Copernicus

1473 – 1543 · Poland · Astronomy, Mathematics

Moved the Earth from the centre of the universe.

Index entry

Copernicus is currently a short index entry. The research desk can draft the full profile — achievements, works, living legacy and what is documented about the family line.

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Continuity of ideas

Who shaped Copernicus, and who they shaped

Inherited from2

  • Ptolemy

    100 – 170 · Astronomy, Mathematics

    Copernicus writes De revolutionibus as a reply to the Almagest, keeping its geometry and moving its centre.

  • Ulugh Beg

    1394 – 1449 · Astronomy, Mathematics

    Samarkand's star catalogue supplies the observational standard European astronomy measured against.

Passed the work to2

  • Galileo Galilei

    1564 – 1642 · Astronomy, Physics

    Galileo's telescopic evidence turned the Copernican hypothesis into a physical claim.

  • Johannes Kepler

    1571 – 1630 · Astronomy, Mathematics

    Kepler set out to save Copernicus and ended by replacing circles with ellipses.

Sources and references

Numbered markers in the text above point to the entries below. Each links to a primary document, archival collection or scholarly reference where the claim about Copernicus can be checked.

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Nearby in the annals