Google Doodle of Copernicus' Heliocentric model of the Solar System
Happy Birthday, Copernicus! February 19, 1473 – May 24, 1543
So, any of you who opened up Google today doubtless saw their shout out to Copernicus, the mediaeval Polish astronomer and
mathematician. Why they (Google) decided that 540 was a particularly significant anniversary is anybody's guess, but they featured on their
home page an “animated Google Doodle,” of Copernicus’ heliocentric (or
heliostatic) model of the solar system, showing the Sun at the center with the
planets, including the Earth, highlighted, revolving around it. Best known for his treatise "On the
Revolution of the Celestial Spheres," Copernicus asserted that the earth
revolved around the sun - contrary to the mediaeval belief that the earth was
the centre of the universe (geocentric).
He is considered the patron saint of those who question the rules (and thus
one of my heroes!) and of course the Church branded him as a heretic for
challenging the belief that the Earth is at the center of the universe. Luckily for him, most of the controversy actually
started after Copernicus’ death in 1543.
In fact, at the advent of Copernicus’ theories, the Pope and various
cardinals seemed very well-disposed to entertain these theories as interesting
and useful.
Cardinal
von Schonberg, Archbishop of Capus, wrote to Copernicus: “Some years ago word
reached me concerning your proficiency, of which everybody constantly spoke. At that time I began to have a very high
regard for you... For I had learned that you had not merely mastered the
discoveries of the ancient astronomers uncommonly well but had also formulated
a new cosmology. In it you maintain that
the earth moves; that the sun occupies the lowest, and thus the central, place
in the universe... Therefore with the utmost earnestness I entreat you, most
learned sir, unless I inconvenience you, to communicate this discovery of yours
to scholars, and at the earliest possible moment to send me your writings on
the sphere of the universe together with the tables and whatever else you have
that is relevant to this subject.”
It fell to later astronomers, like Galileo, to actually prove
Copernicus’ theory of heliocentrism, since Copernicus made his discoveries with
the unaided eye. When Galileo later used
a telescope to confirm the theory, that’s when the Church started going
ballistic. After Galileo, Kepler, and
others brought the heliocentric model back into the limelight, the theologians started
taking issue with Copernicus, stating that heliocentrism was against Holy
Scripture, and was “philosophically untenable and
theologically heretical.” All who held
Copernican beliefs were considered heretics.
But by this time, Copernicus himself had been dead nearly a
century.
Copernicus was an interesting fellow. Born in what had been Prussia, but shortly
before his birth had become part of Poland, (although a German-speaking area), he probably
identified more with his German-hood (or rather his Prussian-ness) than his
Polish-ness. It is even dubious that he
spoke Polish very well. However, the
family supported the Polish cause in the 13 Years War with Prussia. He attended Cracow University (in those days
instruction was in Latin, the universal language of learning and the Church)
and he was considered a polymath, having interests and expertise in law,
economics, medicine, art, and the classics, in addition to what he is best
remembered for today, astronomy and math.
He discovered the variability of the Earth’s eccentricity and of
the movement of the solar apogee in relation to the fixed stars, and based on
these and other astronomical observations, he created a reformed version of the Julian
calendar for the Pope. Although several
Popes during Copernicus’ lifetime were pleased with his heliocentric model of
the universe, he held off on publishing the book De revolutionibus orbium coelestium for fear of backlash and censure from the
Church. Legend has it that he had the
book published only in his old age, and the first copy of it that he ever saw
was placed in his hands on his deathbed right before he died.
Interestingly, Copernicus and Kepler both are honored in the
Episcopal Church by a feast day on May 23rd. Who knew?
This is especially ironic, as it seems to have been the Protestants who
hounded him (or at least, those who ascribed to his theories) the most in the
early 1600’s. However, the Catholics,
even worse, kept Galileo under house arrest until his death. Well, there are those even today in these
enlightened (benighted?) times who are afraid of acknowledging scientific truths for fear of
what it will do to upset their worldview.
As Craig Ferguson, the late-night talk show host and comic, often says “ReMIND
you of anyone?”
Short video on Copernicus:
