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Polish name: Mikolaj Kopernik. Polish astronomer and mathematician who, as a student, studied canon law, mathematics, and
medicine at Cracow, Bologna, Rome, Padua, and Ferrara. Copernicus became interested in astronomy and published an early
description of his "heliocentric" model of the solar system in Commentariolus (1512). In this model, the
sun was actually not exactly the center of the solar system, but was slightly offset from the center using a
device invented by Ptolemy known as the equant point. The idea that the Sun was the center of the
solar system was not new (similar theories had been proposed by Aristarchus and Nicholas of Cusa), but Copernicus
also worked out his system in full mathematical detail. Even though the mathematics in his description was not any simpler
than Ptolemy's, it required fewer basic assumptions. By postulating only the rotation of the
Earth, revolution about the sun, and tilt of Earth's rotational
axis, Copernicus could explain the observed motion of the heavens. However, because Copernicus retained circular orbits,
his system required the inclusion of epicycles. Unfortunately, out of fear that his ideas might get him into trouble with
the church, Copernicus delayed publication of them.
In 1539, Copernicus took on Rheticus as a student and handed over his manuscript to him to write a popularization
of the heliocentric theory, published as Narratio Prima in 1540. Shortly before his death, Rheticus
convinced Copernicus to allow publication of his original manuscript, and De Revolutionibus Orbium Coelestium was
published in 1543. Copernicus proposed his theory as a true description, not just a theory to save appearances. Unlike
Buridan and Oresme, he did not think that any theory which saved appearances was valid, instead believing
that there could only be a single true theory. When the work was published, however, Andreas Osiander added an
unauthorized preface stating that the contents was merely a device to simplify calculations.
Copernicus adapted physics to the demands of astronomy, believing that the principles of Ptolemy's
system were incorrect, not the math or observations. He was the first person in history to create a complete and general
system, combining mathematics, physics, and cosmology. (Ptolemy, for instance, had treated each planet separately.)
Copernicus's system was taught in some universities in the 1500s but had not permeated the academic world until
approximately 1600. Some people, among whom John Donne and William Shakespeare were the most influential, feared
Copernicus's theory, feeling that it destroyed hierarchal natural order which would in turn destroy social order and bring
about chaos. Indeed, some people (such as Bruno), used Copernicus's theory to justify radical theological views.
Before Copernicus formulated his theory of the solar system, astronomy in Europe had stagnated. After the Almagest had been translated into Latin, European astronomers such as the Austrian mathematician Georg von
Peurbach and the German astronomer Regiomontanus proposed no new theories, attempting instead to refine
the flawed system already laid out by Ptolemy. The astronomy textbook used for teaching was still The
Sphere, the same book that had been in use since the 1200s. Rather than formulating new theories, astronomers had
busied themselves in "saving appearances," which consisted of trying to patch it up Ptolemy's
cumbersome and inaccurate model. Copernicus, however, wiped the slate clean in a single broad stroke, and proposed a
fundamentally different model in which the planets all circled the Sun in De Revolutionibus Orbium
Coelestium. While radically different from Ptolemy's model, Copernicus's heliocentric theory was
hardly an original idea. Similar theories had been proposed by Aristarchus as early as the third century B. C.,
and Nicholas de Cusa, a German scholar, had independently made the same assertion in a book he published in 1440. We
know for a fact that Copernicus was well aware of Aristarchus's priority, since his original
draft of De Revolutionibus has survived and features a passage referring to Aristarchus which Copernicus
crossed out so as not to compromise the originality of his theory. In his belief that his theory was an accurate
description of nature rather than just a mathematical model, Copernicus was therefore not truly revolutionary.
What was a little revolutionary was that Copernicus worked out his system in full mathematical detail in De
Revolutionibus. By doing this, Copernicus went a step beyond Ptolemy, de Cusa, and Aristarchus. Ptolemy
had regarded his theory as simply a mathematic tool for calculation, having no physical basis. On the other side of the
coin, de Cusa and Aristarchus had proposed a purely physical model, not endeavoring to mathematically investigate
its consequences. Copernicus's most significant achievement was his combination of mathematics and physics, adapting
physics to conform to his view of astronomical truth, with a good bit of cosmology thrown in for good measure.
This achievement alone, however, hardly qualifies as a "revolution." Copernicus offered mathematics which were every
bit as entangled as Ptolemy's, and because he retained circular orbits, his system required the
inelegant inclusion of epicycles and their accompanying complication. To Copernicus's credit, although his description
was not any simpler than Ptolemy's, it did require fewer basic assumptions. In addition, Copernicus's
theory explained some problems, such as the reason that Mercury and Venus are only observed
close to the Sun (their orbits always kept them nearer the sun than Earth ) and
Mars's retrograde motion (the Earth, traveling in its smaller orbit, overtakes
Mars, causing Mars to appear to move change direction and move backward relative to
distant "fixed" stars). However, like Ptolemy, Copernicus could still not explain variations in the brightness
of Venus.
Copernicus was the first person in history to create a complete and general system, combining mathematics, physics, and
cosmology. Yet, by themselves Copernicus's achievements, do not constitute a revolution. Copernicus had been motivated
to this theory by Neoplatonic and Pythagorean considerations. His reasoning seems to have been
predominantly motivated by aesthetics. In his view, equally spaced planets in circular orbits would represent harmony
in the universe. But Copernicus had made no observations and stated no general laws. His mathematics could describe
the motion of the planets, but his theory was of a very ad hoc nature.
It took the accurate observational work of Brahe, the exhaustive mathematics of Kepler, and the mathematical
genius of Newton to take Copernicus's theory as a starting point, and glean from it the underlying truths and laws
governing celestial mechanics. Copernicus was an important player in the development of these theories, but his work would
likely have likely remained in relative obscurity without the observational work of Brahe. It would have been
discarded by the wayside, until subsequent investigation brought it back to light. It is likely, in fact, that given
Kepler would have independently arrived at a heliocentric theory just in the process of interpreting
Brahe's data, and the scientific revolution would have been born anyway. To a large extent, then,
Copernicus has achieved his prominent place in history through what amounted to a lucky, albeit shrewd, guess. It is
therefore more appropriate to view Copernicus's achievements as a preliminary step towards scientific revolution, rather
than a revolution in itself.
Aristarchus, Brahe, Kepler, Ptolemy, Rheticus
Additional biographies: MacTutor (St. Andrews), Firenze, Bonn
© 1996-2007 Eric W. Weisstein
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