Nicolaus Copernicus was born today in Royal Prussia, a region that was part of the Kingdom of Poland. A mathematician, astronomer, and priest who formulated a model of the universe that placed the Sun rather than Earth at the center of the universe. This model was published in his book On the Revolutions of the Celestial Spheres, just before his death in 1543, was a major event in the history of science, triggering the Copernican Revolution. Despite the near-universal acceptance later of the heliocentric idea his theory was originally slow to catch on. Sixty years after the publication of The Revolutions there were only around 15 astronomers espousing Copernicanism in all of Europe.
The immediate result of his publication was only mild controversy. This was probably because it went under the radar of ecclesial authorities, they were in the white heat of the reformation and Christians were tearing themselves apart with conflict and war. Copernicus was not even discussed at epoch-defining Council of Trent. Copernicus faced his first objections from the reformers. As they were placing sole authority on scripture, the revolutionary ideas of helio-centricism were challenging literal interpretations of the Bible. John Calvin in his Commentary on Genesis said that "We indeed are not ignorant that the circuit of the heavens is finite, and that the earth, like a little globe, is placed in the centre." One sharp point of conflict between Copernicus's theory and the Bible concerned the story of the Battle of Gibeon in the Book of Joshua where the Hebrew forces were winning but whose opponents were likely to escape once night fell. In the Biblical narrative this is averted by Joshua's prayers causing the Sun and the Moon to stand still. Martin Luther, without a sense of irony about his own disruption dismisses Copernicus teaching for being too disruptive, he is said to have remarked "So it goes now. Whoever wants to be clever must agree with nothing others esteem. He must do something of his own. This is what that fellow does who wishes to turn the whole of astronomy upside down. Even in these things that are thrown into disorder I believe the Holy Scriptures, for Joshua commanded the sun to stand still and not the earth."
It was not until six decades after the publication of De Revolutionibus that the Catholic Church took any official action against it, probably as the Galileo affair was heating up (see pod of Jan 7th) Perhaps the most influential opponent of the Copernican theory was Catholic priest Francesco Ingoli. He presented five physical arguments against the theory, thirteen mathematical arguments (plus a separate discussion of the sizes of stars), and four theological arguments. In March 1616, in connection with the Galileo affair, the Roman Catholic Church's Congregation of the Index issued a decree suspending De revolutionibus until it could be "corrected," on the grounds of ensuring that Copernicanism, which it described as a "false Pythagorean doctrine, altogether contrary to the Holy Scripture," But by 1758 this was corrected when The Index the Catholic Church's Prohibited Books removed the general prohibition of works defending heliocentrism.
The world, and modern astronomy especially owes a lot to the great mind of Nicholas Copernicus. It is easy just to focus on his revolutionary heliocentricism, but there many other strings to his bow. A polyglot and polymath, he obtained a doctorate in canon law and was a mathematician, astronomer, physician, classics scholar, translator, governor, diplomat, and economist. He derived a quantity theory of money—a key concept in economics—and formulated an economic principle that later came to be called Gresham's law. His legacy has been recognised when German scientist named the chemical element 112 copernicium (symbol Cn). A musical symphony called Mover of the Earth, Stopper of the Sun written by composer Svitlana Azarovaof was inspired by him.
Listen to the pod on https://www.pogp.net/post/feb-19-a-copernican-revolution
The immediate result of his publication was only mild controversy. This was probably because it went under the radar of ecclesial authorities, they were in the white heat of the reformation and Christians were tearing themselves apart with conflict and war. Copernicus was not even discussed at epoch-defining Council of Trent. Copernicus faced his first objections from the reformers. As they were placing sole authority on scripture, the revolutionary ideas of helio-centricism were challenging literal interpretations of the Bible. John Calvin in his Commentary on Genesis said that "We indeed are not ignorant that the circuit of the heavens is finite, and that the earth, like a little globe, is placed in the centre." One sharp point of conflict between Copernicus's theory and the Bible concerned the story of the Battle of Gibeon in the Book of Joshua where the Hebrew forces were winning but whose opponents were likely to escape once night fell. In the Biblical narrative this is averted by Joshua's prayers causing the Sun and the Moon to stand still. Martin Luther, without a sense of irony about his own disruption dismisses Copernicus teaching for being too disruptive, he is said to have remarked "So it goes now. Whoever wants to be clever must agree with nothing others esteem. He must do something of his own. This is what that fellow does who wishes to turn the whole of astronomy upside down. Even in these things that are thrown into disorder I believe the Holy Scriptures, for Joshua commanded the sun to stand still and not the earth."
It was not until six decades after the publication of De Revolutionibus that the Catholic Church took any official action against it, probably as the Galileo affair was heating up (see pod of Jan 7th) Perhaps the most influential opponent of the Copernican theory was Catholic priest Francesco Ingoli. He presented five physical arguments against the theory, thirteen mathematical arguments (plus a separate discussion of the sizes of stars), and four theological arguments. In March 1616, in connection with the Galileo affair, the Roman Catholic Church's Congregation of the Index issued a decree suspending De revolutionibus until it could be "corrected," on the grounds of ensuring that Copernicanism, which it described as a "false Pythagorean doctrine, altogether contrary to the Holy Scripture," But by 1758 this was corrected when The Index the Catholic Church's Prohibited Books removed the general prohibition of works defending heliocentrism.
The world, and modern astronomy especially owes a lot to the great mind of Nicholas Copernicus. It is easy just to focus on his revolutionary heliocentricism, but there many other strings to his bow. A polyglot and polymath, he obtained a doctorate in canon law and was a mathematician, astronomer, physician, classics scholar, translator, governor, diplomat, and economist. He derived a quantity theory of money—a key concept in economics—and formulated an economic principle that later came to be called Gresham's law. His legacy has been recognised when German scientist named the chemical element 112 copernicium (symbol Cn). A musical symphony called Mover of the Earth, Stopper of the Sun written by composer Svitlana Azarovaof was inspired by him.
Listen to the pod on https://www.pogp.net/post/feb-19-a-copernican-revolution
