NICOLAUS COPERNICUS AS A GENIUS IN FAITH AND REASON

Abstract

Nicolaus Copernicus (1473–1543) was born in Torun Polish Prussia on 19 February 1473. His father Nicolaus was a merchant and municipal offi cial of Torun. His mother Barbara was a sister of Lucas Watzenrode who became the bishop of Ermland (Warmia) in 1489. Copernicus was baptized at the Church of Saints John the Baptist and John the Apostle in 1473. Copernicus studied mathematics and astronomy in Cracow (1491–1495) and Bolonia (1496–1500), visited Rome during the Jubilee Year (1500–1501), studied medicine in Padua (1501–1503) and received his doctoral degree in canon law at the University of Ferrara (1503). After his studies he returned to Frauenberg (Frombork) where he was installed as a canon (1501). As a genius in faith and reason Copernicus published his heliocentric system in De revolutionibus orbium coelestium (Nürnberg 1543) with his Dedication Letter to Pope Paul III (pontificate 1534–1549) which was prepared in June 1542. He died in Frombork, near Gdansk on 24 May 1543. In the Cathedral of Strasbourg, France, there is the Astronomical Clock with Stimmer’s copy of a self-portrait of Copernicus standing with a sprig of lily-ofthe- valley in his hand, indicating that he was also a physician.