Work · Science & Human Sciences
On the Revolutions of the Heavenly Spheres
The sun moves to the center.
Introduction
Copernicus’s main work, in six books in Latin, was printed in Nuremberg in 1543 and dedicated to Pope Paul III. Three years earlier his pupil Rheticus had announced the theory in a “First Account”. Book I sets out the heliocentric cosmos, the following books spherical astronomy, the precession of the equinoxes, the motions of the moon and the planets. The system still uses circles and epicycles. An unsigned preface by the theologian Andreas Osiander presented the theory as a mere hypothesis for calculation. In 1616 the book was placed on the Index “until corrected”.
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Connections
Taken up in
- On the Infinite Universe and Worlds1584 · Giordano Bruno
- Dialogue Concerning the Two Chief World Systems1632 · Galileo Galilei
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