Wouter Vercruysse

Copernicus

Nicolaus Copernicus (1473 - 1543) was born in Toruń, a Polish Hanseatic city. He studied law, medicine, theology, Greek, mathematics and astronomy. It is in the last area of study that Copernicus makes his name and fame. Previously it was assumed that the sun revolved around the earth, until the Pole gave his vision. He developed the heliocentric model, in which the planets revolve around the sun. He poured this theory into a book: the Revolutionibius Orbium Coelestium. At first he offended the Church and the book was put on the forbidden list, but eventually knowledge prevailed and Copernicus' work served as the foundation for the development of exact sciences.