World fundamental science is based on conjectures, theories and works of scientists who are sent down from above to become pioneers. The Polish canon Nicolaus Copernicus (1473 - 1543) was such a unique person to the world. The guesses and predictions of the thinker, formalized over more than half a century in only a few fundamental scientific papers, brought many talented followers and popularizers of his theories to the medieval fire of the Inquisition. He was born in the 15th century, too early for the alchemists and pseudoscientists to recklessly admit the correctness of his scientific conclusions.
The breadth of his scientific outlook is truly unimaginable. The main works and discoveries made in the field of economics, mathematics and astronomy. At the University of Krakow, where he entered in 1491, the main emphasis, of course, was on medicine and theology. But young Nikolai immediately found a branch of science that he liked - astronomy. degree in Krakow he failed to receive, and from 1497 he continued his education at the University of Bologna. Domenico Novara supervised his astronomical observations. Copernicus was lucky to have a mentor in Bologna - he was lectured by the father of the European medieval mathematical school, Scipio del Ferro.
The same period includes works devoted to another field of science - economics. Treatise on Coins (1519), Monetae cudendae ratio (1528).
Fortress of Copernicus
Copernicus completed his education in 1503 at the University of Padua. In those years, the worldview of a young admirer of astronomy began to take shape, which he could safely engage in, turning the northwestern tower of the Frombork fortress in the Baltic into an observatory.
The scientific works of Nicholas, dated to the beginning of the 16th century, were devoted to a new theory of the construction of the world - heliocentric. It was first presented in the monograph "Small commentary ..." (lat. Commentariolus). In 1539, a student of Copernicus, Georg von Rethik, in a simple and understandable language, spoke in his book about the meaning of the discovery of a mentor. The main book, on which Copernicus worked for more than forty years, was called "On the rotation celestial bodies". He constantly made corrections to it, based on increasingly accurate astronomical calculations.
Having read Ptolemy's reflections on the structure of the world for the first time, Copernicus immediately noticed that the conclusions of the ancient scientific thinker are very controversial, and the way of presentation is very complicated and incomprehensible to a simple reader. The conclusion of Copernicus was unequivocal - the center of the system is the Sun, around which the Earth and all the planets known at that time revolve. Some elements of Ptolemy's theory still had to be recognized - the Pole could not know what the orbits of the planets were.
The work on the fundamental postulates of the heliocentric system was first published by Georg Retik in Nuremberg in 1543 under the title "On the rotation of the celestial spheres." Fearing persecution by the Inquisition, the theologian Andreas Osiander, the publisher of the book, wrote a preface to it. He called the theory a special technique of a mathematical nature, designed to simplify the process of astronomical calculations. The monograph of Copernicus as a whole resembles Ptolemy's Almagest, only there are fewer books - six instead of thirteen. Copernicus easily substantiated that the planets move back, that is, in circular orbits.
The mathematical part of the book contains information about the calculation of the location of the stars, the Sun and planets in the sky. The principles of the Earth's orbit around the Sun are described by Copernicus using the rule of precession of the equinoxes. Ptolemy could not explain it, but Copernicus absolutely accurately speaks about this from the point of view of kinematics. Mentions in his work Copernicus about the principles and laws of motion of the Moon and planets, considers the nature and causes of solar eclipses.
Finally, the theory of the heliocentric theory of the world of Nicolaus Copernicus was formed in the form of seven postulates, which completely swept aside the geocentric system. She had a great influence on the formation of the worldview of the descendants of Copernicus in the study of the astronomical picture of the world.
Five hundred years of recognition
Active scientific activity Copernicus continued until 1531. He concentrated on medicine, and as far as possible tried, finally, to prepare his book for publication. scientific theory. Historians and biographers of Copernicus do not agree on the question of whether he managed to see the book printed. On May 24, 1543, he died in a coma after a severe stroke. The remains of the burial place of the brilliant Pole were discovered in Frombork Cathedral in 2005, identified and reburied with grandiose honors in the same place on May 20, 2010. Only in 1854, Jan Baranovsky published complete collection writings of Copernicus in Polish and Latin.
Nicolaus Copernicus is immortalized by descendants in hundreds of monuments and names. transuranium element Periodic system Mendeleev No. 112 is called "Copernicus". In the vastness of the universe lives a small planet (1322) Copernicus.
Nicolaus Copernicus was born on February 19, 1473 in the Polish city of Torun, his father was a merchant who came from Germany. The future scientist was orphaned early, he was brought up in the house of his uncle, bishop and famous Polish humanist Lukasz Wachenrode.
In 1490, Copernicus graduated from the University of Krakow, after which he became a canon of the cathedral in the fishing town of Frombork. In 1496 he went on a long journey through Italy. Copernicus studied at the universities of Bologna, Ferrara and Padua, studied medicine and ecclesiastical law, and became a master of arts. In Bologna, the young scientist became interested in astronomy, which determined his fate.
In 1503, Nicolaus Copernicus returned to his homeland comprehensively an educated person, he first settled in Lidzbark, where he served as his uncle's secretary. After the death of his uncle, Copernicus moved to Frombork, where he did research for the rest of his life.
Social activity
Nicolaus Copernicus took an active part in the administration of the area in which he lived. He was in charge of business and financial affairs fought for its independence. Among his contemporaries, Copernicus was known as statesman, a talented physician and expert in astronomy.
When the Lutheran Council organized a calendar reform commission, Copernicus was invited to Rome. The scientist proved the prematureness of such a reform, since at that time the length of the year was not yet known exactly.
Astronomical observations and heliocentric theory
The creation of the heliocentric system was the result of many years of work by Nicolaus Copernicus. For about one and a half millennia, there was a system for organizing the world, proposed by the ancient Greek scientist Claudius Ptolemy. It was believed that the Earth is at the center of the universe, and other planets and the Sun revolve around it. This theory could not explain many of the phenomena observed by astronomers, but it was in good agreement with the teachings of the Catholic Church.
Copernicus observed the movement of celestial bodies and came to the conclusion that the Ptolemaic theory was wrong. In order to prove that all the planets revolve around the Sun, and the Earth is just one of them, Copernicus carried out complex mathematical calculations and spent more than 30 years of hard work. Although the scientist mistakenly believed that all the stars are motionless and are on the surface of a huge sphere, he managed to explain the apparent movement of the Sun and the rotation of the firmament.
The results of the observations were summarized in the work of Nicolaus Copernicus "On the Revolution of the Celestial Spheres", published in 1543. In it, he developed new philosophical ideas and focused on improving mathematical theory describing the movement of celestial bodies. The revolutionary nature of the scientist's views was realized by the Catholic Church later, when in 1616 his work was included in the Index of Forbidden Books.
He is considered one of the most famous Polish scientists, although he is definitely the property of world science. The scientist who in the 15th century managed to go against the teachings of the church and prove that the Earth is far from the center of the world, who was both a canon and a researcher, died without seeing the reaction of the world to his discovery.
Family and childhood
Nicolaus Copernicus was born into a merchant family. His father was a native of Krakow, although his nationality is unknown. Mother was an ethnic German. Nikolai was the fourth child in the family, besides him, his parents had another son and two daughters.
Nikolai received his primary education at a school, which was located near his home in Torun.
When he was nine, his father died of the plague, and therefore the mother and her brother took up the upbringing of all the children. He moved his sister's family to Krakow. There, Nikolai and his older brother entered the university, Nikolai began to study art, although he was equally interested in mathematics, astronomy, and medicine.
Education and wandering around the world
In 1494, Nicholas graduated from the university without any scientific title. The family decided that it would be best for him to devote himself to religion, especially since his uncle had just received the rank of bishop.
But Copernicus doubted this choice. Therefore, together with his brother, he decided to travel Italy. As a result, in 1497 he entered the University of Bologna. The faculty of law was considered the most popular at that time, where they also studied canon and ecclesiastical law. Therefore, Nikolai chose this faculty for himself. Moreover, it was also possible to study astronomy there.
Copernicus conducted the first scientific experiment in this area together with the astronomer Domenico Navarra - they realized that the distance from the Earth to the Moon, when it is squared, is more or less the same: both during the full moon and during the new moon. Thus, their discovery completely crossed out the theory of Ptolemy.
And while Copernicus was making his first scientific discoveries, his uncle still could not get rid of the idea of promoting him up the career ladder in the clergy. So, in 1498, he was elected canon in Warmia in absentia. A year later, his elder brother Andrzej also became a canon. But this dignity did not help either brother or another. Bologna was very expensive city, and both guys turned out to be almost beggars. Fortunately, another canon, Bernard Sculteti, came to their aid and repeatedly helped them financially.
In 1500, Nicholas leaves Bologna and the university, again without a diploma or title. Historians argue about the next few years of his life. Some say that Copernicus went to Rome and taught there at one of the universities, others say that Nicholas returned to Poland for a short while and then went to Padua, where he studied medicine.
Be that as it may, but in 1503 Copernicus received a doctorate in theology, this happened at the University of Ferrara. For the next three years he lived in the town of Padua, where he practiced medicine. But in 1506 he nevertheless returned to Poland. They say that the uncle decided to act with cunning: he lied about his illness, thereby summoning Copernicus to Krakow. There, Copernicus works as his uncle's secretary, teaches astronomy and is engaged in science.
War and defense of Olsztyn
In 1512, Copernicus' uncle died, and he moved to the town of Frombork, where he was appointed canon many years ago. There, in one of the towers of the fortress, he built an observatory for himself and continued his scientific research.
For several years he had carried his theory about the astronomical system in his head, he often discussed it with his scientist friends. For ten years already, a draft of his manuscript on the rotation of celestial bodies had been ready, but he was in no hurry to publish it. I just distributed it among astronomers I knew.
But not only research lived Copernicus. In 1516, he took over the duties of the manager of the Olsztyn and Penenzhnensky districts. But even when, after three years, his term of office expired, he still could not fully return to science - there was a war with the crusaders, and he needed to take care of the territory that was entrusted to him - Warmia. Therefore, Copernicus took over the command and organization of the defense of the fortress. Thus, the scientist managed to save Olsztyn from the enemy bulk. For his courage, in 1521 he was appointed commissioner of Warmia, and two years later - the general administrator of the area - this is the highest position that anyone could apply for. In the same year, after the election of a new bishop, he was entrusted with the position of Chancellor of Warmia, and after that Copernicus was given a little rest and again to do scientific work.
Criticism of Ptolemy
Already in the 1520s, Copernicus clearly understood that Ptolemy was wrong: the Earth is not the only planet that moves around the Sun. The only thing where Nikolai himself was mistaken was that he believed that the stars themselves were motionless. But here the explanation is quite simple: at that time there were no such powerful telescopes to catch the movement of stars across the sky.
Rumors spread throughout Europe about a new scientist who is rediscovering the world. Almost all famous scientists of the world spoke about his heliocentric system. Although the work on "On the rotation of the celestial spheres" lasted quite a long time - almost 40 years, after all, Copernicus was constantly clarifying something, making new calculations.
Last years of life and death
In 1531, the already middle-aged Copernicus retired from all affairs in order to devote himself only to science. His health deteriorated every year. Nevertheless, he still found the strength to practice medicine for free.
In 1542, Copernicus was stricken with paralysis - the right side of the body was taken away. He died at the age of 70 from a stroke. Some of his contemporaries claimed that he managed to see his greatest work published - on the heliocentric system, although biographers say that this is impossible, since the scientist spent many weeks before his death in a coma.
In 2005, unknown remains were found, which, after DNA analysis with two hairs of Copernicus, turned out to be his skull and bones. In 2010 they were reburied in the Frombork Cathedral.
Scientific achievements
Copernicus proved that the planets move around the sun, and not vice versa, as was previously believed. In addition, he read that it is the Sun that is the center of the world. The movements of the planets, as Copernicus believed, are not uniform and not the same.
Only a few years after the death of the scientist, the church realized that his work denies some of the tenets of the sacred letter, and only then they began to seize and burn it.
Nicolaus Copernicus was one of the first to voice the theory of universal gravitation.
The scientist also noticed such a phenomenon, which eventually became known as the Copernican-Gresham law, when people accumulate savings in a more valuable currency, and use a cheaper one in everyday life. At that time it was about gold and copper.
- Only in the 19th century were monuments erected to Copernicus in Warsaw, Krakow, Torun and Regensburg, later also in Olsztyn, Gdansk and Wroclaw. On the central square of the Polish Torun there is a monument to Copernicus, on which there is an inscription: "He who stopped the Sun - moved the Earth."
- Named after Copernicus Chemical element No 112 - "Copernicus", a minor planet (1322) Copernicus (Coppernicus), craters on the Moon and on Mars.
- In 1973, the 500th anniversary of Copernicus was celebrated worldwide, 47 countries issued about 200 stamps and postage blocks (even the Vatican issued four stamps). Another anniversary came in 1993 (the 450th anniversary of his death), 15 countries celebrated it with the release of about 50 stamps and postage blocks.
- There is a version, not documented, that Pope Leo X invited Copernicus to take part in the preparation of the calendar reform (1514, implemented only in 1582), but he politely refused.
Nicolaus Copernicus ... The famous astronomer, who was born on February 19, 1473 in the town of Torun in Poland. He could have taken many paths: the Catholic Church, medicine, mechanics, economics. But he is known to the general public as one of the greatest astronomers. The reason for this was both the life path of Copernicus himself and the fate of his ideas.
Nicholas Copernicus was born in the family of a good Catholic, a merchant originally from Germany. The father was soon killed by the plague. Caring for his nephews (besides Nikolai, his brother and two sisters were in the family) was taken over by his uncle, the brother of his mother, Lukasz Wachenrode, later a bishop. It would seem that this could already determine the path young man- a spiritual career, not everyone has the support of an uncle - a church hierarch - behind his back. But fate turned out differently ... Krakow University was waiting for the brothers, one of the sisters got married, one went to the monastery.
In those years, Europe seemed to “remember” the experience of antiquity, culture again put man, not God, at the forefront. The era of the dark Middle Ages was replaced by the Renaissance, the arts and sciences flourished. Did the young schoolboy then suspect about the fate of his ideas, about their role in science?
And then, in 1497, after graduating from Krakow University, Nicholas and his brother went to Italy, the center of the European Renaissance. The Universities of Bollon and Padua completed his education. Already in Bologna, under the guidance of astronomer Domenico Novara, making observations at the observatory, Copernicus encountered scientific problem, the solution of which became his main merit.
In those years, the so-called geocentric system of Ptolemy was adopted, according to which the Earth is the center of the Universe, the Sun, like all heavenly bodies, revolves around it. Ptolemy's model could not explain their results. Novara gave a gifted student a recommendation to continue his education in Rome.
Studies
The spiritual path was not forgotten - at the University of Ferrara he received a doctorate in ecclesiastical law. But in all his universities, he paid great attention to astronomy. Returning to Poland and becoming a canon (assistant to the bishop), he served as his uncle's secretary. After his death, he went to the city of Frombork, where he continued his research - so one of the towers of the old castle became an observatory.
It was during this period that the provisions of the Heliocentric system, the main heritage of Copernicus, crystallized. His idea was ingenious in its simplicity:
- If the results of observations of the Moon do not fit the Ptolemaic model, is it possible that the Earth is not at the center of the universe?
- What should be taken as the center, the starting point of this system?
- And if you put the Sun in this place?
So a new, Heliocentric system of Copernicus appeared.
A bold idea that makes a revolution in the minds of people, as it was in tune with the entire Renaissance ... It is especially interesting that he made all his conclusions without a telescope - it would be invented by another great astronomer, Galileo Galilei.
But the old did not want to give up their positions without a fight. This affected Copernicus to a small extent - the revolutionary nature of his ideas was simply not understood during his lifetime. Yes, and there was enough other work - he was talented in many areas. A good doctor, a plumbing designer, a reformer of the financial system in Poland, an organizer of the defense of his bishopric from the Teutonic Order: this is an incomplete list of his merits.
We can recall his contribution to the theory of money circulation. After all, it was he who, having noticed that with the simultaneous circulation of gold and copper coins, gold goes into savings, and copper remains in circulation, he deduced: "The worst money is crowding out the best money."
Merits
But the main thing was to work on heliocentric system. If he published the first notes on his theory in 1503, and the book On the Revolutions of the Celestial Spheres was published in 1543, then it turns out that the work took forty years! It is symbolic that this treatise was published shortly before the death of Copernicus, as if summing up his life path…
With his death, his ideas did not die, on the contrary, a heated discussion began around them. The Catholic Church banned the works of Copernicus, seeing them as heresy: is the Earth really not the center of the universe, but just one of the planets? What then to think of heaven and hell?
But this did not stop inquisitive minds - the result was the death of Giordano Bruno at the stake of the Holy Inquisition and the trial of Galileo Galilei.
It is noteworthy that, calling the theory of Copernicus a heresy, the Catholic Church allowed the use of his model in astronomical calculations. This paradox fixed the facts - the Copernican theory was more in line with reality, although it undermined the biblical picture of the world.
It was the idea of Nicolaus Copernicus that served as the catalyst for the first scientific revolution. The transition from a medieval view of the world to a scientific one is his historical merit.
(1473-1543) Polish astronomer
Nicolaus Copernicus was born in the Polish city of Torun in the family of a merchant who came from Germany. He was orphaned early and brought up in the house of his uncle, the famous Polish humanist Bishop Lukasz Wachenrode. In 1490 he graduated from the University of Krakow and became a canon of the cathedral in Frombork, a fishing town at the mouth of the Vistula. He remained in this position (with interruptions) until the end of his life.
In 1496 Copernicus went on a long journey to Italy. At first he studied at the University of Bologna, where he became a master of arts, and also studied ecclesiastical law. It was in Bologna that he developed an interest in astronomy, which determined his scientific fate.
Then he on a short time returns to Poland, but soon goes back to Italy, where he studies medicine at the University of Padua and receives a doctorate in theology from the University of Ferrara. Nicholas Copernicus returned to his homeland in 1503 as a comprehensively educated person. He settled first in the city of Lidzbark, where he served as a secretary and doctor for his uncle, and after his death he moved to Frombork, where he lived until the end of his life.
Nicolaus Copernicus was an amazingly versatile scientist. Simultaneously with astronomy, he was engaged in translations of the works of Byzantine authors, as well as medicine, earning a reputation as a wonderful doctor. Copernicus treated the poor free of charge: day and night he was ready to rush to help the sick. In addition, he participated in the management of the region, was in charge of its financial and economic affairs. But most of all he was interested in astronomy, which he presented in a slightly different way than was customary.
By that time, the world order system proposed by the ancient Greek scientist Claudius Ptolemy had existed for almost one and a half millennia. It consisted in the fact that the Earth rests motionless in the center of the Universe, and the Sun and other planets revolve around it. Ptolemy's theory did not allow explaining many phenomena well known to astronomers, in particular the looping motion of the planets across the visible sky. Nevertheless, its provisions were considered unshakable, since they were in good agreement with the teachings of the Catholic Church.
Long before Copernicus, the ancient Greek scientist Aristarchus argued that the Earth moves around the Sun. But he could not yet experimentally confirm his teaching.
Observing the movement of celestial bodies, Nicolaus Copernicus came to the conclusion that Ptolemy's theory was incorrect. After thirty years of hard work, long observations and complex mathematical calculations, he convincingly proved that the Earth is only one of the planets and that all planets revolve around the Sun. True, Copernicus still believed that the stars are motionless and are located on the surface of a huge sphere, at a great distance from the Earth. This was due to the fact that at that time there were no such powerful telescopes with which one could observe the sky and stars.
Having discovered that the Earth and the planets are satellites of the Sun, Nicolaus Copernicus was able to explain the apparent movement of the Sun across the sky, the strange entanglement in the movement of some planets, as well as the apparent rotation of the firmament. He believed that we perceive the movement of celestial bodies in the same way as the movement of various objects on Earth when we ourselves are in motion. When we sail in a boat on the surface of the river, it seems that the boat and we are stationary in it, and the banks are floating in the opposite direction. Similarly, to an observer on Earth, the Earth appears to be stationary and the Sun moves around it. In fact, it is the Earth that moves around the Sun and makes a complete revolution in its orbit during the year.
Sometime between 1510 and 1514, Nicolaus Copernicus wrote short message, in which he first informed scientists about his discovery. It gave the impression of a bombshell and caused misfortune not only for its author, but also for his followers. To accept such a theory meant to destroy the authority of the church, since this concept refuted the theory of the divine origin of the universe.
The theory of Copernicus was fully expounded in his work On the Revolutions of the Celestial Spheres. The author did not live to see this book spread all over the world. He was dying when friends brought him the first copy of his book, printed in one of the Nuremberg printing houses. His book aroused interest among progressive scientists.
Church leaders did not immediately understand what a blow to religion the book of Copernicus deals. For some time, his work was freely distributed among scientists. Only when Nicolaus Copernicus had followers, his teaching was declared heresy, and the book was included in the Index of Forbidden Books. Only in 1835 did the Pope exclude the book of Copernicus from this index and thereby, as it were, acknowledge the existence of his teaching in the eyes of the church.
In 1600, the Italian scientist Giordano Bruno was burned at the stake for promoting the views of Copernicus. But this could not stop the development of science.
Soon after the death of Nicolaus Copernicus, the Italian astronomer Galileo Galilei established that the Sun also rotates around its axis, which confirmed the correctness of the conclusions of the Polish scientist.
Obviously, the laws discovered by Copernicus contributed to the further development of astronomy, in which more and more new discoveries are still taking place.
