The Father of Astronomy

On February 19, 1473, a boy by the name of Nicolaus Copernicus was born in the province of Royal Prussia, in the Kingdom of Poland. His father was a merchant from Krakow and his mother was the daughter of a wealthy Torun Frombork. Copernicus was one of four children having two sisters and one brother. In school, Nicolaus studied astronomy, but he focused on law and medicine. While he was studying law at a high level, he became very interested in astronomy. From then on he studied different theories in astronomy and even thought of a new idea himself. He had figured out his love, in life. (His only love, in fact, because he never got married.)

For years, Copernicus studied a astronomic model called geocentricity. He later discovered an updated idea called heliocentricity. What is the difference between them? The geocentric model was developed by Greek philosophers and was accepted for centuries. This model places the Earth at the orbital center of the universe with all the stars and planets circling around it. Geocentric actually means ‘Earth-centered’. The heliocentric model, which means ‘sun-centered’, places the Sun in the orbital center of the universe with all planets, including earth, circling around the Sun. This new model gradually replaced the geocentric model. It changed everything. Heliocentricity reversed centuries of established opinion. Copernicus had thought of a ‘step’ that got us closer to understanding the way the planets revolve around the sun.

So, Copernicus had thought of an updated theory. He published his idea in 1543, but nobody seemed to accept it at first. Why is this? Well, for centuries everyone had understood geocentricity to be true. Nicolaus Copernicus had just released a whole new theory that was much different to what the people were used to. No one had studied the idea to know that it was true. After some time and with some collaborating research from his colleagues, Copernicus’ idea was accepted. After catching on, this