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Nicolaus Copernicus
(1473–1543)
Scientist and discoverer
One can dare to put forward the thesis that Copernicus was a Renaissance man – gifted in mathematical and physical sciences, familiar with classical languages, with extensive medical knowledge, philological erudition and well-established intellectual insight.
Astronomer
„What indeed is more beautiful than heaven, which of course contains all things of beauty? This is proclaimed by its very names (in Latin), caelum and mundus, the latter denoting purity and ornament, the former a carving. On account of heaven’s transcendent perfection most philosophers have called it a visible god”.
– Nicolaus Copernicus, De Revolutionibus, Book One –
– Nicolaus Copernicus, De Revolutionibus, Book One –
Economist
„Gold or silver, minted into coin according to the laws laid down by state, make up that supply of money which serves to determine the price of things which are bought and sold”.
– Nicolaus Copernicus, On the Minting of Coin –
– Nicolaus Copernicus, On the Minting of Coin –
Physician
„If I could add something useful to these advices, what could be of help to your good lord, Your Majesty's official, in restoring health, I would spare no effort and care to serve Your Majesty, to whom I strongly recommend myself”.
– Nicolaus Copernicus, Letter to Albrecht Hohenzollern, Frombork, 21 VI 1541 –
– Nicolaus Copernicus, Letter to Albrecht Hohenzollern, Frombork, 21 VI 1541 –
The Copernican Revolution
„First of all, we must note that the universe is spherical. The reason is either that, of all forms, the sphere is the most perfect, needing no joint and being a complete whole, which can be neither increased nor diminished; or that it is the most capacious of figures, best suited to enclose and retain all things; or even that all the separate parts of the universe, I mean the sun, moon, planets and stars, are seen to be of this shape; or that wholes strive to be circumscribed by this boundary, as is apparent in drops of water and other fluid bodies when they seek to be self-contained. Hence no one will question the attribution of this form to the divine bodies”.
– Nicolaus Copernicus, De revolutionibus –
