Nicolaus Copernicus

Edmund Moynihan, who gave us a delightful talk about Sir Isaac Newton in 2012, returned to tell us about “Copernicus and the Motion of the Earth”. Nicolaus Copernicus (1473-1543) was a Renaissance mathematician and astronomer who formulated a heliocentric model of the universe which placed the Sun, rather than the Earth, at the centre.

The publication of Copernicus’ book, De revolutionibus orbium coelestium (On the Revolutions of the Celestial Spheres), just before his death in 1543, is considered a major event in the history of science. It began the Copernican Revolution and contributed importantly to the scientific revolution.