Copernicus09

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Nicolaus Copernicus was born on February 19, 1473, in Torun, Poland. He was the son of Nicolaus Copernicus Sr. and Barbara Watzenrode and had 3 older siblings. His father was a wealthy merchant from Germany, but he died when Copernicus was just 10 years old. Copericus's uncle Lucas Watzenrode took them in. Watzenrode became a successful bishop and ruler of Ermland in 1489, and he ensured Copernicus's advancement in the church as well as providing directed education, enrolling him in the University of Cracow in 1491. There is where his intrest first sparked for astronomy, and although he never attended any astronomy classes, he collected a number of books on astronomy and self taught himself. in 1495 Watzenrode set up Copernicus's election for canon of Frombork, 2 years later he took the position and was set financially for life. He then studied at the University of Bologna to study canon law. In Bologna he learned Greek so he could study and translate more of Ptolemy's work. In 1501 Copernicus left Bologna and returned to Frombork, and the chapter approved him for a 2 year leave of absence to study at the university of Padua. There he continued his study of medicine, and along the side his personal study of astronomy. Afterwards instead of returning to Frombork, he left to live with his uncle, and became his uncle's attending physician due to his uncles illness in his old age in 1507. In 1510, he returned to his chapter in Frombork to continue his studies. He held many administrative duties while in Frombork, and eventuallu became a physician for the chapter aswell. Between 1510 and 1514 he wrote an essay entitled The //Commentariolus//. In this work he fixed the flaws in the old concept by suggesting that the sun sat still and the earth and all other bodies revolved around the sun, not the Earth, except the moon. He stated that the Earth itself rotates around the sun and spins on its axis, and the tilt of the earth is also noted in the work. The order of the planets is also states, Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn (the only visible planets to the naked eye. Mentioned in the work is that the //Commentariolus// is only a preview to his later, larger work, //On the Revolutions//. //On the Revolutions// was comprised of 6 books, book 1 dealt with the heliocentic theory and the explainations of why the system worked and make much more sense than the geoentric theory, the second book went more in depth with the concepts in book 1, book 3 discussed solar theory and the equinoxes, book 4 talked about the moon and its movements, book 5 and 6 described planetary latitude and longitude. Another, smaller work, a letter to Johann Schöner from Copernicus, the //Narratio prima// discussed the new concepts found in //On the Revolutions.// In this letter he discussed new ideas and addressed problems with the previous theory that he attempted to resolve with his theory. The //Narratio prima// was the first printed work of Copernicus, which introduced the concepts of //On the Revolutions// which he later published aswell.

Nicolaus Copernicus
 * Born on February 19 1473, in Torun, Poland.
 * His Uncles was ruler and bishop of Ermland, and Copernicus owed his security, education, and career to him.
 * Copernicus studied at the University of Cracow from 1491-1494
 * Never studied in any classes of astronomy, instead he collected and read books on astronomy as well as mathematics
 * In 1496, his uncle made him canon at Frauenburg, which he remained for the rest of his life
 * He becomes his uncles personal physician and secretary, and begins further thought and study on astronomy.
 * In 1510 he left his uncle to live at his chapter of Frombork, where he lived for the rest of his life.
 * He spent 2 years at the University of Padua studying medicine, and studied astronomy on his own.

The Heliocentric Theory

 * Through personal studies of astronomy, in the early 1500's Copernicus wrote, his first heliocentric writing