15 Facts About Nicolaus Copernicus

Polish astronomer and mathematician Nicolaus Copernicus fundamentally altered our

understanding of science. Born in 1473, he popularized the heliocentric theory that all planets
revolve around the Sun, ushering in the Copernican Revolution. But he was also a lifelong
bachelor and member of the clergy who dabbled in medicine and economics. Dive in to these
15 facts about the father of modern astronomy.

1. HE CAME FROM A FAMILY OF MERCHANTS AND CLERGY.

Some historians believe that Copernicus's The astronomer's father, also named Nicolaus
Copernicus, was a successful copper merchant in Krakow. His mother, Barbara Watzenrode,
came from a powerful family of merchants, and her brother, Lucas Watzenrode the Younger,
was an influential Bishop. Two of Copernicus's three older siblings joined the Catholic
Church, one as a canon and one as a nun.

2. HE WAS A POLYGLOT.

When Copernicus's father died when he was around 10, Lucas Watzenrode funded his
nephew's education and he started learning Latin. In 1491, Copernicus began studying
astronomy, math, philosophy, and logic at Krakow University. Five years later, he headed to
modern Italy's Bologna University to study law,

3. HE WASN'T THE FIRST PERSON TO SUGGEST HELIOCENTRISM …

Copernicus is credited with introducing heliocentrism—the idea that the Earth orbits the sun,
rather than the sun orbiting the Earth. But several ancient Greek and Islamic scholars from
various cultures discussed similar ideas centuries earlier. For example, Aristarchus of Samos,
a Greek astronomer who lived in the 200s BCE, theorized that Earth and other planets
revolved around the Sun.

4. … BUT HE DIDN'T FULLY GIVE CREDIT TO EARLIER SCHOLARS.

To be clear, Copernicus knew of the work of earlier mathematicians. In a draft of his 1543
manuscript, he even included passages acknowledging the heliocentric ideas of Aristarchus
and other ancient Greek astronomers who had written previous versions of the theory. Before
submitting the manuscript for publication, though, Copernicus removed this section; theories
for the removal range from wanting to present the ideas as wholly his own to simply
switching out a Latin quote for a "more erudite" Greek quote and incidentally removing
Aristarchus. These extra pages weren't found for another 300-some years.

5. HE MADE CONTRIBUTIONS TO ECONOMICS.

He's known for math and science, but Copernicus was also quite the economist. In 1517, he
wrote a research paper outlining proposals for how the Polish monarch could simplify the
country's multiple currencies, especially in regard to the debasement of some of those
currencies. His ideas on supply and demand, inflation, and government price-fixing
influenced later economic principles such as Gresham's Law (the observation that "bad
money drives out good" if they exchange for the same price; for example, if a country has
both a paper $1 bill and a $1 coin, the value of the metal in the coin is higher than the value
of the cotton and linen in the bill, and thus the bill will be spent as currency more because of
that) and the Quantity Theory of Money (the idea that the amount of money in circulation is
proportional to how much goods cost).

6. HE WAS A PHYSICIAN, SANS THE MEDICAL DEGREE.

After studying law, Copernicus traveled to the University of Padua so he could become a
medical advisor to his sick uncle, Bishop Watzenrode. Despite spending two years studying
medical texts and learning anatomy, Copernicus left medical school without a doctoral
degree. Nevertheless, he traveled with his uncle and treated him, as well as other members of
the clergy who needed medical attention.

7. HE WAS PROBABLY A LIFELONG BACHELOR …

As an official in the Catholic Church, Copernicus took a vow of celibacy. He never married
and was most likely a virgin (more on that below), but children were not completely absent
from his life: After his older sister Katharina died, he became the financial guardian of her
five children, his nieces and nephews.

8. … BUT HE MAY HAVE HAD AN AFFAIR WITH HIS HOUSEKEEPER.

Copernicus took a vow of celibacy, but did he keep it? In the late 1530s, the astronomer was
in his sixties when Anna Schilling, a woman in her late forties, began living with him.
Schilling may have been related to Copernicus—some historians think he was her great uncle
—and she worked as his housekeeper for two years. For unknown reasons, the bishop he
worked under admonished Copernicus twice for having Schilling live with him, even telling
the astronomer to fire her and writing to other church officials about the matter.

9. HE WENT TO FOUR UNIVERSITIES BEFORE GETTING A DEGREE.

Copernicus spent over a decade studying at universities across Poland and Italy, but he
usually left before he got his degree. Why skip the diplomas? Some historians argue that at
the time, it was not unusual for students to leave a university without earning a degree.
Moreover, Copernicus didn't need a degree to practice medicine or law, to work as a member
of the Catholic Church, or even to take graduate or higher level courses.

But right before returning to Poland he received a doctorate in canon law from the University
of Ferrara. According to Copernicus scholar Edward Rosen this wasn't exactly for scholarly
purposes, but that to "show that he had not frittered his time away on wine, women, and song,
he had to bring home a diploma. That cost much less in Ferrara than in the other Italian
universities where he studied."

10. HE WAS CAUTIOUS ABOUT PUBLICIZING HIS VIEWS …

During Copernicus's lifetime, nearly everyone believed in geocentrism—the view that the
Earth lies at the center of the universe. Despite that, in the 1510s Copernicus wrote
Commentariolus, or "the Little Commentary," a short text that discussed heliocentrism and
was circulated amongst his friends. It was soon found circulating further afield, and it's said
that Pope Clement VII heard a talk about the new theory and reacted favorably. Later,
Cardinal Nicholas Schönberg wrote a letter of encouragement to Copernicus, but Copernicus
still hesitated in publishing the full version. Some historians propose that Copernicus was
worried about ridicule from the scientific community due to not being able to work out all of
the issues heliocentrism created. Others propose that with the rise of the Reformation, the
Catholic Church was increasingly cracking down on dissent and Copernicus feared
persecution. Either way, he didn't make his complete work public until 1543.

11. … SO HE PUBLISHED HIS BOOK ON HIS DEATHBED.

Copernicus finishing writing his book explaining heliocentrism, De Revolutionibus Orbium

Coelestium (On the Revolutions of Celestial Orbs), in the 1530s. When he was on his
deathbed in 1543, he finally decided to publish his controversial work. According to lore, the
astronomer awoke from a coma to read pages from his just-printed book shortly before
passing away.

12. GALILEO WAS PUNISHED FOR AGREEING WITH COPERNICUS.

Copernicus dedicated his book to the Pope, but the Catholic Church repudiated it decades
after it was published, placing it on the Index of Prohibited Books—pending revision—in
1616. A few years later, the Church ended the ban after editing the text to present
Copernicus's views as wholly hypothetical. In 1633, 90 years after Copernicus's death, the
Church convicted astronomer Galileo Galilei of "strong suspicion of heresy" for espousing
Copernicus's theory of heliocentrism. After a day in prison, Galileo spent the rest of his life
under house arrest.

13. THERE'S A CHEMICAL ELEMENT NAMED AFTER HIM.

Take a look at the periodic table of elements, and you might notice one with the symbol Cn.
Called Copernicium, this element with atomic number 112 was named to honor the
astronomer in 2010. The element is highly radioactive, with the most stable isotope having a
half life of around 30 seconds.

14. ARCHEOLOGISTS FINALLY DISCOVERED HIS REMAINS IN 2008.