Nicolaus Copernicus: A Short Biography: The Astronomer Who Moved the Earth

by Doug West

Nicolaus Copernicus was a brilliant mathematician and astronomer who lived during the Renaissance and Reformation eras and contributed to science with a new model of the universe that placed the Sun instead of the Earth at the center of the universe. Although a similar theory had been formulated centuries earlier by Aristarchus of Samos, Copernicus went much farther than anyone before him. A major milestone in the history of science, the publication of his book On the Revolutions of the Heavenly Spheres in 1543 was a radical act that demolished thousand-year old beliefs.Born in Royal Prussia, Nicolaus Copernicus held a doctorate in canon law and was also a classics scholar, governor, diplomat, translator, and physician besides being an influential mathematician and astronomer. He made valuable contributions to many fields, including economics, where he formulated a principle that would later become Gresham’s law. Copernicus’s daring and novel writings made all former theories about the system of the universe explode and put humanity on a new scientific path, eventually making way for the Scientific Revolution.

58 pages, Paperback

Published April 1, 2018

About the author

Doug West is a retired engineer, small business owner, and an experienced non-fiction writer of the 30 Minute Book Series. His writing interests lean towards science, biographies and history. Doug has a B.S. in Physics from the Missouri School of Science and Technology and a Ph.D. in General Engineering from Oklahoma State University. He has also completed additional graduate studies in Astrophysics at Wichita State University. He lives with his wife and spoiled dog "Millie" near Kansas City, Missouri.

Reviews

[Sarah Paterson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Does what it says on the tin; a wee easily digestible biography of one of the big names in the history of science.

[F S · Rating 5 out of 5]

Informative and well-written