The great astronomer Nicolaus Copernicus (Polish name Mikolaj Kopernik) was born into a wealthy family in the city of Tolan on the Vistula River in Poland. He studied at the University of Cracau when he was young, and became interested in astronomy during his studies. In his twenties, he went to Italy to study law and medicine at the University of Bologna and Padil University, and later received a doctorate in religious law from the University of Ferrara. As a doctor, Copernicus was known as the "Miracle Doctor" because of his superb medical skills. Copernicus spent most of his adult life as a priest at the Cathedral of Fraungeng. Copernicus was not a professional astronomer. He completed his famous work in his spare time.
The accuracy of the numerical values ??obtained by his observations and calculations in "On the Movement of Celestial Bodies" is astonishing. For example, he obtained that the sidereal year is 365 days, 6 hours, 9 minutes and 40 seconds, which is about 30 seconds longer than the current accurate value, and the error is only one millionth; he obtained that the average distance between the moon and the earth is 60.30 of the earth's radius. times, compared with the current 60.27 times, the error is only five ten thousandths.
While in Italy, Copernicus became familiar with the teachings of the Greek philosopher Aristarchus (third century BC) and was convinced that the heliocentric theory that the earth and other planets revolve around the sun is correct. When he was about 40 years old, he began to circulate a short manuscript among his friends, preliminary expounding his own views on heliocentric theory. After years of observation and calculation, Copernicus finally completed his great work "On the Revolution of the Celestial Spheres".
In 1533, the 60-year-old Copernicus gave a series of lectures in Rome, putting forward the key points of his doctrine without encountering opposition from the Pope. But he was afraid that the church would object, and even after he finished the book, he still hesitated to publish it. It was not until he was approaching his seventies that he finally decided to publish it. On the day of his death, May 24, 1543, he received a book he had written from the publisher.
In the book he correctly discusses the fact that the earth revolves on its axis; that the moon revolves around the earth; and that the earth and all other planets revolve around the sun. But like his predecessors, he also seriously underestimated the size of the solar system. He believed that the orbits of stars were a series of concentric circles, which was of course wrong. The mathematics in his doctrine were complex and inaccurate. But his book immediately attracted great attention, driving a number of other astronomers to make more accurate observations of planetary motion, the most famous of which was the great Danish astronomer Thaus Blejo, on whom Kepler based his work Based on the observation data, the correct laws of star movement were finally deduced.
This is an unprecedented theory that ushered in a new era. It is undoubtedly a blow to the Ptolemaic geocentric theory that has been regarded as a final conclusion by academic circles for thousands of years.
Although Aristarchus proposed the heliocentric theory more than 1,700 years before Copernicus, in fact Copernicus received this reputation. Aristarchus simply made a conjecture based on inspiration without discussing it in detail, so his theory was scientifically useless. After Copernicus solved the mathematical problems in the conjecture one by one, he turned it into a useful scientific theory - a theory that can be used to make predictions. Comparing the doctrines, you will find its great significance.
Obviously Copernicus's theory is a revolution in human understanding of the universe. It has brought about major changes in people's entire worldview. But in valuing Copernicus' influence, we should also note that astronomy was not as widely used as physics, chemistry, and biology. In theory, people could build things like televisions, cars, and modern chemical plants even if they had no knowledge or application of Copernican theory. But it is unthinkable not to apply the teachings of Faraday, Maxwell, Lavoisier and Newton.
To merely consider the impact of Copernicanism on technology is to completely miss its true significance. Copernicus's book was an indispensable prelude to the work of Galileo and Kepler. They became Newton's main predecessors.
It was the discovery of these two that enabled Newton to determine the laws of motion and the law of universal gravitation.
Copernicus’s scientific achievements were a product of the era in which he lived, which in turn promoted the development of the era.
The fifteenth and sixteenth centuries in Europe were the critical period of transition from feudal society to capitalist society. During these two hundred years, society underwent tremendous changes. Before the 14th century, Europe was full of small and fragmented city-states. Later, with the rise of urban industry and commerce, especially the development of mining and metallurgy, many new large cities emerged, and small city-states tended to unite to form countries. By the end of the 15th century, essentially centralized monarchies had emerged in many countries. At that time, Poland not only had big cities like Krakow and Poznan, but also many cities with flourishing handicraft industries. Warsaw, which was annexed to Poland in 1526, has become an important commercial, political, cultural and geographical center, and became the capital of Poland at the end of the 16th century.
In line with this political and economic change, culture and science have also begun to reflect it. At that time, Europe was a "theocracy". The Holy See controlled many countries. The Bible was declared to be the supreme truth. Any doctrine that violated the Bible was denounced as "heresy". Anyone who opposed theocratic rule was punished. Burning. For its own survival and development, the emerging bourgeoisie launched a struggle against the feudal system and the superstitious ideas of the church, and the humanistic trend of thought emerged. The weapons they used to fight were ancient Greek philosophy, science, and literature that were not contaminated by theology. This was the Renaissance movement that shook Europe. The Renaissance first occurred in Italy and soon spread to Poland and other European countries.
At the same time, the active business also promoted the development of foreign trade. Driven by the talisman of "gold", many European adventurers sailed to Africa, India and the entire Far East. Ocean navigation requires a wealth of astronomical and geographical knowledge. The accumulated observation data made people feel that the popular cosmology theory of "the earth is still and the sky is moving" is questionable. This requires people to further explore the secrets of the universe, thereby advancing the development of astronomy and geography. In 1492, Columbus, the famous Italian navigator, made the first discovery of the celestial body. From 1519 to 1522, Magellan and his companions orbited the earth, proving that the earth is round, and people began to truly understand the earth.
During the Middle Ages, under the strict control of the church, vigorous religious revolutions also occurred. Because many Catholic doctrines are not in line with the teachings of the Bible and incorporate too much of the pope's personal will and the achievements of various theologians, many believers have begun to question Catholic doctrines and organizations and initiate actions to return to the Bible.
Jan Hus (1369-1415), a Czech patriot and president of the University of Prague, publicly condemned the oppression and exploitation of the Czech Republic by the German feudal lords and the Catholic Church at a religious conference in Constantinople. Although he was burned at the stake by the reactionary church, his revolutionary activities aroused strong reactions in society. Czech peasants revolted under the banner of the Hussites, and the movement also spread to Poland. In 1517, in Germany, Martin Luther (1483-1546) opposed the sale of indulgences by the church and openly broke with the Pope. In 1521, Luther exposed the sins of the Holy See at the Congress of Worm and proposed the establishment of a new Christian religion. The teachings of Protestantism were supported by many countries, and Poland was also deeply affected.
In such an era of great change and turmoil, Copernicus was born on February 19, 1473, in the city of Torun on the Vistula River. His father is a wealthy businessman who is a member of Parliament. He has an older brother and two older sisters. When Copernicus was 10 years old, his father died and he was sent to the home of his uncle, Archbishop Ukash, to be raised. Wukasch was a humanist who had close contacts with the progressive intellectual circles of Poland at that time, and was a close friend of the outstanding Italian revolutionary and humanist Philippe Buonaksi. When Copernicus was in high school, Mukasch took him to attend humanist gatherings. In 1491, according to his uncle's arrangement, Copernicus went to the University of Krakow to study astronomy and mathematics.
At that time, Poland had already produced some famous astronomers, such as Marcin Kroll, who wrote the book "Revision of the Alpens Astrology Table" in 1450 and lectured in many countries. Another example is the famous astronomer Wojciech, who once compiled an astronomical ephemeris. He lectured at the University of Krakow and was a professor of mathematics and astronomy when Copernicus was a student. Copernicus's "heliocentric theory" was conceived while studying at the University of Krakow.
Although the Bible does not involve various astronomical knowledge such as "the earth is the center of the universe" and "the sky is round and the earth is round". But in the Middle Ages, astronomy also had official arguments that extended to ancient Greece and were framed by scholastic theologians. In order to consolidate feudal rule, the Catholic Church's Inquisition burned many precious scientific works, sometimes burning 20 carts a day. In 1327, the Italian astronomer Cecco Dascoli was burned alive. His "crime" was to violate the teachings of the Bible and argue that the earth is spherical and that humans exist in another hemisphere.
Great Doctrine
In that era when "science became the handmaiden of theology", many doctrines were distorted and castrated and used to serve feudal rule. In medieval Europe, few people knew the true contents of ancient scientific texts. At this time, an important task for scientific workers is to discover ancient cultural heritage.
In the second century AD, Ptolemy, the great astronomer of ancient Greece, summarized the observations of his predecessors over the past 400 years and wrote the book "Collection of Astronomy" (i.e. "The Great Treatise"). Proposed the theory that "the earth is the center of the universe". This theory has been accepted by people and has been circulated for more than 1,400 years.
Ptolemy believed that the earth sat motionless at the center of the universe, and that all celestial bodies, including the sun, revolved around the earth. However, during observations, people discovered that the movement of celestial bodies has a phenomenon of suddenly moving forward and sometimes backward, sometimes faster and sometimes slower. In order to explain the phenomenon of forward and backward, Ptolemy said that it is not the celestial body itself that moves in equilibrium around the earth, but the center of the wheel in which the celestial body moves. He called the circular wheel surrounding the earth "deferent wheel" and the smaller circular wheel "epicycle". In order to explain the phenomenon of fast and slow times, he added some auxiliary "epicycles" in addition to the main "epicycle", and also used the term "virtual wheel", so that the center of the "epicycle" can be Unbalanced motion seems to be "balanced" from the center of the "virtual wheel". In this way, Ptolemy made far-fetched interpretations of ancient observations.
However, in the following centuries, a large amount of observational data was accumulated. Ptolemy's "epicycle" alone was not enough to explain the movement of celestial bodies. This required the addition of an increasing number of "Epicycle". Later generations of scholars devoted themselves to this "tinkering" work, making Ptolemaic's system more and more complex, and the study of astronomy has remained at this level.
The statement that "the earth is the center of the universe" is exactly the basis of "the theologian's sky". Medieval theologians touted Ptolemy's conclusions, but concealed Ptolemy's methodology: Ptolemy established a genius mathematical theory in an attempt to use human wisdom to discover the movement of celestial bodies using methods of observation, calculation and reasoning. Reasons and laws are the vital part of Ptolemaic theory. Therefore, although Ptolemy's "Earth-centered Theory" coincides with the theologians' cosmology, there is an essential difference between the two. One is a scientifically wrong conclusion, and the other is an attempt to fool mankind and make feudal rule eternal. It became a big lie. Copernicus made a correct evaluation of this. He said: "You should shoot your arrows in the same direction as Ptolemy, but the materials of the bow and arrows must be completely different from his."
Brother Beni had studied Ptolemy's works very diligently. He saw the contradiction between Ptolemy's erroneous conclusions and the scientific method. Copernicus discovered the truth by discovering the source of Ptolemy's error.
Copernicus realized that the development path of astronomy should not continue to "repair" the old theory of Ptolemy, but to discover a new theory of the structure of the universe.
He made an analogy: Those scholars who stand in Ptolemy's position make individual, isolated observations and piece together some overlapping "epicycles" to explain the phenomena of the universe, just like someone picking up things from here and there. The limbs and head, when drawn, do not look like humans, but look like monsters.
Copernicus began to think about the Earth's rotation as early as when he was studying at the University of Krakow. He said in the preface to "The Movement of Celestial Bodies" that his predecessors had the right to invent a circular wheel to explain the phenomena of the starry sky, and he also had the right to try to find a more appropriate method than a circular wheel to explain the movement of celestial bodies.
Copernicus’ purpose of observing celestial bodies was opposite to that of previous scholars. He is not forcing cosmic phenomena to obey the "Earth-centered" doctrine. Copernicus had a famous saying: "Phenomena guide astronomers." He wanted the phenomena of the universe to answer the questions he asked, and he wanted the observed phenomena to confirm a newly created theory - the "solar center" theory. His targeted observations finally led to a complete revolution in astronomy.
Copernicus's observational work had a good start at the University of Krakow. He once observed lunar eclipses and studied the vast starry sky using the "star catcher" and "triarcometer" presented to the school by the famous astrologer Marcin Blitza (about 1433-1493).
Copernicus stopped studying at the University of Krakow for three years and went to Italy to study "canon law." This was his uncle Mukashi's idea. Because the Knights of the Cross who were entrenched in the north of Poland at that time often violated the border and committed crimes, and to fight them, someone must be proficient in "Church Law". Copernicus believed that it was his duty to fight against the Knights of the Cross. He said: "No obligation is as solemn as the obligation to the motherland, and it is not necessary to sacrifice one's life for the motherland." So he agreed with Wukashi's suggestion. In order to obtain travel expenses abroad and living expenses for long-term study abroad, he once again accepted his uncle's arrangement and decided to hold a church position for the rest of his life. In the autumn of 1496, Copernicus put on his monk's robe and set out for Italy.
He studied "canon law" at the University of Bologna in northern Italy, while studying astronomy hard. Here, he met Dominic Maria, a well-known astronomer at the time, and worked with him on lunar theory. He began to use actual observations to expose the contradictions between Ptolemaic theory and objective phenomena. He found that Ptolemy's explanation of the movement of the moon, as Regimentum pointed out, must lead to an absurd conclusion: the volume of the moon sometimes expands and sometimes contracts, the full moon is the result of expansion, and the new moon is the result of contraction. result. On March 9, 1497, Copernicus and Maria conducted a famous observation together. That night, the night was clear, the stars were twinkling, and a crescent moon floated in space. They stood on the tower of St. Joseph's Church and observed the bright star "Aldebaran" in the constellation Taurus to see how it was obscured by the approaching crescent moon. When "Aldebaran" and the moon came together and there were still some gaps, "Aldebaran" quickly disappeared. They accurately measured the time when "Aldebaran" disappeared, and calculated conclusive data, proving that those gaps were all parts of the moon's eclipse, and "Aldebaran" was obscured by the shadow of the moon itself. The moon has not shrunk in size. In this way, Copernicus opened a gap in Ptolemy's geocentric theory.
In 1500, due to financial difficulties, Copernicus went to Rome to work as a mathematics teacher. In the summer of the next year, Copernicus returned to China. Later, with funding from the church, he went to Padua, Italy, to study medicine in the autumn. In 1503, Copernicus obtained a doctorate in canon law from the University of Fararo.
At this time, Copernicus was also working hard to study ancient classics in order to seek reference materials for the "solar center theory". He read almost every kind of literature he could get his hands on. He later wrote: "The more I sought help in my own work, the more time I devoted to those who founded the subject. I was willing to integrate my discoveries with their discoveries." He When studying ancient classics, I once copied down some bold insights:
“The sky, the sun, the moon, the stars and everything in the sky are standing still. Except for the earth, there is nothing in the universe. Something is moving.
The Earth spins on its axis at enormous speeds, which causes a feeling as if the Earth is standing still while the sky is rotating. ”
“Most scholars believed that the earth was stationary, but Philopus and Pythagoras said it revolved around a fire. ”
“In the center of the planet stands the huge and majestic sun. It is not only the master of time, not only the master of the earth, but also the master of the stars and the sky. ”
The outstanding insights of these ancient scholars were considered “deviant” at the time, but for Copernicus, they were like beacons on his night voyage, illuminating his way forward.
In 1506, Copernicus ended his ten years of studying in Italy and returned to China.
The birth of "Operation"
Copernicus was in a It was a rainy day in Italy. At that time, there was a vision of a comet breaking through the sky, and a plague spread across the area. At this time, Pope Alexander accidentally drank the poisoned wine that was intended to kill others and died. The Italian Church took the opportunity to issue various "warnings." ", cheating and fooling the people. When Copernicus returned to Poland, another rare star appeared in the sky, and the church was also active, making the capital Krakow a mess.
It turned out that the church announced that the sky There will be four consecutive visions of Saturn and Jupiter "converging", saying that this is a serious warning from God to the world. A false prophet will appear in the world, and floods and plagues will follow one after another, which will cause social unrest and national collapse. . These rumors make people uneasy, and the wealthy people are desperately seeking pleasure, hoping to get rid of the fear of the future; the poor people even go bankrupt in order to buy "atonement" from the church, and it is difficult to survive. The sky has always been blackmailed by the church. They put "a place in heaven" in their wallets, sold "atonement" in large quantities, and collected people's wealth. The famous Polish religious inquisitor Tiezhel at that time said that those who paid filial piety to him were willing to pay tribute to him. People can avoid disasters, and even the dead can redeem their sins. His mantra is: "Put money into the holy ark, and the soul ascends to heaven!" ”
At this time, Copernicus and his friends were also studying the problem of the "conjunction" of the two stars in Krakow. Copernicus discovered that the church's statement contained errors in data and was obviously deceptive. . So he and his friends decided to conduct observations in different areas in order to expose the church's evil tactics together.
When the fourth "rendezvous" occurred, Copernicus was in Hells. The bishop's residence of his uncle, Ukash, presided over the fight against the Knights of the Cross. Although he was busy with government affairs, Copernicus still insisted on observing the stars.
The results of the observations confirmed Copernicus' prediction of "the rendezvous." "The date is not consistent with what the church said, but it is consistent with Copernicus's calculation - it is more than a month ahead of schedule. Copernicus' friends also observed the same star.
In Helsberg, due to constant urging from friends, Copernicus wrote an outline of his "heliocentric theory" and gave it a simple name, "A Trial on the Hypotheses of the Movement of Celestial Bodies", with a copy to Several of his close friends. It declared: "All celestial bodies revolve around the sun, and the center of the universe is located near the sun. The earth also moves in a circle like other planets. It rotates around the earth's axis once every day and night, and orbits the sun once a year... ”
What Copernicus announced was the outline of a huge system of doctrine, which caused many debates among the friends attending the party. Copernicus answered many questions. At the end of the debate At that time, he quoted the words of Cicero, the great ancient Roman poet: "Nothing can compare with the completeness of the universe and the purity of virtue. "He used this sentence to express a belief, that is: the universe is complete, symmetrical, harmonious, and has understandable laws and order.
"On the hypothesis of the movement of celestial bodies 》 is the first cornerstone of Copernican theory, but to build a magnificent theoretical building on this cornerstone, a lot of preparation work still needs to be done.
In 1512, Vukas died of illness. Ni left Helsberg and moved to Fromburg, where the parish cathedral is located. Fromburg is a small fishing port on the Baltic Sea.
After Copernicus settled in Fromburg, he bought an arrow tower in the castle. This archery tower was originally used for combat. The triangular roof tilts forward, almost extending to the outside of the wall. There are three windows on the top floor of the building, where Copernicus's studio was. The lower two floors are bedrooms, each with a shooting hole. From the top window, you can observe the sky in all directions. When the roof of the building hinders his observation, the terrace outside becomes his observation platform. He lived here until his death.
At this time, Copernicus had named his future work "Operations". In his view, movement is the true meaning of life - movement exists in everything, from the sky to the deep sea. Nothing is static, everything is growing, changing, and disappearing, continuing through the ages. The book "Operation" is to reveal the most essential secret of nature. This view of Copernicus affirmed the existence of the objective world and its regularity, shining with the brilliance of simple materialist philosophy.
Copernicus made many indirect observations of the shape of the earth. As early as November 6, 1500, he observed a lunar eclipse from a high hill near Rome and studied the arc-shaped shadow cast by the earth on the moon's surface, thus confirming Aristotle's conclusion that the earth is spherical. When he settled in Fromborg, he stood on the Baltic coast many times observing sailing ships. Once, Copernicus asked a sailboat to tie a shining object to the top of its mast. He stood on the shore and watched the sailboat slowly sail away. He described the observation: "As the sailboat went away, the shining object gradually descended, and finally disappeared completely, as if the sun was setting." This observation led him to draw a conclusion: "Even the sea surface is round. ”
On cold winter nights on the damp and foggy shores of the Baltic Sea, there are no cloud shadows in the sky, and the stars shine with dazzling cold light in the blue sky. Copernicus always takes advantage of this. This is a rare opportunity, so I put on my fur jacket, tightened my hood, moved the instruments to the terrace of the archery tower, and conducted all-night observations. The instruments he uses are all made by himself, and there are three types in one. The "tri-arc instrument" for measuring planetary distances was cut from a fir tree pole, marked with ink, and the sight was also carved. The "star catcher" that measures the position of the moon and planets is made of six tree strips wound in a circle. The "quadrant" used to measure the height of the sun's zenith is a large square wooden board with a graduated wooden ring in the upper right corner. There is a "level" on the shelf, which is actually just a glass tube filled with water. To observe the solar eclipse, he originally had to observe the reflection in the water. In order to reduce the trouble of lifting the water tower, he broke the convention and used a window guard with holes to reflect the sun's shadow on the wall. Copernicus used these simple equipment to conduct more than 50 recorded observations before and after Fromenberg, including solar eclipses, lunar eclipses, the positions of Mars, Venus, Jupiter and Saturn, etc. It was not easy for these observations to be made so accurately before the invention of the telescope. No wonder many outstanding astronomers later admired them very much.
In the autumn of 1516, the Knights of the Cross, entrenched in northern Poland, invaded the border many times. The church relied on Copernicus's reputation and talent and sent him as the general manager of the church's estates in Orstin to deal with the powerful enemies who were pressing down on the territory.
It was during those years of war that Copernicus began to write his immortal work - "Operations". He set up a simple observation tower on the guard tower of Orstin Castle and took some necessary information with him. At that time, the content of the entire work had been outlined, and the book was planned to be written in eight volumes (six volumes at the time of publication). The first volume has been written, but the progress is very slow. This is because the enemy is at hand, and Copernicus must go all out to deal with the enemy's provocation and harassment.
In the autumn of 1519, Copernicus resigned from his position as director of church property and returned to Fromburg, where he devoted all his energy to writing "Operations". However, the storm of war soon swept here, and Fromenburg fell into the siege of the Knights of the Cross. The enemy burned, killed, looted and cut off food and grass in an attempt to force the defenders to surrender. At this time, all the church priests fled, and some even rebelled against the country and surrendered to the enemy. But Copernicus still stayed in the city, working with the residents to support the defenders in the battle.
They also built canals and water conservancy projects. The locks and water mills designed and built by Copernicus were of great significance to support the war and prosper the economy at that time.
In the autumn of the next year, Copernicus once again served as the director of the church in Orstin. At this time, the Knights of the Cross had invaded many nearby castles and were approaching Orstin. Copernicus used all the money in his custody to support the war, and personally deployed defenses and went to the city to supervise the war. The Knights of the Cross attacked the city with incendiary bombs, and Copernicus ordered people to use soaked leather to cover the enemy's incendiary bombs. After five days and five nights of fierce fighting, the city still stood. Grand Duke Hohenlen of the Knights of the Cross was so angry that he sent people to Fromburg to burn all his books, manuscripts and instruments. But Copernicus always held on to the castle, and Hohenlun had no choice but to withdraw his troops and agree to a truce. After the war, King Sigismund of Poland rewarded him for his merits and appointed Copernicus as the administrator of Orstine.
In the autumn of 1525, Copernicus' work on writing "Operation" was fully launched in Fromburg. At this time, a housekeeper named Anna came up to Copernicus' arrow tower. Anna was born into a noble family, had a virtuous temperament, and sincerely loved Copernicus. She resolutely abandoned worldly prejudices and lived with Copernicus, who was deprived of the right to marry by the church. With Anna's help and care, the number of manuscripts on Copernicus' desk quickly increased.
The first volume of "Operation" introduces the structure of the universe from a bird's-eye view. At the beginning of his argument, Copernicus cited many observations to prove that the earth was round. He then pointed out the reason why the earth is round. He said: "All bodies tend to condense themselves into this spherical shape, just as the same drop of water or other fluid always strives to form itself into an independent whole." "The reason why a body is spherical is its weight. , that is, the natural tendency of particles or atoms of an object to condense themselves into a whole and shrink into a spherical shape." His answer to this question paved the way for Newton's discovery of universal gravitation more than a hundred years later.
He also wrote this paragraph about atoms: "The so-called atoms are the tiniest particles that can no longer be divided. They overlap or gather together in multiples, but because they are invisible, they are not Visible objects are not immediately formed; but their number may be increased to such an extent that they accumulate to a visible size." This passage is directed at the argument of the idealists, who plead that "atoms are invisible." And obliterate the existence of atoms. Under the instigation of idealists, this paragraph was deleted when "Operation" was published; not a single word was found in the Third Middle School edition for the next 300 years.
The second volume of "Operation" introduces relevant mathematical principles, among which the calculation methods of plane triangle and spherical triangle were pioneered by Copernicus. Here are stated the rules of triangles, that is, rules for deducing other sides and angles from known sides and angles of a triangle. This includes a plane triangle with three sides being straight lines and a spherical triangle with three sides being arcs on a sphere.
The third volume is a table of stars. Volume 4 introduces the Earth's axial and annual movements.
Volume 5 discusses the moon, the satellite of the earth. Copernicus attached great importance to studying the moon, especially lunar eclipses. He believed that during lunar eclipses, people could get hints about the true structure of the universe from the relative positions of the moon, earth, and sun. "Because, when the rest of the universe is clear and full of daylight, the so-called night is nothing but the shadow of the earth itself. This shadow forms a cone with a sharp end. The moon is When it comes into contact with this shadow, it loses its luster, and when it appears in the center of the shadow, its position is exactly opposite the sun."
His last volume was to write about the theory of planetary motion.
The immortal contribution of "Operation" is that it explains the apparent motion of planetary motion based on the principle of relative motion. Before Copernicus, this principle had never been elaborated in such detail, and no one had ever drawn such important conclusions from this principle.
Copernicus said this about this issue: "The position changes of all objects we observe are either caused by the movement of the object being observed, the movement of the observer, or the movement of the object and the object. Caused by inconsistent movements of people. "Since the earth is the base for our observations in its movement, the movement in the sky we observe, such as the movement of the sun, may be a surface movement. This is an illusion caused by the movement of the earth itself, and the movement of other celestial bodies may be the result of inconsistent movements of that celestial body and the earth. Therefore, if it is admitted that "the earth rotates from west to east," then it will obviously appear as if the sun, moon, and stars are rising and setting. "
"The matter is exactly as it was stated by Virgilius," wrote Copernicus, "who made Aenes say:
'We sailed out of the harbor, and the land and the city is retreating'. Because when a ship is sailing through a calm sea, everything outside appears to the people on the ship to be moving in accordance with the motion of the ship, but in the opposite direction - they feel that they and the things around them remain where they are. This same situation may undoubtedly occur in the phenomenon of motion of the earth, and give rise to the impression that the whole universe is rotating. "
Copernicus also argued: "Although the earth is a huge sphere, it is insignificant compared to the universe. "He noticed that the horizon divided the celestial sphere into two even halves, and used this phenomenon to prove the conclusion that the universe is infinite. "According to this conclusion, it can be seen that the universe is unmeasurable compared with the earth. It is an infinite space. Boundless behemoth. "Copernicus also believed that the sun was the relatively immobile center of the planets.
Copernicus's achievement was that he used the scientific heliocentric theory to overturn the earth that had dominated astronomy for thousands of years. Center said. This was a major revolution in astronomy, which led to an innovation in human cosmology.
Difficult publication
Copernicus had written the "Heliocentric Theory" between 1506 and 1515. "The outline of "A Trial on the Hypotheses of the Movement of Celestial Bodies", but the book "Operation" was not published until his death in 1543. He mentioned in the "Preface" of the book "Operation"
When faced with this situation, he said: "In the long years, I have hesitated?/cagt;