Copernicus

Copernicus taught that the earth moves around the sun.

Copernicus proposed the idea that the Earth travels around the Sun.

Copernicus turned from a person into a personification.

Copernicus became a symbol, that of heliocentrism.

In 1543, Nicolaus Copernicus suggested that the Sun was at the center of the universe.

Because the Church taught that the Earth was at the center of the universe, Copernicus' theory was regarded as heresy.

Over a 20 year period of time, Tycho Brahe made consistent observations which supported the heliocentric theory proposed earlier by Copernicus. These observations were made using only a compass and a sextant.

Copernicus worked at many different jobs. He was a doctor, lawyer, author, judge and tax collector.

Nicolaus Copernicus was born in Poland in 1473.

Nicolaus Copernicus became interested in astronomy while he was a university student in Italy.