Nicolaus Copernicus
BRIEF INTRODUCTION OF HIS LIFE
Nicholas Copernicus (Mikolaj Kopernik) was born in what is now Poland on February 19,
1473. He grew up in a wealthy family in the city of Torun. Technically Copernicus was of
German descent, so his mother tongue was German, although the circumstances of his life
indicate that he also spoke Polish.
When his father died, Copernicus was 10 years old and his uncle Lucas Watzenrode,
Bishop of Warmia, took over the education of his nephew. He sent it to the
University of Krakow in 1491 and, having finished his studies, took the vows as
canon of the cathedral of Frombork.
This decision allowed him to continue his studies, as a member of the church, he
had access to the most prestigious universities in Italy: Bologna, Padua and Ferrara,
where he studied astronomy, medicine and canon law, respectively.
His revolutionary ideas in the field of astronomy were embodied in his work De
revolutionibus orbium coelestium ( On the revolutions of the celestial spheres )
Written in 1530, but decided not to publish it until a few months before his death,
which occurred in May 1543.
In this work can be found much of the contributions of Copernicus in physics and
astronomy, although the impact of this character is not limited to these fields of
knowledge.
CONTRIBUTION TO SCIENCE AND GEODESY
HELIOCENTRIC MODEL OF THE UNIVERSE- The most recognized and revolutionary
contribution of Nicholas Copernicus is undoubtedly the theory of heliocentrism. Up
to this point, Ptolemy's model had been followed, which proposed that the earth
was the center of the universe ( Geocentrism ). Copernicus proposed a model of a
spherical universe, in which both the Earth and the planets and stars revolved
around the Sun. This contribution of Copernicus to science is perhaps the most
revolutionary in the history of mankind, A paradigm shift for the sciences. And it is
that from that moment, the science began to be based on observations and
mathematical measurements, and is not beliefs and simple theoretical affirmations.
CHANGING THE THEORY OF GRAVITY- The fact that the center of the universe was
the earth implied that the center of gravity of the universe was the earth; And this
could be corroborated with the physical phenomena that occurred here. If the
center of gravity is no longer the earth, why then do things within the earth fall to
its center? Copernicus's response to this was one of his great contributions to the
world of science:
All matter has gravity, and the heavy matter will attract and be attracted by similarly
heavy matter, just as the smaller matter will be attracted to the larger matter.
In this way, the small things that are on the earth, are attracted to the earth. For
example, the moon, being smaller than the earth, revolves around it, and the earth,
being smaller than the sun, does the same. Copernicus explains his idea of gravity
as follows:"All celestial bodies are centers of attraction of matter."
THEORY OF THE THREE MOVEMENTS- His model of the universe implied that Earth
possesses three movements: rotation, translation and a conical oscillation motion
of its own axis. The first has a duration of one day, the second of a year, and the
third occurs also in a year progressively.
This latter movement is what modern eyes may seem strange. But it was the way in
which Copernicus explains the variation of temperature in the different seasons of
the year.
ORDER OF ALIGNMENT OF THE PLANETS- The translation movement causes the
order in which the celestial spheres are arranged to be the following: The supreme
and immovable sphere is the Sun, which contains all things situated in the universe.
In the farthest orbit is Saturn, then comes Jupiter and Mars is nearer. In the next
orbit moves on the Earth, then Venus and finally Mercury. The Moon revolves
around the center of the Earth, and moves with the Earth, as an epicycle.
RETROGRADE MOVEMENT OF THE PLANETS- This order indicates that one planet
surpasses another in the speed of translation according to the size of the
circles. Thus Saturn takes about thirty years to complete a cycle; Jupiter, twelve
years old; Mars, two and a half years, and Earth, one year; Venus, nine months and
Mercury, three. In this way, Copernicus explains the retrograde movement of other
celestial spheres whose time of translation is greater to the Earth, since, by
difference of speeds, the Earth surpasses several times to the other planets, but the
observer perceives of these last ones a trajectory In the opposite direction.
AMOUNT OF WATER ON EARTH- The astronomer proposed that the amount of
water has to be less than the land. At that time it was believed that there was ten
times more water than land.
It was then explained that the earth's rotation (as a disk) was due to the fact that
the center of gravity and center of magnitude did not coincide and were two forces
that sought balance and this generated movement.
This also used to explain why there are mountains and valleys, cavities and
protuberances on the surface of the Earth.
However, through geometry, Copernicus demonstrated that, since the earth is a
sphere, necessarily the center of gravity and the center of its mass are coincident
and, at the same time, he came to the conclusion that the quantity of water does
not May be greater than that of earth, because the heavy matter is conglomerated
around the center of gravity and light on the outside.
Thus, if the amount of water exceeds the amount of land, the water would cover
the entire surface of the earth.
CONCLUSION
As can be seen, Nicholas Copernicus altered how people view the sky with his
theory of the universe. However, because the man had stopped sensing the center
of the cosmos and was now more of a creation of the divine, his studies also
required viewing reality in a different way. The main societal impact that resulted
from his astronomical and mathematical discoveries was that they both
contributed to the scientific revolution that eventually led to the separation of the
church and the university in the modern age.
Not to mention how his work has influenced some of the most well-known
scientists to date.
SOURCES OF INFORMATION:
1. Zilsel, E. (1940). Copernicus and mechanics. Journal of the History of Ideas,
113-118.
2. Knox, D. (2005). Copernicus's doctrine of gravity and the natural circular
motion of the elements. Journal of the Warburg and Courtauld Institutes, 68,
157-211.
3. Bogdanowicz, W., Allen, M., Branicki, W., Lembring, M., Gajewska, M., &
Kupiec, T. (2009). Genetic identification of putative remains of the famous
astronomer Nicolaus Copernicus. Proceedings of the National Academy of
Sciences, 106 (30), 12279-12282
