Essay on Nicolai Copernicus - 1208 Words

Nicolaus Copernicus Have you ever wondered who discovered that the sun is the center of our universe? If so, the answer is Nicolai Copernicus. This man was a well-respected as well as well educated man. He explored many different subjects including mathematics, medicine, canon law, and his favorite astronomy. The Earth-centered universe of Aristotle and Ptolemy were Western thinking for almost 2000 years until the 16th century when Copernicus proposed his theory. Copernicus was born on February 19, 1473 in Thorn, Poland. He was the youngest son of four children and the son of a prosperous merchant. Following his fathers death, his Uncle Lukas Watzelrode, bishop of Ermland, adopted him. Copernicus began his studies in Thorn and then†¦show more content†¦This called for Epicycles, an orbit upon another orbit. This meant the planets made a second revolution in an orbit tangent to the original orbit around the Earth, which made the system very cluttered and difficult to understand.3 Copernicus did not do away with the Epicycles, but by moving the sun to the center there were much less Epicycles which intern made everything easier to understand. He called this system the Heliocentric System. The sun was the center and the earth was just another planet that revolved around the sun. The stars where distant objects that do not revolve, because the earth rotates once in 24 hours the stars appear to revolve around the Earth in the opposite dir ection. Both scholars and the church accepted the Ptolemaic system. Copernicus hesitated to announce his heliocentric view for fear of a trail for heresy.4 The Ptolemaic system could easily be believed if one assumed the Christian belief that the Earth was the center of the universe God created. People were afraid to believe a theory that went against the Bibles teachings. His friends who were interested in his theories persuaded him to write at least an abstract for them. He entitled it the Commentariolus (Commentary). This commentary stated his theory in the form of seven axioms, reserving the mathematical part for the principle work. From this, the doctrine of the heliocentric system began to spread. A few years later Cardinal Schonberg, then Archbishop of Capua urgedShow MoreRelatedHow the Social Importance of Religion Has Receded with Modernity1617 Words   |  7 Pagesquestion the religious views of Western Civilizations, which at the start of modernity was the Roman Catholic Church. In 1543, Copernicus suggested that the earth moves around the sun and not vise versa, something of which was completely unheard of in the scientific field at the time, as it went against the Church (Copernicus and Rhà ¤ticus, 1543; Gingerich, 2002). Copernicus prefaced his publication with an apology to the Pope. Moreover, during this time, the Protestant Reformation had already begunRead MoreThe Middle Ages And The Renaissance1137 Words   |  5 Pagessuch as William Shakespeare and Machiavelli created plays and other portions of writing that did not abstain their factual beliefs. Math and Science also progressed and helped the innovations and creations by men such as Galileo Galilei and Ni colai Copernicus. Even though there were intellectuals in Western Europe throughout the Middle Ages, such as Aristotle, the total amounts throughout the Renaissance were abundantly greater (Crooks). Teaching permitted these accomplishments to be conceivableRead MoreThe Black Death And Its Effects On Western Europe Essay1391 Words   |  6 Pagesdifferent. This impacted modern day art and culture. Artist and writers of the Renaissance influenced American history. Many men from this period of rebirth taught us things that became for helpful to us. For example in The Copernican Model (Doc. 6) Nicolai Copernicus proved that the Earth was not the center of the Solar System. Once this discovery was made it helped many astronomers like Galileo make discoveries that influenced today’s astronomers. In conclusion the Renaissance changed the world completely