Copernicus (February 19, 1473 - May 24, 1543)

Nicolaus Copernicus created a model of the universe in which the sun, rather than the Earth, was the "center" of the Universe. De revolutionibus orbium coelestium (On the Revolution of the Heavenly Spheres) was printed just before his death in 1543. On the Revolution of the Heavenly Spheres Copernicus book is the seminal work on heliocentric theory. The book offered an alternative model of the universe to Ptolemy's geocentric system, which was widely accepted since ancient times. Back * Home