Astronomers

Astronomers

February 19, 1473 – Astronomer Nicholas Copernicus’ Birthday

The Earth-centered Universe of Aristotle and Ptolemy held sway on Western thinking for almost 2000 years. Then, in the 16th century a new idea was proposed by the Polish astronomer Nicolai Copernicus (1473-1543). Written by Copernicus and printed in 1543, De Revolutionibus established, for the first time in history, the correct position of the sun among the planets. The book’s findings not only formed the base for astronomers of the future, it inaugurated the great era of theoretical formulation. It is rightfully considered by some to have caused the greatest revolution in science and thought in the last two thousand years. Nicolaus Copernicus biography: Facts & discoveries. Nicolaus Copernicus – Astronomer, Heliocentrism from Britannica. Nicolaus Copernicus from the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy.