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More stars in the north are seen not to set, while in the south certain stars are no longer seen to rise.
Nicolaus Copernicus
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Therefore, having obtained the opportunity from these sources, I too began to consider the mobility of the earth.
Nicolaus Copernicus
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So, influenced by these advisors and this hope, I have at length allowed my friends to publish the work, as they had long besought me to do.
Nicolaus Copernicus
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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.
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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.
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Hence I feel no shame in asserting that this whole region engirdled by the moon, and the center of the earth, traverse this grand circle amid the rest of the planets in an annual revolution around the sun. Near the sun is the center of the universe. Moreover, since the sun remains stationary, whatever appears as a motion of the sun is really due rather to the motion of the earth.
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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.
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At rest, however, in the middle of everything is the sun. For, in this most beautiful temple, who would place this lamp in another or better position than that from which it can light up the whole thing at the same time?
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Whatever motion appears in the firmament arises not from any motion of the firmament, but from the earth's motion. The earth together with its circumjacent elements performs a complete rotation on its fixed poles in a daily motion, while the firmament and highest heaven abide unchanged.
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In so many and such important ways, then, do the planets bear witness to the earth's mobility.
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Therefore, in the course of the work I have followed this plan: I describe in the first book all the positions of the orbits together with the movements which I ascribe to the Earth, in order that this book might contain, as it were, the general scheme of the universe.
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So far as hypotheses are concerned, let no one expect anything certain from astronomy, which cannot furnish it, lest he accept as the truth ideas conceived for another purpose, and depart from this study a greater fool than when he entered it.
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If perchance there should be foolish speakers who, together with those ignorant of all mathematics, will take it upon themselves to decide concerning these things, and because of some place in the Scriptures wickedly distorted to their purpose, should dare to assail this my work, they are of no importance to me, to such an extent do I despise their judgment as rash.
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What appears to us as motions of the sun arise not from its motion but from the motion of the earth and our sphere, with which we revolve about the sun like any other planet. The earth has, then, more than one motion.
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The earth together with its surrounding waters must in fact have such a shape as its shadow reveals, for it eclipses the moon with the arc of a perfect circle.
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Finally we shall place the Sun himself at the center of the Universe. All this is suggested by the systematic procession of events and the harmony of the whole Universe, if only we face the facts, as they say, "with both eyes open."
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Those things which I am saying now may be obscure, yet they will be made clearer in their proper place.
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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.
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The earth also is spherical, since it presses upon its center from every direction.
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Yet the widespread planetary theories, advanced by Ptolemy and most other astronomers, although consistent with the numerical data, seemed likewise to present no small difficulty. For these theories were not adequate unless they also conceived certain equalizing circles, which made the planet appear to move at all times with uniform velocity neither on its deferent sphere nor about its own epicycle's center.
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Among the many and varied literary and artistic studies upon which the natural talents of man are nourished, I think that those above all should be embraced and pursued with the most loving care which have to do with things that are very beautiful and very worthy of knowledge.
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The heavens are immense in comparison with the Earth.
Nicolaus Copernicus
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The scorn which I had reason to fear on account of the novelty and unconventionality of my opinion almost induced me to abandon completely the work which I had undertaken.... Astronomy is written for astronomers. To them my work too will seem, unless I am mistaken, to make some contribution.
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The first and highest of all is the sphere of the fixed stars, which comprehends itself and all things, and is accordingly immovable.
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But we should rather follow the wisdom of nature, which, as it takes very great care not to have produced anything superfluous or useless, often prefers to endow one thing with many effects.
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Mathematics is written for mathematicians...
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And as far as hypotheses go, let no one expect anything in the way of certainty from astronomy, since astronomy can offer us nothing certain, lest, if anyone take as true that which has been constructed for another use, he go away from this discipline a bigger fool than when he came to it.
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For it is the duty of an astronomer to compose the history of the celestial motions through careful and expert study.
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The center of the earth is not the center of the universe, but only of gravity and of the lunar sphere.
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Of all things visible, the highest is the heaven of the fixed stars.
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Quote of the day
The most painful moral struggles are not those between good and evil, but between the good and the lesser good.
Barbara Grizzuti Harrison
Nicolaus Copernicus
Creative Commons
Born:
February 19, 1473
Died:
May 24, 1543
(aged 70)
Bio:
Nicolaus Copernicus was a Renaissance mathematician and astronomer who formulated a model of the universe that placed the Sun rather than the Earth at the center of the universe.
Known for:
De Revolutionibus Orbium Coelestium (1543)
Commentariolus (1543)
Minor works
On the Shoulders of Giants
Most used words:
earth
motion
sun
center
universe
work
place
appears
revolutions
planets
saturn
beautiful
circle
bodies
jupiter
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