A.D. 1473 ~ A.D. 1543
The great astronomer mikolaj kopernik (Polish name Mikolaj Kopernik) was born in a wealthy family in Toran, Poland. When I was young, I studied at Clayton University. During my study, I became interested in astronomy. In his twenties, he went to Italy to study, studied law and medicine at the University of Bologna and Padil University, and later obtained a doctorate in religious law in university of ferrara. Copernicus spent most of his adult life as a priest in Frauen Translation Cathedral. Copernicus was not a professional astronomer, and his famous masterpiece was completed in his spare time.
During his stay in Italy, Copernicus became familiar with the theory of the Greek philosopher Aristakes (the third century before) and was convinced that the Heliocentrism that the earth and other planets revolve around the sun was correct. When he was about 4 years old, he began to distribute a short manuscript among his friends, preliminarily expounding his own views on Heliocentrism. After years of observation and calculation, Copernicus finally completed his great book "The Theory of the Operation of Celestial Bodies".
In p>1533, 6-year-old Copernicus made a series of speeches in Rome and put forward the main points of his theory, which was not opposed by the Pope. But even after his book was finished, he was still afraid to publish it for fear of being opposed by the church. It was not until he was near seventy years of age that he finally decided to publish it. On the day of his death on May 24, 1543, he received a book written by him from the publisher.
In the book, he correctly discusses that the earth revolves around its axis; The moon moves around the earth; The fact that the earth and all other planets revolve around the sun. But he also seriously underestimated the size of the solar system like his predecessors. He thinks that the orbit of stars is a series of concentric circles, which is of course wrong. The mathematical operations in his theory are complicated and inaccurate. However, his book immediately attracted great attention, driving some other astronomers to make more accurate observations on planetary motion, the most famous of which was the great Danish astronomer Taishou Brejo. Kepler finally deduced the correct law of star motion based on the observation data accumulated by Taishou.
Although Aristakes put forward the heliocentric theory more than 17 years earlier than Copernicus, in fact, Copernicus gained this reputation. Aristakes just made a guess by inspiration and didn't discuss it in detail, so his theory is useless in science. 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. By examining the observation results of celestial bodies and comparing them with the old theory that the earth is the center of the universe, you will find its great significance.
Obviously, Copernicus' theory is a revolution in human understanding of the universe, which has greatly changed people's whole world outlook. But when evaluating Copernicus' influence, we should also note that astronomy is not as widely used as physics, chemistry and biology. Theoretically speaking, even if people don't know anything about the knowledge and application of Copernicus theory, they will make things like televisions, cars and modern chemical plants. But it is inconceivable not to apply the theories of Faraday, Maxwell, lavoisier and Newton.
only considering the influence of Copernicus theory on technology will completely ignore its true meaning. Copernicus's book is an indispensable prelude to the work of Galileo and Kepler. They became Newton's main predecessors again. It was the discovery of these two things that enabled Newton to determine the laws of motion and gravity.
Copernicus' scientific achievements are the products of his times, which in turn promoted the development of the times.
in the 15th and 6th centuries, it was the crucial period for Europe to change from a feudal society to a capitalist society. During these two hundred years, great changes have taken place in society. Before the 14th century, Europe was full of divided small city-states. Later, with the rise of urban industry and commerce, especially the development of mining and metallurgy, many emerging big cities emerged, and small city-states had the trend of uniting to form a country. By the end of the 15th century, there were basically centralized monarchies in many countries. At that time, there were not only big cities like Krakow and Poznan in Poland, but also many cities with prosperous handicrafts. Warsaw, which was merged into 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, it has also begun to be reflected in culture and science. At that time, Europe was "the unity of politics and religion", the Holy See controlled many countries, the Bible was declared as the supreme truth, all doctrines that violated the Bible were denounced as "heresy", and all those who opposed theocracy were punished by the stake. For their own survival and development, the emerging bourgeoisie set off a struggle against feudal system and church superstition, and a humanistic trend of thought emerged. The fighting weapons they used were ancient Greek philosophy, science and literature and art that were not contaminated by theology. This is the Renaissance that shocked Europe. The Renaissance first took place in Italy and soon spread to Poland and other European countries.
at the same time, the activity of business also promotes the development of foreign trade. Driven by the spell of "gold", many European adventurers sailed to Africa, India and the whole Far East. Ocean voyage needs rich knowledge of astronomy and geography, and the observation data accumulated from practice makes people feel that the popular cosmology theory of "static and dynamic" at that time is doubtful, which requires people to further explore the secrets of the universe, thus promoting the development of astronomy and geography. In 1492, Columbus, a famous Italian navigator, sailed to America for the first time. From 1519 to 1522, Magellan and his companions circled the earth once, which proved that the earth was round and made people really understand it.
under the strict control of the church, there was also a vigorous religious revolution in the Middle Ages. Jan Huss (1369 ~ 1415), a Czech patriot and president of Prague University, publicly condemned the oppression and exploitation of the Czech Republic by the German feudal lords and the Catholic Church at the religious conference in Constantinople. Although he was burned at the stake by the reactionary church, his revolutionary activities aroused strong reactions in society. Czech farmers held an uprising under the banner of the Huss, and this movement also spread to Poland. In 1517, in Germany, Martin Luther (1483 ~ 1546) opposed the sale of atonement symbols by the church and publicly broke with the Pope. In 1521, Luther exposed the sins of the Holy See in the Congress of Vorm, and put forward the idea of establishing Protestantism. Protestantism is supported by many countries, and Poland is also deeply influenced.
In such an era of great change and turmoil, Copernicus was born in Torun, on the Vistula River, on February 19th, 1473. His father is a wealthy businessman who is a member of parliament. He has a brother and two sisters. When Copernicus was 1 years old, his father died, and he was sent to the home of his uncle, Archbishop Vukasch. Wukash was a humanist. He was very close to the progressive Polish intelligentsia at that time, and was close friends with the outstanding Italian revolutionary and humanist Filippo BuOnac. When Copernicus was in middle school, Wukash took him to a humanist party. In 1491, according to his uncle's arrangement, Copernicus went to Krakow University to study astronomy and mathematics.
At that time, some famous Polish astronomers had been produced, such as Ma Qing Klohr, who wrote A Revision of Alphonse Catalogue in 145 and gave lectures in many countries. Another example is the famous astronomer Wojciech, who compiled an astronomical calendar. He gave lectures at Krakow University and was a professor of mathematics and astronomy when Copernicus was studying. Copernicus's "sun-centered theory" was conceived when he was studying at Cracow University.
In medieval Europe ruled by theocracy, celestial bodies were called "sacred shores" and "sacred horns", which belonged to theology rather than science. According to the myth of theologians, the sky is full of "angels of all levels and a set of crystal balls", and the "stationary earth" is at the center of these crystal balls. The sun revolves around the earth, because the purpose of "God" to create the sun is to illuminate the earth and be kind to mankind. As for the operation of celestial bodies, according to the Italian theologian Thomas Aquinas, it is because every celestial body has an "angel" pushing it. The operation of celestial bodies depends on the will of "angels", and the will of "angels" is beyond human comprehension. Aquinas also said: "If human beings can sometimes understand some problems, it is because God has inspired us through angels."
The sky mentioned by theologians catered to the interests of feudal lords at that time. They threatened that the feudal hierarchy was a reflection and continuation of the hierarchy of heaven. "God" rules "angels", so feudal lords rule farmers. Aquinas said: "If human beings don't understand the superiority of feudal system, the fault lies with human beings, because human wisdom is limited." In this way, the feudal system became sacred and inviolable.
In order to consolidate feudal rule, the inquisition of the Catholic Church burned many precious scientific works, sometimes burning 2 carts a day. In 1327, the Italian astronomer Tseko Dascori was burned alive. His "crime" was to violate the teachings of the Bible and prove that the earth was spherical and there were humans in another hemisphere.
However, by the end of the 15th century, this theologian's sky was facing a shaky situation because of the development of science, and the evil flame and torture of the Inquisition could not save its fate.
great theories
in that era when "science became the handmaid of theology", many theories were distorted and castrated and used to serve feudal rule. In medieval Europe, few people knew the true content of ancient scientific classics. At this time, an important lesson for scientists is to explore the ancient cultural heritage, which is a cultural treasure house that is not contaminated with theological toxins.
Ptolemy, a great astronomer in ancient Greece, summed up the achievements observed by his predecessors in 4 years in the second century A.D., wrote a book "Collection of Celestial Works" (that is, "The Great Theory") and put forward the theory that "the earth is the center of the universe". This theory has been used and controlled by theologians and circulated for more than 14 years.
Ptolemy believed that the earth sits motionless at the center of the universe, and all celestial bodies, including the sun, revolve around the earth. However, in the observation, people found that the operation of celestial bodies has a phenomenon of going back and forth, fast and slow. In order to explain the phenomenon of going back and forth, Ptolemy said that it is not the celestial body itself that makes a balanced motion around the earth, but the center of the circular wheel in which the celestial body moves. He called the round wheel around the earth "even wheel" and the smaller round wheel "current wheel". In order to explain the phenomenon of fast and slow, he added some auxiliary "current round" besides the main "current round" and adopted the term "virtual wheel", so that the unbalanced movement of the center of the "current round" seemed to be "balanced" from the center of the "virtual wheel". Ptolemy thus gave a far-fetched explanation to the ancient observation data.
However, in the following centuries, a large number of observation data accumulated, and Ptolemy's
"current wheel" is not enough to explain the operation of celestial bodies, which requires more and more "current wheels". Later generations of scholars devoted themselves to this "mending" work, which made Ptolemy's system more and more complicated, and the research on astronomy remained at this level.
The statement that "the earth is the center of the universe" is just the basis of "the sky of theologians". Medieval theologians touted Ptolemy's conclusion, but concealed Ptolemy's methodology: Ptolemy established a mathematical theory of genius, trying to discover the reasons and laws of celestial bodies by means of observation, calculus and reasoning with human wisdom, which is the vital part of Ptolemy's theory. Therefore, although Ptolemy's "geocentric theory" coincides with theologians' view of the universe, there are essential differences between them. One is a wrong conclusion in science, and the other is a big lie that fools human beings and tries to make feudal rule eternal. Copernicus made a correct evaluation of this. He said, "You should shoot your arrow in the same direction of Ptolemy, but the material of the bow and arrow should be completely different from his."
Copernicus studied Ptolemy's works very diligently. He saw the contradiction between Ptolemy's wrong conclusion and scientific method. It was when Copernicus discovered the root of Ptolemy's mistake that he found the truth.
Copernicus realized that the development path of astronomy should not continue to "repair" Ptolemy's old theory, but to discover new theories of the structure of the universe. He made an analogy: those scholars who stood in Ptolemy's position engaged in individual and isolated observations and pieced together some overlapping "current rounds" to explain the phenomenon of the universe, just like someone looking around for limbs and heads and describing them, the result was not like a person, but like a monster.
Copernicus began to think about the operation of the earth as early as when he was studying at Krakow University. He said in the preface to "The Movement of Celestial Bodies" that predecessors had the right to make up the round wheel to explain the phenomenon of starry sky, and he also had the right to try to find a more appropriate method to explain the movement of celestial bodies than the round wheel.
Copernicus's purpose of observing celestial bodies is contrary to that of scholars in the past. He is not forcing the phenomenon of the universe to obey the theory of "the center of the earth" Copernicus famously said, "Phenomena guide astronomers." It is precisely the cosmic phenomena that he wants to answer his questions, and the observed phenomena to confirm a newly founded theory-the "sun center" theory. His targeted observation finally led to a radical change in astronomy.
Copernicus' observation made a good start at Krakow University. He used the famous astrologer Marqen Blitcha (about 1433 ~ 1493) to observe the eclipse and studied the boundless starry sky.
Copernicus stopped studying at Krakow University for three years and went to Italy to study "Church Law". This was the idea of his uncle Wukash. Because the Knights of the Cross, which was based in the north of Poland at that time, often violated the border and did evil deeds, and to fight against them, someone must be proficient in the "church law." Copernicus believed that it was an unshirkable responsibility to fight against the Knights Cross. He said: "There is no obligation as solemn as the obligation to the motherland, and it is not hesitate to give one's life for the motherland." So he agreed to Wukash's suggestion. In order to get the travelling expenses abroad and the living expenses of studying abroad for a long time, he once again accepted the arrangement of his uncle and decided to hold the post of church for life. In the autumn of 1496, Copernicus put on his robe and set off for Italy.
He studied "canon law" at the University of Bologna in northern Italy, and at the same time studied astronomy hard. Here, he met Dominique Maria, a famous astronomer at that time, and studied the theory of the moon with him. He began to expose the contradiction between Ptolemy's theory and objective phenomena with practical observation. He found that Ptolemy's explanation of the moon's movement, as Reggie Monten pointed out, would surely lead to an absurd conclusion: the volume of the moon sometimes expands and sometimes contracts, and the full moon is the result of expansion.