Artist: Nicolaus Copernicus
Date: 1543
Museum: Ossoliński National Institute (Wrocław, Poland)
Technique: Woodcut
The first edition of Nicolaus Copernicus’ De revolutionibus orbium coelestium was printed in Nuremberg in 1543. The book was Copernicus’ magnum opus. Copernicus was a lawyer and physician by profession, a canon of Warmia, and an astronomer and mathematician by avocation. Having studied in Cracow, Bologna, Padua and Ferrara, he settled permanently in Frombork [Frauenburg], where he devoted himself to scientific work. In his attempt to resolve the contradiction between Aristotle’s philosophy of nature (which allowed only uniform circular motion of celestial bodies) and astronomical practice, he laid the foundations for the heliocentric theory and modern astronomy. Copernicus developed an outline of the heliocentric theory in 1510–1512 in the text titled Commentariolus, which he distributed among his friends and fellow scholars in several manuscript copies. The basic core of De revolutionibus was written later, from 1522 to 1533, while the last observation recorded by the astronomer (a solar eclipse) dates from 1541. This work, published in 1543 and introducing a new model of the Solar System in which the Earth revolves around the Sun, is the essential publication of modern science. The change it brought about is called the Copernican Revolution and had not only scientific but also political and religious consequences. The first printing is considered one of the most sought-after and valuable books in the world.Title:
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