Kopernikus und galileo biography

Born in Torún (Pomerania), Copernicus (Niklas Koppernigk) was guided toward ecclesiastical studies by his uncle Lucas Watzenrode, a bishop. In 1491, he entered the University of Krakow and in 1495 he became canon of the Chapter of Frombork Cathedral.

Kopernikus und galileo biography

In 1496, he enrolled as a law student at the University of Bologna, where he met Domenico Maria Novara (1454-1504) and became acquainted with his peculiar ideas about the Earth's motion. In 1501, he switched to the study of medicine at the University of Padua and in 1503 he gained a doctorate in canon law at the University of Ferrara.

Settled in Frombork, he began his scientific work in 1510 in his spare time from various administrative and medical duties. In about 1514, he circulated a few manuscript copies of his Commentariolus, a short treatise in which he rehearsed the heliocentric hypothesis of Aristarchus of Samos (3rd C.

B.C.E.): all the planets and the Earth revolve around the Sun, immobile at the center of the Universe. In his