Nicolaus Copernicus (1473–1543) was a Renaissance polymath who proposed a model of the universe with the Sun, rather than Earth, at its center. His book De revolutionibus orbium coelestium, published just before his death in 1543, triggered the Copernican Revolution and made a pioneering contribution to the Scientific Revolution. Copernicus was also a canon lawyer, physician, classics scholar, translator, administrator and economist, and he developed early ideas about money and prices that anticipated later economic principles.
Early life
Copernicus was born in Thorn (Toruń), in Royal Prussia, a semi-autonomous, multilingual region within the Crown of the Kingdom of Poland. His father was a merchant from Kraków who dealt in copper and was active in politics during the Thirteen Years' War against the Teutonic Order. His maternal uncle, Lucas Watzenrode the Younger, later became Bishop of Warmia and acted as his patron, supporting the education and career that eventually led him to Frombork.
Scientific legacy
Copernicus placed the Sun at the center of the known universe, a view that challenged the long-held belief in an Earth-centered cosmos. A similar heliocentric model had been proposed about eighteen centuries earlier by the ancient Greek astronomer Aristarchus of Samos, but Copernicus likely reached his model independently. His work is widely regarded as a turning point in the history of science and is remembered as a foundation of modern astronomy.