Quarter 1 Biography Project (Nicolaus Copernicus)

Nicolaus Copernicus was a Polish astronomer who lived from 1473 to 1543. Although he is best known for his contributions to astronomy, he serves as one of the better examples of a “Renaissance Man”, working as a mathmatician, economist, governor, translator, cleric, physician, diplomat, artist, scholar, and military leader. He never had a wife or children. He spoke many languages, being fluent in Polish, Latin, and German. Copernicus revolutionized the astronomical beliefs of his day by inventing the heliocentric model of the universe. The then-Pope, Clement VII, expressed interest in his ideas, leading to Copernicus' findings being dedicated to the Pope. After the death of his father when he was ten years old, his uncle became the dominant paternal figure in his life. It was his uncle that helped him get into college at the University of Cracow in 1491. It was this school that Copernicus felt was responsible for the majority his intellectual gains. A few years later, again with help from his uncle, he enrolled in the University of Bologna to study canon law. It was here that he began observing the stars. Copernicus' chapter granted him permission to study medicine in Italy. He requested permission to study medicine with the dual purpose of continuing his astronomical observations. After his medical studies, Copernicus worked for his uncle, now the bishop of Varmia, as his personal physician and secretary from 1503 until his uncle's death in 1512. It was while working for his uncle that he began to explore the possibility of a heliocentric universe. In either 1510 or 1512 Copernicus moved to Frombork, in Poland, where he would live for the rest of his life. There he would serve many positions in his local chapter, including chancellor and economic manager. Copernicus faced criticism from many protestants, but after his death his ideas became more accepted. In Frombork, in 1514, he first published his ideas of heliocentricity, secretly giving out copies to his most trusted friends. Copernicus kept his name off the original manuscripts because he felt that, even after thirty years of observations, his theories weren't perfect yet. He based his claims on observations of lunar eclipses and data of observations taken from Ptolemy. Later, in the early seventeenth century, both Galileo Galilei and Giordano Bruno embraced Copernicus' theories. Bruno was burned at the stake and Galileo was forced to renounce his beliefs in a heliocentric universe and lived out the rest of his life under house arrest.

Copernicus spent his later years dedicated to his canon. He still devoted some time to astronomy, but not as much as he used to. He also wrote some papers on the value of money. He worked as a medical adviser to the Prince-Bishop of Varmia. Starting in the 1530s, he began practicing medicine for many of the more important bishops, including some of his old friends who had gotten promotions. Copernicus reportedly died the day his book, and life's work, De revolutionibus orbium coelestium (On the Revolutions of the Heavenly Spheres), was finally published. Some say he woke from a coma, saw his book, and died.