19th February: Nicolaus Copernicus

Today is the anniversary of the birth of Nicolaus Copernicus.

1. Nicolaus Copernicus was born on 19 February 1473 in the city of Toruń, part of Prussia in the Kingdom of Poland. He came from a family of merchants - his father (also called Nicolaus) was a merchant and his mother (Barbara) was the daughter of a merchant.
2. The family name is thought to have come from the Silesian village where his ancestors lived. The name of the village could have derived from the Copper mining industry in the area, or from the herb dill, the word for which is "koperek" or "kopernik" in Polish.
3. Copernicus was very highly educated. His father died when he was 11 and so most of his education was organised by his mother's brother, Lucas Watzenrode the Younger, a bishop, who wanted his nephew to work for him. Copernicus studied at at least three different universities, majoring in three different subjects - maths, astronomy and science at the University of Kraków, Canon law in Bolognia and medicine at Padua. However, there is no evidence that he was actually awarded a degree by any of those universities.
4. Not having a degree was no bar to him working in all those fields. He's known as an astronomer, and he worked for his uncle, the bishop, as both his secretary and later his doctor.
5. He also wrote essays about economics and stabilising the value of currency and these were consulted by the leaders of both Prussia and Poland.
6. Copernicus's theory didn't strictly speaking say that the Earth revolves around the Sun, but rather that the planet revolves around a centre close to it.
7. He wasn't the first to come up with the idea that the Earth wasn't the centre of the universe. Previous astronomers ideas were rejected by the church. Nicolaus model of the universe was eventually accepted because his was more detailed and accurate. He had a surprisingly good relationship with the church, although his theories did have their share of severe critics.
8. He finished writing De revolutionibus orbium coelestium, the book in which he argued in favour of the heliocentric model, in 1532, but didn't publish it until eleven years later because he was afraid his new and complicated theory would be scorned. While it was true the book sold less than 400 copies when it first came out, as a lot of people thought it was mathematical fiction. Some people liked it, though and in time it became the book that sparked a scientific revolution.
9. Sadly, Copernicus didn't live to see that. The book was published shortly before he died and according to legend, he was handed the first printed copy on his deathbed, looked at it, and died peacefully knowing that his life's work was done. So he didn't live to see it struggle to sell, either.
10. Copernicus has an element and an Asteroid named after him. The element is Copernicium (Cn) with atomic number 112, and the asteroid is (1322) Coppernicus, discovered on 15 June 1934 by the German astronomer Karl Wilhelm Reinmuth in Heidelberg. And yes, the spelling is correct - it's the one preferred by Copernicus's biographer Leopold Prowe.

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