Nicholas Copernicus (1543) Geometric Genius

• A Roman Catholic cleric (possibly a priest; certainly celibate and a member of religious community).

• Not the first to ask the question, “What if the sun is at the center of planetary motions?” Some Greeks beat him to that punch by about 17 centuries or so.

• Copernicus argued that if the sun is at the center, then:

• we can calculate the size of the planetary orbits;
• we can calculate the length of time for each planet’s orbit around the sun.

• Martin Luther condemned Copernicus immediately; the Catholic Church did not oppose teaching heliocentrism until after Galileo made a stink about it ~90 years later.