Physics 1010

Sofia Nelson
Copernicus

Nicolaus Copernicus was born on February 19th in Torun, Poland in the year of1473 to
Nicolaus Copernicus Sr. and his wife Barbara Watzenrode. Under technicalities, because his
birthplace had just seceded, Copernicus was born a Polish citizen but he was of German decent.
Because of this, his first language was German. Although German was his first language, he was
just as fluent in Latin. Most of his works that can be seen today are found in Latin, and only
some are written in German. Besides his fluency in these, Copernicus could also speak Polish,
Greek, and Italian (Hoyle, 1973).
Copernicus was the youngest of four kids in his family. He had one brother, and two
sisters. Two of his siblings grew up to work within the church as a Canon and Nun. Nicolaus
family was well off, as his mother was the daughter of a wealthy merchant, and his father was a
merchant himself. His parents families had also both been known for being wealthy and
extremely prominent where they were from, and as a result Copernicus had a very comfortable
childhood. However comfortable his situation was, he still suffered through tragedies like his
fathers death. Nicolaus Copernicus Sr. died in 1483 when Nicolaus Jr. was only ten years old.
After his fathers death, Nicolaus and his siblings were taken under the wing of their uncle on
their mothers side. He was a well known cleric, and later bishop in the Catholic church by the
name of Lucas Watzenrode. Watzenrode played a huge role in getting Nicolaus interested in
astronomy. He ensured Nicolaus did well, advanced within the church, and also oversaw his
education. His high status in the church ensured that Nicolaus would be able to get a good
education, and job that was rooted in the church (Rabin, 2004).
Copernicus was educated at several different schools. The first school he attended while
being cared for by his uncle was St. Johns School in his birth town, Torun. Later he started
going to a Cathedral School some ways up river from Torun. There he was prepared to enter the

University of Krakow which is the oldest university in Poland. There is no record of Copernicus
earning a degree, but in his time a degree was not necessary for working in the church. The
University was influential though because it offered math, astronomy and astrology classes
which peaked his interest and caused him to continue research in those subjects (Gingerich,
2004). Nicloaus was able to fund his desire to learn because of his lower position in the church,
but in 1495 his uncle helped him obtain a position that would ensure he was financially sound for
the rest of his life. Watzenrode played a large role in getting Copernicus elected as canon, the
same position he held which is just below a bishop in the church. Earning this position continued
Nicolaus on the same path his uncle had taken as he attended the same school, the University of
Bologna in Italy, to educate himself to be a canon. Shortly after his return to Frombook, Poland,
where he held his position as canon, Copernicus was again granted permission to go an study at
the University of Padua. At Padua he studied medicine, which in the 15th century included the
study of Astrology. This was because it was believed that the heavens created, and continue to
control the things on earth. Copernicus again did not receive a degree, this time because his
allotted amount of time given to him to study was only two years, and three were required for a
degree.
Copernicus did not earn any degrees, but was awarded a doctorate in canon law which he
then took with him to practice in Germany with his uncle. Though Copernicus is known for
making an important astronomical discovery later in his life, he initially studied medicine and
church matters. When his uncle got sick, Copernicus took care of him as his physician, however
he did not stay long in Germany. He decided to continue following his interests, and left his
uncle to study astronomy on his own. After some more research in astrology Copernicus said At
rest, however, in the middle of everything is the sun. It wasnt until about 1510 that he

published an essay that discussed his idea of a heliocentric universe, meaning that the sun was at
the center of the whole universe (Copernicus, 1976).
Historians are still not quite sure of when Copernicus first began postulating his idea of a
heliocentric universe, but guess that it was sometime after 1500, because while in Rome he gave
a lecture on astronomy and they believe that a theory such as his would have most certainly been
commented on, but was not. The world was not completely uneducated about the universe at this
time. Aristotle believed that the earth was the center, but that had been proven wrong before
Copernicus. His new ideas also suggested that the Earth spins on its axis daily, and its movement
affects what we on earth can see. The problem he ran into however, was that he did not have the
tools to prove that his theories were true without any uncertainty (Hoyle, 1973). Even though he
could not prove that his ideas were true, Copernicus spent several years making observations in
the sky and making hypothesis. After he generated some hypothesis, he took measurements and
documented the heavens. His main experiments were just measuring and watching the sky,
because he lacked more tools to officially prove his theories.
Copernicus did not just present his work to people right away. It took some time before
he introduced it to people around 1543. Some people believe this was because with his position
as a canon in the church he was afraid to contradict what they had already said about the
universe, however this was not the reason. The main reason was that he felt he still lacked
something because he hadnt quite finished officially proving his theories (Rabin, 2004). When
his essay did come out to more people, Copernicus ideas were not rejected right away however,
many of his fellow astronomers at the time did not agree, and were still not quite ready to believe
that the earth moved. Later Galileo would confirm the theories addressed in Copernicus essay,
and be prosecuted because those theories contradicted what the church had decided was the truth.

Copernicus contributed the origins of an idea of a heliocentric to the world of science, but did not
face prosecution from the church because he died shortly after sharing his discoveries.

Works Cited
Copernicus, N. (1976). On the revolutions of heavenly spheres. Prometheus Books.
Gingerich, O. (2004). The book nobody read: chasing the revolutions of Nicolaus Copernicus.
Bloomsbury Publishing USA.
Hoyle, F. (1973). Nicolaus Copernicus: an essay on his life and work. Journal for the History of
Astronomy, 4, 202.
International Space Hall of Fame: New Mexico Museum of Space History: Inductee Profile.
(n.d.). Retrieved April 20, 2016, from
http://www.nmspacemuseum.org/halloffame/detail.php
Nicolaus Copernicus. (n.d.). Retrieved April 20, 2016, from
http://www.biography.com/people/nicolaus-copernicus-9256984
Rabin, S. (2004). Nicolaus Copernicus. Retrieved April 20, 2016, from
http://plato.stanford.edu/enteries/copernicus/