NICOLAUS COPERNICUS | From Toruń to the Stars

It's the latter half of the 16th century and the riverside trading port of Torun has recently become one of the wealthiest cities in Royal Prussia. This state is now a part of the Kingdom of Poland, after a prolonged period of conflict with its previous tenants, the Order of Teutonic Knights. All the while, Torun's association with the Hanseatic Economic Union has provided it with some of the city's most iconic buildings. And it's in this magical setting that one of the world's most famous scientific figures would be born. Someone whose pursuits would be as revolutionary as they were astronomic. His name was Mikołaj Kopernik, better known to the English-speaking world as Nikolaus Copernicus. Nikolaus Copernicus was born in Torun on the 19th of February 1473. The exact address of his birthing is disputed, however one of his childhood homes was certainly located at Mikołaja Kopernika 15 in the city's Old Town area, and is today the Nikolaus Copernicus Museum. Both of his parents were from wealthy merchant families, with his father, Nikolaus the Elder, originally hailing from Kraków. Not a great deal is known about Nikolaus' early years. There is speculation about his interests, which may have included gingerbread, and searching for clams in the waters of the Vistula. What is known, however, is that Nikolaus' father would pass away in 1483, and from then on young Nikolaus would be fostered by his maternal uncle, Lukasz Watzenroder the Younger, who held a prominent position in the church. Historians believe that Nikolaus was then educated at the school associated with St John's Cathedral in Torun, of which Lukasz Watzenroder was once the schoolmaster. He would have then continued his secondary schooling in Wrocławek, which is about 50 kilometres upstream from Torun. When he came of age, Nikolaus Copernicus was off to the big city, that is, Kraków, the Polish capital in the 15th century. In 1491, he enrolled for studies at the University of Kraków, now known as the Jagiellonian University. Many have disputed how his time was spent. For example, did he have a part-time job? Or a lover? What is known is that he initially pursued the arts and mathematics. That would all change, however, when he became a student of Wojciech Brudzewski, a lecturer in astronomy and Aristotelian philosophy. The fields of which would make Nikolaus Copernicus see stars. Meanwhile, elsewhere in the Kingdom of Poland, Lukasz Watzenroder, the younger, had moved up in the ranks in the church. In 1492, he became the Prince Bishop of the region of Warmia, located in Poland's northeast. When Nikolaus arrived at his new home in 1495 without a degree, his uncle probably saw it necessary to set his nephew on the straight and narrow. In other words, a career in the church. Thus, Nikolaus was sent off Erasmus-style to Bologna University in Italy, where he was to study canon law. However, once Nikolaus arrived, there were many more astronomical wonders to pursue. Amongst the many people he met during this period, he became acquainted with Domenico Maria Novara, a famed Italian astronomer, who not only taught Copernicus, but also took him on as an assistant. He travelled around Italy and also began lecturing in astronomy in Rome. Sometime around 1500, he travelled back to Warmia, and Uncle Lukasz was ready to put him on the church's payroll. But Copernicus was able to convince his uncle that he needed more studies. This time, he enrolled in the University of Padua, which is also in Italy, and began to study medicine. One of his key extracurricular activities at the time was the study of ancient Greek, which he would use to read texts from astronomical works of antiquity. It is believed that, around this time, he finalised the basis of his theory that would revolutionise our understanding of the universe. In the early 16th century, it was generally accepted that the Earth was the centre of the universe, and the other celestial bodies, in particular the Sun, also revolved around it. This geocentric model had been put forward by Ptolemy, a great mind of the ancient world, in his work The Almagest, also known as The Greatest Compilation. But like several other astronomers that preceded Ptolemy, Copernicus was not convinced. And using his mathematical learnings, he started to challenge these ideas. From this, Copernicus would develop the heliocentric model that placed the Sun at the centre of the universe, or what we would call the solar system, with the Earth and other celestial bodies revolving around. In 1503, at the age of 30, Nicolaus Copernicus returned to Varmia and began his long-awaited career in the church. For nine years, he acted as his uncle's secretary and personal physician, until Lukas Watzenroder, the younger, died in 1512. At that point, Copernicus relocated to the town of Frombork, where he purchased a house and the northwestern tower of the town's defensive wall in order to observe the stars and further develop his heliocentric model. Over the next 29 years, Copernicus conducted research to refine his calculations, with the occasional war or diplomatic matter to distract things. By the end of the year 1542, the health of Nicolaus Copernicus was deteriorating steadily. His life's work, however, had finally been completed. It was titled De revolutionibus orbium celestial, on the revolutions of the heavenly spheres. Within this work, Copernicus had correctly placed the order of the planets from the Sun, and his calculations on their respective orbits were surprisingly accurate based on what we know today. He also correctly identified that the Moon was the only celestial sphere that revolved around the Earth. And unlike Ptolemy's surmisings, the universe had no fixed point in which all things revolved. Sending his work to the printer early the next year, Nicolaus Copernicus passed away on the 24th of May, 1543. He was 70 years old. The controversy surrounding Copernicus's work was not immediate. It took many years for his ideas to enter the consciousness of the sciences at the time. Eventually, the Catholic Church got wind of these heretical ideas, and in 1616, De revolutionibus orbium celestial was banned for more than two centuries. Copernicus would not have to face the consequences of having such revolutionary ideas. However, others, like Galileo Galilei, would not be so lucky. Ideas cannot be burned so easily. Despite the backlash of the Church, there was no stopping the revolutionary ideas that were entering the sciences. And by the Renaissance, the world would have a completely different understanding of its place in the universe. Today in Poland, Nicolaus Copernicus, or Mikołaj Kopernik, is celebrated as one of the most important Poles who ever lived. Numerous scientific and astronomical departments around the country are named in his honor, and there are several planetariums around the country, most notably in Torun and Warsaw, that are a popular way of learning about the wonders of space. Torun is now a UNESCO-listed World Heritage Site, mainly for its exquisite brick Gothic architecture. Though the fact that Nicolaus Copernicus was born and raised here certainly doesn't harm its tourist appeal. Internationally, he's often regarded as the most important astronomer that ever lived, and we certainly will not disagree with that. For more English-language content on Poland, make sure you subscribe to our YouTube channel, and don't forget to click the bell for notifications. And you can join the In Your Pocket community on Facebook and Instagram. We'll catch you next time. Do zobaczenia!