Copernicus

(noun)

A Renaissance mathematician and astronomer (1473-1543), who formulated a heliocentric model of the universe which placed the Sun, rather than the Earth, at the center.

Related Terms

Examples of Copernicus in the following topics:

  • Astronomy

    • Copernican heliocentrism is the name given to the astronomical model developed by Nicolaus Copernicus and published in 1543.
    • Copernicus' De revolutionibus marks the beginning of the shift away from a geocentric (and anthropocentric) universe with the Earth at its center.
    • Copernicus held that the Earth is another planet revolving around the fixed sun once a year, and turning on its axis once a day.
    • Oil painting by the Polish artist Jan Matejko depicting Nicolaus Copernicus observing the heavens from a balcony by a tower near the cathedral in Frombork.
    • Assess the work of both Copernicus and Kepler and their revolutionary ideas

  • The Church During the Italian Renaissance

    • Nicolaus Copernicus dedicated De revolutionibus orbium coelestium (On the Revolutions of the Celestial Spheres) to Paul III, who became the grandfather of Alessandro Farnese (cardinal), who had paintings by Titian, Michelangelo, and Raphael, as well as an important collection of drawings, and who commissioned the masterpiece of Giulio Clovio, arguably the last major illuminated manuscript, the Farnese Hours.

  • Scientific Exploration

    • Building on the body of work forwarded by Copernicus, Kepler and Newton, 18th-century astronomers refined telescopes, produced star catalogs, and worked towards explaining the motions of heavenly bodies and the consequences of universal gravitation.

  • Roots of the Scientific Revolution

    • Copernicus' 1543 work on the heliocentric model of the solar system tried to demonstrate that the sun was the center of the universe.