Nikolai Copernicus: a brief biography and the essence of the teachings

Nikolai Copernicus, whose brief biography will be considered in this article, is an outstanding scientist. He is not only a great astronomer who created the heliocentric system of the world. Copernicus was a good mechanic, mathematician, canon, and also the man who initiated the real scientific revolution, the first in the history of earthly civilization. At his disposal, the scientist had only primitive tools, made by himself. But this did not stop him from making a number of discoveries for his thirty-year observations of the celestial sphere.

Copernicus, whose brief biography demonstrates the great power of the mind of an ordinary man, was born in a merchant family in 1473 in the city of Torun (Poland). His father died early, so the boy was brought up by his uncle - Bishop Lukasz Wachenrode. The future scientist at Krakow University, Bologna and Padua studied astronomy, medicine, law. After training he was elected canon, worked as a doctor and secretary of his uncle in his residence (Lidzbark).

Copernicus, whose brief biography is not only a white band, had an inquisitive mind and was able to observe. After the death of his tutor, he moved to Frombork, where he settled in a secluded tower, which has survived until now. In his house, Nicholas arranged an observatory, so you can say that he made his discoveries only in his home environment. In addition, he served as a canon, treated patients free of charge, developed a monetary system, which was later introduced in Poland, built a hydraulic machine. In this place the great astronomer was his whole future life. But this did not prevent him from actively participating in the life of his country: not once he was entrusted with important tasks with which he coped glory. For example, he negotiated between warring monarchs, corresponded with the best minds of the time.

Nikolai Copernicus made the discovery of the revolutionary in due time. At first he wanted only to improve the heliocentric system developed by Ptolemy, which he set out in the Almagest. However, his work was significantly different: Nicholas more precisely defined the routes of the motion of celestial bodies, and also made his comments to it. Thus, the Polish astronomer turned the Earth from the center of the universe, as previously thought, into one of the ordinary planets of the solar system. His tables were much more accurate than the Ptolemaic ones, which had a positive effect on the development of navigation. All his observations and calculations, he outlined in the work "On the appeals of the heavenly spheres," a small in volume, but with a very important content.

Copernicus, whose brief biography can not but delight the contemporaries, published his work only in 1543, almost before his death. This saved him from the persecutions that his followers and disciples later underwent. He quietly left this world and was buried in the church of St. John in the city of Thorne.

For a long time the Catholic Church considered Nikolay's work a heresy and did not recognize it. However, the doctrine with a revolutionary character was continued and even more revealed by Galileo Galilei. Copernicus, a brief biography of which is set out above, was awarded a monument only in the nineteenth century. But now they are not only in Krakow, Warsaw, Thorne, Regensburg, but around the world.