Copernicus' Studies
Nicholas Copernicus was never supposed to be a revolutionary in the field of revolutions. This Polish merchant's son, groomed to be a church canon, was not the sort of man to be running around changing the world; he was not even published until near his death, in 1543. Copernicus had been preceded by over a thousand years of contentment with the universal model, as Europe had been riding Ptolemy's system with the full support of the Catholic Church. Few people had given serious question to breaking Ptolemy's crystal spheres; in fact, they were so firmly established as the methods by which planets revolved around the earth that Dante had written about them in his Divine Comedy and John Milton, several years later, wrote them into his epic, Paradise Lost. Copernicus himself was quite loyal to the precise, circular motion set in place by Aristotle; the major difference between his system and the Ptolemaic is that the Earth revolves around the Sun and turns on its own axis. Because of this, some believe that Copernicus was not a revolutionary thinker, but "a thinker of revolutions" (Henry, 10). However, Copernicus himself harbored beliefs other than that of the Catholic Church, and this would prove to be the driving force behind
Copernicus went to Bologna to study canonic law at the university in order to perform the administrative duties that his uncle desired of him, but left with an education in astronomy and mathematics. While in Bologna, Copernicus went to live with a mathematician, Domenico Maria de Novara (Encarta). Copernicus may not have dreamed of a heliocentric model of the universe before arriving in Bologna; he was a devout Catholic with a bishop for a guardian, and such thoughts were pure heresy. Yet he was also a young man, and Copernicus' dissatisfaction with the Ptolemaic system opened the door for his new teacher: in Novara, Copernicus had found a mentor who would begin to set Copernicus' path. Novara was a noted reader of Hermetic readings and a dissenter with Ptolemy's universal structure, and a worshipper of the Sun (Speke, 28). Copernicus bought into this line of thinking; if the Sun itself was the most important celestial body, then it should be the center of the universe, and thereby, the earth could move (Speke, 29). Copernicus, under the tutelage of Novara read nearly every astronomical text available at that time (Sarton, 57) and by 1500, Copernicus was lecturing in Rome on astronomy, having learned enough astronomy at Bologna to become a noted scholar (Encarta). Copernicus was a man of the cloth for most of his life, but the life at church concealed his true religion, mathematics. Being well educated and motivated by his belief in mathematics and the power of the Sun, he took the ideas that he had read from several scientists and collaborated them since they could not. The Copernian system was eventually proven faulty; if the crystalline spheres existed, they would certainly smash apart when a comet came racing through. However, the fundamental aspect of his work, the solar system, was proven to be true. Copernicus is thus the bridge between old and new science: his religious theories tab him as a medieval scientist, but his logic in the face of false Catholic doctrine earns him the timeless respect of historians. Copernicus was truly a revolutionary in the truest sense of the word; he set out to change the universe, and it bent to his will. 5. Whatever motion appears in the firmament arises not from any motion of the firmament, but from the earth's motion. The earth together with its circumjacent elements performs a complete rotation on its fixed poles in a daily motion, while the firmament and highest heaven abide unchanged. 7. The apparent retrograde and direct motion of the planets arises not from their motion but from the earth's. The motion of the earth alone, therefore, suffices to explain so many apparent inequalities in the heavens. The fact is that this work, fundamentally an outline of his strategy for the Revolutionibus, represents the beginnings of Copernicus' creative genius. Shortly after he finished the Commentariolus, Copernicus began work on De Revolutionibus Orbium Coelestium (On the Revolutions of the Celestial Spheres), or the Revolutionibus. This would be his life's work, and would carry him until the end of his days.
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Approximate Word count = 2791
Approximate Pages = 11 (250 words per page double spaced)
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