Copernicus, Nicolaus (1473-1543)

Polish Astronomer.Understood by the Christian church and the scientific community as the father of modern astronomy. 

His education and professional life was varied both in terms of subject and geography; schooled in medicine, philosophy and mathematics at Cracow, Poland; Bologna and Rome; Heilsburg in Prussia and finally, to take up the position of residentiary canon at Frauenberg.

Copernicus rejected the received Ptolemaic system of the universe, founding his own system with the sun at the centre of the solar system on the grounds that it was improbable that such a large body as the sun would revolve around such a small body as the earth. His reformulation provided some valuable explanations, such as the variation of the seasons, equinoxes and the retrograde motion of planets. Despite the defects of his system, it certainly prepared the way for Johannes Kepler, Galileo and Isaac Newton.

Contributed by: Richard P Whaite

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	Physics
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