Known for his contributions of modern astronomy. He was a Polish astronomer and mathematician who, as a student, studied
canon law, mathematics, and medicine at Cracow, Bologna, Padua, Rome, and Ferrara. Copernicus became interested in
astronomy and published an early description of his "heliocentric" model of the solar system.
The heliocentric theory by Copernicus marked the beginning of the scientific revolution, and of a new view of a greatly enlarged universe.
(1473 - 1543)
Of all things visible, the highest is the heaven of the fixed stars.
~ Nicolas Copernicus
First of all, we must note that the universe is spherical.
~ Nicolas Copernicus
Mathematics is written for mathematicians.
~ Nicolas Copernicus
Accordingly, since nothing prevents the earth from moving,
I suggest that we should now consider also whether several motions suit it, so that it can be regarded as one of the planets.
For, it is not the center of all the revolutions.
~ Nicolas Copernicus
For a traveler going from any place toward the north,
that pole of the daily rotation gradually climbs higher, while the opposite pole drops down an equal amount.
~ Nicolas Copernicus
Although all the good arts serve to draw man's mind away from vices and lead it toward better things,
this function can be more fully performed by this art, which also provides extraordinary intellectual pleasure.
~ Nicolas Copernicus
At rest, however, in the middle of everything is the sun.
~ Nicolas Copernicus
In so many and such important ways, then, do the planets bear witness to the earth's mobility.
~ Nicolas Copernicus
Finally we shall place the Sun himself at the center of the Universe.
~ Nicolas Copernicus
Near the sun is the center of the universe.
~ Nicolas Copernicus
For I am not so enamoured of my own opinions that I disregard what others may think of them.
~ Nicolas Copernicus
For it is the duty of an astronomer to compose the history of the celestial motions through careful and expert study.
~ Nicolas Copernicus
I am aware that a philosopher's ideas are not subject to the judgment
of ordinary persons, because it is his endeavour to seek the truth in all things, to the extent permitted to human reason by God.
~ Nicolas Copernicus
Not a few other very eminent and scholarly men made the same request,
urging that I should no longer through fear refuse to give out my work for the common benefit of students of Mathematics.
~ Nicolas Copernicus
I can easily conceive, most Holy Father, that as soon as some people learn that in this book which I have written concerning
the revolutions of the heavenly bodies, I ascribe certain motions to the Earth, they will cry out at once that I and my theory should be rejected.
~ Nicolas Copernicus
I shall now recall to mind that the motion of the heavenly bodies is circular, since the motion appropriate to a sphere is rotation in a circle.
~ Nicolas Copernicus
More stars in the north are seen not to set, while in the south certain stars are no longer seen to rise.
~ Nicolas Copernicus
Moreover, since the sun remains stationary, whatever appears as a motion of the sun is really due rather to the motion of the earth.
~ Nicolas Copernicus
Professor of Astronomy and Space Sciences and Director of the Laboratory for Planetary Studies at Cornell University.
He played a leading role in the American space program since its inception. He was a consultant and adviser to NASA since
the 1950's, briefed the Apollo astronauts before their flights to the Moon, and was an experimenter on the Mariner, Viking,
Voyager, and Galileo expeditions to the planets...
(1934-1996)
Somewhere, something incredible is waiting to be known.
~ Carl Sagan
The difference between what the most and the least learned people
know is inexpressibly trivial in relation to that which is unknown.
~ Albert Einstein
Equipped with his five senses, man explores the universe around him and calls the adventure Science.
~ Edwin Hubble
