The Polish astronomer, Nicolaus Copernicus revolutionised astronomy with his discovery that the earth moved around the sun. The revelation completely changed our understanding of our place in the universe, and consequently helped herald in the age Enlightenment.
When Copernicus published his treatise ‘On the Revolutions of Heavenly Spheres’ the world was, in many ways, already waiting for a game-changer in astronomical theory. As Dr Micha? Bejger from the Polish Academy of Sciences explains: “There were enough detailed observations and frustration around trying to fix old theories, along with the advancement in mathematics, that meant Copernicus was better able to demonstrate the details of the model, and ‘get through to people’”.
The crucial elements to the theory that the earth revolved around the sun, and not the other way around, had been around for thousands of years, but it was Copernicus’ superior education in Islamic and European astronomy, coupled with the advancement in mathematics, that ultimately led to the ground-breaking discovery. “It was a classic example of an academic revolution,” says Bejger.
Credit: The first news
Picture credit: Google
