Nicolaus Copernicus

1473 – 1543 · died at about 70^[1][2]

Science & Invention

Fun Facts About Nicolaus Copernicus

• Nicolaus Copernicus was also an economist: he formulated an early version of Gresham's law, that bad coinage drives out good, decades before Thomas Gresham.^[1]
• Legend has it that Copernicus was handed the final printed pages of his great book, De revolutionibus, on the very day he died.^[1]
• Copernicus's remains, found in 2005, were matched by DNA to hairs taken from a book he owned, kept at Uppsala University in Sweden.^[1]
• The preface to Copernicus's masterwork was not his: Lutheran theologian Andreas Osiander added an unauthorized, unsigned preface saying the hypotheses need not be true.^[1]
• A similar Sun-centered model had been developed 18 centuries earlier by the Greek astronomer Aristarchus of Samos, though Copernicus likely arrived at his independently.^[1]
• Copernicus was also a physician, serving as his uncle's secretary and doctor while he began work on his heliocentric theory.^[1]
• Nicolaus Copernicus was alive at the same time as Akbar the Great — their lives overlapped for 1 year (1542–1543).^[1][2][3][4]
• Nicolaus Copernicus and Duke Ellington died on the same day of the year, May 24.^[1][2][5][6]

Nicolaus Copernicus was a Renaissance polymath who formulated a model of the universe that placed the Sun rather than Earth at its center. The publication of Copernicus's model in his book De revolutionibus orbium coelestium, just before his death in 1543, was a major event in the history of science, triggering the Copernican Revolution and making a pioneering contribution to the Scientific Revolution. Though a similar heliocentric model had been developed eighteen centuries earlier by Aristarchus of Samos, an ancient Greek astronomer, Copernicus likely arrived at his model independently.^[1]

Contemporaries

Michelangelo

68 yr overlap

Martin Luther

60 yr overlap

Hernán Cortés

58 yr overlap

Albrecht Dürer

55 yr overlap

Niccolò Machiavelli

54 yr overlap

Henry VIII

52 yr overlap

Vasco da Gama

51 yr overlap

Suleiman the Magnificent

49 yr overlap

Leonardo da Vinci

46 yr overlap

Ferdinand Magellan

41 yr overlap

Raphael

37 yr overlap

Christopher Columbus

33 yr overlap

Their World

Questions About Nicolaus Copernicus

When was Nicolaus Copernicus born?

Nicolaus Copernicus was born on February 19, 1473, and died on May 24, 1543.

How old was Nicolaus Copernicus at death?

Nicolaus Copernicus was born on February 19, 1473, and died on May 24, 1543, at age 70.

What was Nicolaus Copernicus known for?

Nicolaus Copernicus was known for: Heliocentric model of the solar system. Nicolaus Copernicus was a Renaissance polymath who formulated a model of the universe that placed the Sun rather than Earth at its center. The publication of Copernicus's model in his book De revolutionibus orbium coelestium, just before his death in 1543, was a major event in the history of science, triggering the Copernican Revolution and making a pioneering contribution to the Scientific Revolution. Though a similar heliocentric model had been developed eighteen centuries earlier by Aristarchus of Samos, an ancient Greek astronomer, Copernicus likely arrived at his model independently.

Who was alive at the same time as Nicolaus Copernicus?

Nicolaus Copernicus's closest contemporary was Michelangelo. Their lives overlapped for 68 years.