 1616. This verdict was lifted only in 1828. Although scientists of the time had serious questions about the heliocentric theory, and this caused some doubts about it in the 16th and 17th centuries, Copernicus’ theory became the basis for the development of natural sciences in the Renaissance and later found support from such scientists as Johannes Kepler, Galileo Galilei, Isaac Newton, and others.
Many scientists have relied on it in their research. For a long time, the location of Copernicus’ grave was unknown, but during excavations in Frombork Cathedral in 2005, a skull and leg bones were discovered. A comparative DNA analysis of these remains with two hairs of Copernicus found in one of his books confirmed that they were his. On May 21, the coffin with the ashes of the great astronomer was delivered to the cathedral in Frombork, where Copernicus made his most important discoveries. On May 22, 2010, the remains of the great scientist were buried in the Cathedral of Frombork.
This unconventional person made an invaluable contribution to the development of science and revolutionized the worldview of the scientific community of that time. This is remembered and honored in the modern world. The following are named after the great astronomer: a star in the constellation Cancer, the asteroid 1322 Copernicus, a crater on the Moon, a crater on Mars, chemical element 112, the University of Toruń, Wroclaw International Airport, the first IL-62 aircraft of Polish Airlines, the Copernicus Science Center and a metro station in Warsaw, streets in many cities in Poland and cities around the world.
There is a road tourist route in Poland that honors the figure of Nicolaus Copernicus. It passes through towns associated with the life and work of the great scientist, which are located in several voivodeships. The total length of this path is 590 km, and it is marked with an astrolabe symbol. Here, you can visit historical buildings from the time of the great scientist, museum exhibitions dedicated to him, learn the secrets of the universe in planetariums, and even conduct astronomical observations.
The year 2023, on the occasion of the 480th anniversary of Copernicus’ death and the 550th anniversary of his birth, was declared the Year of Nicolaus Copernicus in Poland. The World Congress was held in Toruń on February 19, bringing together 700 researchers and experts, including five Nobel Prize winners.
