What did Nicolaus Copernicus discover? Nicolaus Copernicus: brief biography and essence of his teachings. "The Epistle of Copernicus against Werner" and "On the Revolutions of the Celestial Spheres"

The discoveries of the Polish astronomer Nicolaus Copernicus not only made it possible to create a new scientific paradigm, but also made a real revolution in human consciousness, becoming the basis for a new picture of the world. The Renaissance, during which the scientist worked, became a turning point for the life of all of Europe. It was then that the most progressive representatives of humanity made breakthroughs in many areas of knowledge. Copernicus's work marked the beginning of another scientific revolution and became part of the new natural science.

short biography

The famous canon and astronomer was born in the city of Toruń into a wealthy merchant family on February 19, 1473. Since Torun at the turn of the 15th-16th century changed hands several times, becoming the property of either the Teutonic Order or the Polish king, Germany and Poland are still arguing about what nationality Copernicus was. Now Torun is part of Poland.

In the early 1480s, a plague epidemic broke out in Europe, killing many thousands of people, including Nicolaus Copernicus the Elder, the father of the future scientist. In 1489, the mother of the family also died. Their uncle, Lukasz Wachenrode, who was the bishop of the Warm diocese, took custody of the remaining orphans. He gave a very good education to his nephews - Nikolai and his older brother Andrzej.

After the young people graduated from school in Torun, they continued their education at the cathedral school in Włocławsk, and then went to Krakow, where they entered the Jagiellonian University at the Faculty of Arts. Here Nikolai met the famous astronomer of that time - Professor Wojciech Brudzewski. Brudzewski believed that a scientist should respect the works of his predecessors, but at the same time not stop at empty reproduction of other people’s theories, but move on and learn to compare the works of classics with the latest hypotheses. Brudzewski's approach largely determined the future scientific path of Copernicus himself.

In 1495, the brothers graduated from the university, became canons in their uncle's diocese and went to Italy. Here they continued their education at the Faculty of Law of the University of Bologna. Within the walls of Bologna, Nicolaus Copernicus met an astronomy teacher, Domenico Maria di Novara. Together with the teacher, Copernicus began to regularly observe the stars. It was then that he noticed that the real movement of the heavenly bodies did not correspond to the scheme of the geocentric Universe described by Ptolemy.

After studying in Bologna, Copernicus continued to travel around Italy. For some time, Nikolai lectured on mathematics in Rome and communicated with representatives of the Italian nobility. In the early 1500s, Copernicus was also educated in Padua and Ferrara. Here he became acquainted with medicine and received a doctorate in theology. A few years later, at the insistence of his uncle, the scientist returned to Poland and became the personal secretary and at the same time the house physician of Bishop Wachenrode. At the same time, he continued his studies in astronomy in Krakow. Almost a ten-year stay in Italy made Copernicus a comprehensively erudite person who absorbed the latest achievements of all major applied sciences.

In 1516, after the death of Bishop Wachenrode, Nicolaus Copernicus moved to Frombork and began to carry out the usual duties of a canon, at which time he began to develop his heliocentric system.

However, Poland remembers Nicolaus Copernicus not only as a brilliant astronomer and clergyman. Also he:

developed some economic laws that made it possible to carry out monetary reform in Poland,
how a doctor successfully fought the plague,
compiled detailed maps of Poland, Lithuania and the Vistula (now Kaliningrad) Lagoon,
invented a system for supplying water to Frombork houses,
during the Polish-Teutonic War he led the defense of the city.

In addition to astronomy, Nicolaus Copernicus was interested in painting, studying foreign languages and mathematics.

Since Copernicus’s works on his heliocentric system were published at the very end of the scientist’s life, the Catholic Church did not have time to take the necessary measures against the dissident astronomer. Nicolaus Copernicus died of a stroke on May 24, 1543, surrounded by his friends and students.

Development of the heliocentric system

Medieval Europe inherited ancient ideas about the structure of the cosmos, namely the geocentric system of Claudius Ptolemy, developed in the 2nd century AD. e. Ptolemy taught that:

The Earth is at the center of the Universe;
She is motionless;
All celestial bodies rotate around the Earth at a constant speed along certain lines - epicycles and deferents.

The Greek scientist left notes that also concerned calculations of the distance between space objects and the speed of their movement. For many centuries, the Ptolemaic system was generally accepted throughout Europe. Based on it, people calculated the fairways of ships, determined the length of the year and compiled calendars.

The first attempts to create different ideas about the Universe arose even before the birth of Ptolemy. Some ancient astronomers believed that the Earth, like other celestial bodies, revolves around the Sun, located at the center of the world. However, these theories have not found wide acceptance.

Even while studying the starry sky under the leadership of Novara, Nicolaus Copernicus noticed that the paths along which the planets moved that he observed did not correspond to the epicycles of Ptolemy. Initially, the scientist only wanted to make minor corrections to his predecessor’s system, however, the observations yielded stunning results. The actual motion of the planets in their orbits clearly indicated that they did not revolve around the Earth, but around the Sun.

Astronomical observations, carried out already in Frombork, were not easy for Copernicus. In addition to the fact that he devoted most of his time to his direct duties as a canon, the astronomer was greatly hampered by weather conditions. Frombork was located on the shores of the Vistula Lagoon, so there were always thick sea fogs over the town. For his work, Copernicus primarily used only two tools:

Triquetrum - a special ruler that made it possible to determine the zenith distances of astronomical objects;
Horoscope, with the help of which it was possible to determine the height of heavenly bodies above the horizon.

Despite the fact that Copernicus’s arsenal of astronomical instruments was not so large, the scientist managed to make complex and very accurate calculations, which laid the foundation for the formation of a new scientific paradigm. It is curious that the technical tools that make it possible to directly prove the rotation of the Earth around the Sun appeared only 200 years after the death of the scientist.

Copernicus was a sensible man and understood that his revolutionary conclusions could lead to accusations of heresy. Therefore, although the scientist did not make much secret of his observations, all his formulations were quite careful and streamlined. His hypotheses were outlined in a small work - “Small Commentaries”. This book was not intended for a wide range of readers and passed from hand to hand among Copernicus' friends.

The astronomer was also saved by the fact that the Catholic Church had not yet come to a consensus: whether to consider supporters of heliocentrism as heretics or not. In addition, the Catholic hierarchs needed the services of Copernicus: at the beginning of the 16th century, the question arose of creating a new calendar and establishing the exact dates of church holidays. First of all, it was necessary to develop a formula to calculate the exact date of Easter. The old Julian calendar complicated calculations because it did not take into account about 8 hours a year, and required reworking. Copernicus, invited for these purposes, stated that such serious work should be based on careful astronomical observations. In particular, it was necessary to establish the exact length of the year and the trajectories of the Sun, Moon and neighboring planets.

While working on the new calendar, Copernicus was finally convinced of the falsity of the geocentric system. Many of Copernicus' solutions were ideal for a situation in which the Earth revolved around the sun, and not vice versa.

In the early 1530s, Copernicus decided to present his ideas in a completed and edited version. This is how work begins on the most important work of the scientist’s entire life - “On the revolutions of celestial bodies.” Copernicus did not forget about caution, so he presented his conclusions as just one of the possible theories of the structure of the Universe. The book included not only the results of astronomical observations, but also the very essence of Copernicus’ philosophical views. He wrote that:

The earth is spherical, it revolves around the sun and is just one of many planets, and not the center of the universe;
Movement is relative, we can talk about it only if there is a reference point;
Space is much larger than the area visible from Earth and is most likely infinite.

At the same time, the scientist did not abandon the idea of creating the world by a divine essence.

“On the Revolutions of Celestial Bodies” was published a few days before the astronomer’s death - in May 1543. Thus, Copernicus devoted almost 40 years to the development of the heliocentric system - from the moment the first inaccuracies were discovered in the works of Ptolemy until the final version of his views was formalized.

The fate of the scientific heritage of Nicolaus Copernicus

At first, Copernicus's book did not cause much concern among Catholics. This was due to two reasons. Firstly, the abundance of formulas, numbers and diagrams was incomprehensible to an unprepared person. Secondly, the scientist very subtly presented his ideas in the form of just an alternative view. Therefore, the astronomer’s work spread freely throughout Europe for quite a long time. A few years later, the hierarchs realized the danger of the teaching set forth in “On the Revolutions of Celestial Bodies.” But this, however, did not stop them from using the results of Copernicus’ work to compile a new calendar. In 1582, despite the fact that the late Copernicus was considered a heretic, Europe began to gradually switch to the modern Gregorian calendar, based on the calculations of the disgraced astronomer.

The revolutionary ideas of Copernicus contradicted the picture of the world, which was strongly supported by the Catholic Church. Accepting the heliocentric system meant recognizing that:

The earth, which was God's creation, is not at the center, but at the periphery of the Universe;
There is no celestial hierarchy;
The idea of anthropocentrism is controversial;
There is no cosmic prime mover.

However, for a long time the name of Copernicus was forgotten. At the end of the 16th century, the Italian Dominican monk Giordano Bruno popularized the ideas of Copernicus. Unlike the Polish astronomer, he was not afraid to hide his views and preach them openly. This led Bruno to death at the stake, but at the same time made a real revolution in the minds of progressive Europeans. They started talking about Copernicus, and the best minds of that time began to get acquainted with his system.

Only in 1616, a special commission of inquisitors decided to include Copernicus’s book in the “Index of Prohibited Books.” However, the spread of heliocentrism could no longer be stopped. Despite all the prohibitions and rigidity of religious dogma, the doctrine of the central position of the Sun in the Universe had become generally accepted by the beginning of the 17th century.

Biography

early years

Toruń: the house where Copernicus was born

The question of Copernicus's ethnicity still remains the subject of a (rather unpromising) debate. His mother was German (Barbara Watzenrode), his father's nationality is unclear. Thus, ethnically Copernicus was German or half-German, although he himself may have considered himself a Pole (by territorial and political affiliation). He wrote in Latin and German; not a single document in Polish written by his hand has been found; After the early death of his father, he was raised in the German family of his mother and uncle. Niccolo Komneno Popadopoli spread an unproven - and, according to modern historians, invented by himself - story that Copernicus allegedly enrolled at the University of Padua as a Pole. It should be noted that the concept of nationality in those years was much more blurred than it is today, and some historians suggest that Copernicus be considered a Pole and a German at the same time.

In the Copernicus family, besides Nicholas, there were three more children: Andrei, later a canon in Warmia, and two sisters: Barbara and Katerina. Barbara went into a convent, and Katerina married and gave birth to five children, to whom Nicolaus Copernicus was very attached and cared for them until the end of his life.

Bust of Copernicus in Krakow

Having lost his father as a 9-year-old child and remaining in the care of his maternal uncle, Canon Luke ( Lucas) Watzenrode (Watzelrode), Copernicus entered the University of Krakow in 1491, where he studied mathematics, medicine and theology with equal zeal, but he was especially attracted to astronomy.

To continue his education, Copernicus went to Italy () and entered the University of Bologna. In addition to theology, law and ancient languages, he also has the opportunity to study astronomy there. It is interesting to note that one of the professors in Bologna was then Scipio del Ferro, with whose discoveries the revival of European mathematics began. Meanwhile, thanks to the efforts of his uncle, in Poland Copernicus was elected in absentia as a canon in the diocese of Warmia.

Death

A. Lesser. Death of Copernicus

The book of Copernicus has remained as an outstanding monument to human thought. From this moment dates back to the beginning of the first scientific revolution.

grave

The location of Copernicus's grave remained unknown for a long time, but in November 2008, DNA analysis confirmed the discovery of his remains.

Scientific activity

Heliocentric system

Celestial spheres in the Copernicus manuscript

Title page "De revolutionibus orbium coelestium"

In the preface to the book, Copernicus writes:

Considering how absurd this teaching must seem, I hesitated for a long time to publish my book and thought whether it would not be better to follow the example of the Pythagoreans and others, who transmitted their teaching only to friends, spreading it only through tradition.

The Nuremberg theologian Osiander, to whom Rheticus entrusted the printing of Copernicus's book, out of caution, provided it with an anonymous preface, in which he declared the new model a conventional mathematical technique invented to reduce calculations. At one time, this preface was attributed to Copernicus himself, although he, in response to Osiander’s request, resolutely refused to make such a reservation. The preface is followed by a letter of praise from Cardinal Schoenberg and a dedication to Pope Paul III.

In structure, Copernicus’s main work almost repeats the “Almagest” in a somewhat abbreviated form (6 books instead of 13). The first part talks about the spherical shape of the world and the Earth, and instead of the position about the immobility of the Earth, another axiom is placed - the Earth and other planets rotate around an axis and revolve around the Sun. This concept is argued in detail, and the “opinion of the ancients” is convincingly refuted. From a heliocentric position, he easily explains the reciprocal motion of the planets.

The second part provides information on spherical trigonometry and rules for calculating the apparent positions of stars, planets and the Sun in the firmament.

The third talks about the annual movement of the Earth and precession (precedence of the equinoxes), and Copernicus correctly explains it by the displacement of the earth’s axis, which causes the line of intersection of the equator and the ecliptic to move.

In the fourth - about the Moon, in the fifth about planets in general, and in the sixth - about the reasons for changes in the latitudes of the planets. The book also contains a star catalog, an estimate of the sizes of the Sun and Moon, the distances to them and to the planets (close to the true ones), and the theory of eclipses.

Assumption I: The sun is the center of the universe and, therefore, motionless. Everyone believes that this statement is absurd and absurd from a philosophical point of view, and, moreover, formally heretical, since its expressions largely contradict the Holy Scriptures, according to the literal meaning of the words, as well as the usual interpretation and understanding of the Fathers of the Church and teachers of theology.
Assumption II: The Earth is not the center of the universe, it is not motionless and moves as a whole (body) and, moreover, makes a daily revolution. Everyone believes that this position deserves the same philosophical condemnation; from the point of view of theological truth, it is at least mistaken in faith.

Original text(lat.)

Propositio I: Sol est centrum et omnino immobilis motu locali. Censura: omnes dixerunt dictam propositionem esse stultam et absurdam in philosophia et formaliter hereticam, quatenus contradicit expresse sententiis sacrae Scripturae in multis locis, secundum proprietatem verborum et secundum expositionem et sensum SS, Patrum et theologorum doctorum. Propositio II: Terra non est centrum mundi nec immobilis, sed secundum se totam movetur etiam motu diurno. Censura: omnes dixerunt hanc propositionem recipere eandem censuram in philosophia et spectando veritatem theologicam ad minus esse in fide erroneam..

The most famous consequence of this decision in the 17th century was the trial of Galileo (1633), who violated the church ban in his book “Dialogues on the Two Chief Systems of the World.”

Contrary to popular belief, the book of Copernicus itself " "was formally banned by the Inquisition for only 4 years, but was subject to censorship. In 1616 it was included in the Roman Index of Forbidden Books with the notation "until correction". The required censorship amendments that needed to be made by the owners of the book to allow further use were made public in 1620. These corrections mainly concerned statements that suggested that heliocentrism was not just a mathematical model, but a reflection of reality. Many copies of the first (Nuremberg,), second (Basel,) and third (Amsterdam,) editions have survived, belonging, in particular, to famous astronomers and other historical figures, in which the owners complied with censorship regulations with varying degrees of loyalty: from completely obscuring the required fragments Copernicus and inscriptions of the recommended text, until the instructions are completely ignored. About 2/3 of the surviving copies from Italy were corrected by their owners, while the vast majority of copies from other countries were not corrected. The Spanish index of banned books explicitly allowed the book. Interestingly, copies of the second and third editions were brought to China by Jesuit missionaries in 1618 during the formal prohibition. The book was removed from Rome's Index of Prohibited Books in 1835. .

Other advances in astronomy

Copernicus was one of the first to express the idea of universal gravitation. One of his letters says:

I think that heaviness is nothing more than a certain tendency with which the divine Builder bestowed upon the particles of matter so that they would unite in the shape of a ball. This property is probably possessed by the Sun, Moon and planets; These luminaries owe their spherical shape to him.

He confidently predicted that Venus and Mercury have phases similar to those of the Moon. After the invention of the telescope, Galileo confirmed this prediction.

Economy

Copernicus was the first to draw attention to a pattern known as the Copernicus-Gresham Law (also independently discovered by the English banker Thomas Gresham). According to this principle, money that is more stable in its exchange rate (for example, gold) will be forced out of circulation, as people will accumulate savings in it, and “worse” (for example, copper) money will participate in real circulation.

List of works

N.C. Meditata XV. Augusti anno domini MDXVII.,
Tractatus de monetis,
Monetae cudendae ratio,
De Revolutionibus Orbium Coelestium- Nuremberg, Germany:

Perpetuation of memory

Monuments

Named after Copernicus:

Notes

Literature

Essays

Copernicus Nicholas. On the rotation of the celestial spheres. Per. I. N. Veselovsky. M.: Nauka, 1964.

About him

Ambartsumyan V. A. Copernicus and modern astronomy. Report at the Anniversary meeting of the General Meeting of the USSR Academy of Sciences, dedicated to the 500th anniversary of the birth of N. Copernicus, March 6, 1973. “Bulletin of the USSR Academy of Sciences,” No. 5, 1973, pp. 46-56.
Akhutin A.V. Copernican innovation and the Copernican revolution. In the book: Akhutin A.V. Litigation about existence. M.: RFO, 1997, p. 181-243.
Bely Yu. A. Copernicus, Copernicanism and the Development of Natural Science. IAI, Vol. XII, p. 15.
Veselovsky I. N., Bely Yu. A. Copernicus, 1473-1543. M.: Nauka, 1974.
Gerasimenko M. P. Nicolaus Copernicus is an outstanding economist of the era of early capitalism. Kyiv: Publishing House of the Academy of Sciences of the Ukrainian SSR, 1953.
Grebenikov E. A. Nicolaus Copernicus. M.: Nauka, 1982.
Dmitriev I. S. The Temptation of Saint Copernicus: The Unscientific Roots of the Scientific Revolution. St. Petersburg University Publishing House, 2006.
Idelson N. I. Sketches on the history of celestial mechanics. M.: Nauka, 1975.
Levin A. The Man Who Moved the Earth // Popular mechanics. - 2009. - № 6.
Nicolaus Copernicus (1473-1543). To the four hundredth anniversary of his death. M.-L.: Publishing house. USSR Academy of Sciences, 1947.
Engelhardt M. A. Nicolaus Copernicus. In the book: Copernicus. Galileo. Kepler. Laplace and Euler. Quetelet. Biographical narratives (F. Pavlenkov library, volume 21, pp. 5-73). Chelyabinsk, "Ural", 1997.
Dmitriev I. S. The Temptation of Saint Copernicus: The Unscientific Roots of the Scientific Revolution. St. Petersburg University Publishing House, 2006.

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Ministry of Education and Science of the Russian Federation

Federal State Autonomous Educational Institution of Higher Professional Education

"Kazan (Volga Region) Federal University

Elabuga Institute of Kazan Federal University

Essay

Subject: " Philosophical views of Copernicus"

Completed by: Shaigardanova I.I.

Checked by: Gromov E.V.

Yelabuga, 2015

Introduction

The "greatest progressive revolution" was the Renaissance. This era was marked by great discoveries and the development of art and science. During this turning point, a person opens new horizons, tries to understand the whole world and himself in it. During the Renaissance, nature was not ignored. The leading direction of philosophical thought of the 16th century. becomes natural philosophy. The desire for in-depth and reliable knowledge of nature was reflected in the works of Leonardo da Vinci, Nicolaus Copernicus, Johannes Kepler, Giordano Bruno, Galileo Galilei. Their theoretical developments and experimental studies contributed not only to changing the world, but also ideas about science, about the relationship between theory and practice. My work examines the philosophical views of the Renaissance - Nicolaus Copernicus. He was one of the outstanding figures of philosophy during the Renaissance, who was the first to open the doors to the vast expanses of the Universe and establish the place of man in it. The relevance of this work lies in the analysis of the relationship between the philosopher and society, the penetration of new ideas, which is a problem at the present time.

The purpose of this essay was to analyze the philosophical ideas of Nicolaus Copernicus and identify their features.

Objectives of this work:

* study the philosophical views of N. Copernicus as a representative of natural philosophy of the Renaissance.

* characterize his cosmological views, identify their innovation.

Life of Nicolaus Copernicus

Nikolai Nikolaevich Copernicus (1473-1543) - Polish astronomer, creator of the heliocentric system of the world. He made a revolution in natural science, abandoning the doctrine of the central position of the Earth, accepted for many centuries. He explained the visible movements of the celestial bodies by the rotation of the Earth around its axis and the revolution of the planets (including the Earth) around the Sun. Copernicus outlined his teachings in his work “On the Revolutions of the Celestial Spheres” (1543), which was banned by the Catholic Church from 1616 to 1828.

Nicolaus Copernicus was born on February 19, 1473 in the Polish city of Toruń into the family of a merchant who came from Germany. He was the fourth child in the family. He most likely received his primary education at a school located near his home at the Church of St. John the Great.

Copernicus entered the University of Krakow in 1491, where he studied mathematics, medicine and theology with equal diligence, but he was especially attracted to astronomy. To continue his education, Copernicus went to Italy (1497) and entered the University of Bologna. In addition to theology, law and ancient languages, he had the opportunity to study astronomy there. However, in 1500 he left his studies and went to Rome, his homeland, Padua. It was possible to obtain the degree of Doctor of Canon Law in the biography of Nicolaus Copernicus only in 1503. In 1506, Copernicus received news, perhaps far-fetched, of his uncle's illness. He left Italy and returned to his homeland. He settled first in the city of Lidzbark, and then took the position of canon in Frombork, a fishing town at the mouth of the Vistula. He spent the next 6 years at the episcopal castle of Heilsberg, engaged in astronomical observations and teaching in Krakow. At the same time, he is a doctor, secretary and confidant of Uncle Lukash.

The astronomical observations begun by Copernicus in Italy were continued, albeit on a limited scale, in Lidzbark. But he deployed them with particular intensity in Frombork, despite the inconvenience due to the high latitude of this place, which made it difficult to observe the planets, and due to frequent fogs from the Vistula Lagoon, significant cloudiness and cloudy skies over this northern area.

The invention of the telescope was still a long way off, and the best instruments for pre-telescopic astronomy did not yet exist. With the help of instruments of that time, the accuracy of astronomical observations was brought to one or two minutes. The most famous instrument used by Copernicus was the triquetrum, a parallactic instrument. The second device used by Copernicus to determine the angle of inclination of the ecliptic, “horoscopes”, sundials, a type of quadrant.

In 1512, the uncle bishop died. Copernicus moved to Frombork, a small town on the shores of the Vistula Lagoon, where he had been listed as a canon all this time, and began his spiritual duties. However, he did not give up scientific research. The northwestern tower of the fortress became an observatory.

Already in the 1500s, the idea of a new astronomical system was quite clear to him. He began to write a book describing a new model of the world. During these years (ca. 1503-1512), Copernicus distributed a handwritten summary of his theory to friends ("Small Commentary on the Hypotheses Relating to the Celestial Motions"), and his student Rheticus published a clear exposition of the heliocentric system in 1539. Apparently, rumors of the new theory were already widespread in the 1520s. Work on the main work - “On the Rotation of the Celestial Spheres” - lasted almost 40 years, Copernicus constantly introduced clarifications into it, prepared new astronomical calculation tables.

Rumors about a new outstanding astronomer were spreading in Europe. There is a version, not supported by documents, that Pope Leo X invited Copernicus to take part in the preparation of the calendar reform (1514, implemented only in 1582), but he politely refused.

When necessary, Copernicus devoted his energy to practical work: according to his project, a new coin system was introduced in Poland, and in the city of Frombork he built a hydraulic machine that supplied water to all houses. Personally, as a doctor, he was involved in the fight against the plague epidemic of 1519. During the Polish-Teutonic War (1519-1521), he organized the successful defense of the bishopric from the Teutons.

In 1531, 58-year-old Copernicus retired and concentrated on finishing his book. At the same time, he practiced medicine (free of charge). The faithful Rheticus constantly worked for the speedy publication of Copernicus's work, but progress was slow. Fearing that the obstacles would prove insurmountable, Copernicus distributed among his friends a short summary of his work entitled “Small Commentary” (Commentariolus). In 1542, the scientist’s condition deteriorated significantly, and paralysis of the right half of the body occurred. Copernicus died on May 24, 1543 at the age of 70 from a stroke.

Philosophical views of Nicolaus Copernicus as a representative ofnatural philosophy of the Renaissance

Astronomy has been the most important applied and at the same time worldview natural science discipline almost from the very beginning of its emergence. During the Renaissance, the powerful impulses of astronomy, which contributed to the development of science and practice, came from the field of navigation, which acquired a worldwide scale and required increasingly precise orientation. The contradiction between the fundamental ideological, Aristotelian basis of the fundamental astronomical system and its applied significance given to it by Ptolemy developed more and more noticeably. The complex of astronomical knowledge received its most general expression in the geocentric system of Aristotle - Ptolemy, which had dominated since ancient times. The idea of geocentrism, emanating from Aristotle, was an organic expression of his teleological philosophical system, which required a finite cosmos, beyond which there was a divine prime mover. Aristotelian cosmology, being a necessary component of his physics, included ideas about the fundamental difference between sublunar, earthly matter, composed of four traditional elements - water, earth, air and fire, subject to continuous changes, and the unchanging celestial substance - ether; about the ideally circular and uniform movements of the Sun and planets around the Earth along special ethereal spheres; about the so-called intelligentsia - especially subtle intelligent spirits, who were seen as the main source of planetary movement, in the absence of a real understanding of the physical reasons for their movement in space.

Throughout the entire bright life of Nicolaus Copernicus, from his student years in Krakow to his last days, there is a main thread - the great work of establishing a new system of the world. Called to replace the fundamentally incorrect geocentric system of Ptolemy. The twenties accounted for a significant part of the astronomical results of N. Copernicus. It was possible to make many observations. So, around 1523, observing the planets at the moment of opposition, i.e. when the planet is in the point of the celestial sphere opposite to the Sun, Nicolaus Copernicus made an important discovery; he refuted the opinion that the position of planetary orbits in space remains stationary. The line of apses - a straight line connecting the points of the orbit at which the planet is closest to the Sun and most distant from it, changes its position compared to what was observed 1300 years earlier and recorded in Ptolemy's Almagest. Reflecting on the Ptolemaic system of the world, Copernicus was amazed at its complexity and artificiality and, studying the works of ancient philosophers, especially Niketas of Syracuse and Philolaus, he came to the conclusion that not the Earth, but the Sun should be the fixed center of the Universe. Based on this assumption, Copernicus very simply explained all the apparent intricacy of the movements of the planets, but, not yet knowing the true paths of the planets and considering them to be circles, he was forced to preserve the epicycles and deferents of the ancients to explain the unevenness of the movements.

Creating his heliocentric system, Copernicus relied on the mathematical and kinematic apparatus of Ptolemy’s theory, on the specific geometric and numerical patterns obtained by the latter. The heliocentric system in the Copernican version can be formulated in seven statements:

There is no single center for all celestial orbits or spheres.

The center of the Earth is not the center of the world, but only the center of gravity and the lunar orbit.

All spheres move around the Sun as around their center, as a result of which the Sun is the center of the whole world.

The ratio of the distance from the Earth to the Sun to the height of the firmament (that is, to the distance to the sphere of fixed stars) is less than the ratio of the radius of the Earth to the distance from it to the Sun, and the distance from the Earth to the Sun is negligible compared to the height of the firmament.

Any movement noticed in the firmament is not associated with any movement of the firmament itself, but with the movement of the Earth. The earth, together with the elements surrounding it (air and water), makes a complete revolution around its constant poles during the day, while the firmament and the sky located on it remain motionless.

What seems to us to be the movement of the Sun is actually connected with the movements of the Earth and our sphere, with which we revolve around the Sun, like any other planet. Thus, the Earth has more than one movement.

The apparent forward and backward movements of the planets are not caused by their movements, but by the movement of the Earth. Consequently, the motion of the Earth itself alone is sufficient to explain many apparent irregularities in the sky.

These seven theses clearly outline the contours of the future heliocentric system, the essence of which is that the Earth simultaneously moves around its axis and around the Sun. Thus, in Ptolemy’s model, all planets obeyed a general (albeit incomprehensible within the framework of geocentrism) law: the radius vector of any planet in the epicycle always coincided with the radius vector of the Earth - the Sun, and the movement along the epicycle for the upper planets (Mars, Jupiter, Saturn) and according to the deferent for the lower ones (Mercury, Venus) occurred with a single annual period for all planets. In the Copernican model, this law received a simple and logical explanation. These statements were completely contrary to the prevailing geocentric system at that time. Although, from a modern point of view, the Copernican model is not radical enough. All orbits in it are circular, the movement along them is uniform, so the epicycles were preserved (although there were fewer of them than in Ptolemy). The mechanism that ensured the movement of the planets was also left the same - the rotation of the spheres to which the planets were attached. Copernicus placed the sphere of fixed stars on the border of the world. Strictly speaking, Copernicus’s model was not even heliocentric, since he did not place the Sun at the center of the planetary spheres.

The immortal work of Nicolaus Copernicus" On the rotations of the celestial spheres"

... I often wondered if it was possible to find some more dietline combination of circles thatit would be possible explain all visible irregularities, and in such a way that every movement in itself was uniform, like this requires the principle of perfect motion. Copernicus philosophical heliocentric

Nicolaus Copernicus" Small comment"

By the beginning of the thirties, work on the creation of a new theory and its presentation in his work “On the Revolutions of the Celestial Spheres” (Latin: De revolutionibus orbium coelestium) was basically completed. The work was published in Nuremberg in 1543; it was printed under the supervision of Copernicus's best student, Rheticus. In the preface to the book, Copernicus writes: “By that time, the system of the world structure proposed by the ancient Greek scientist Claudius Ptolemy had existed for almost one and a half millennia. It consisted in the fact that the Earth rests motionless in the center of the Universe, and the Sun and other planets revolve around it.”

The first book (part) talks about the spherical shape of the world and the Earth, and instead of the position about the immobility of the Earth, another axiom is placed: the Earth and other planets rotate around an axis and revolve around the Sun. This concept is argued in detail, and the “opinion of the ancients” is convincingly refuted. From a heliocentric position, he easily explains the reciprocal motion of the planets.

Copernicus gave the Earth three rotations: the first - the rotation of the Earth around its axis with an angular velocity u; the second (at a speed of ?) - around the axis of the world, which is perpendicular to the plane of the earth’s orbit and passes through its center; the third (with the oppositely directed speed š??) - around an axis parallel to the axis of the world and passing through the center of the Earth. The last two rotations form (with exact coincidence of š? and š?? in magnitude) a pair of rotations equivalent to the translational motion of the Earth around the Sun in a circular orbit.

Memorial plaque at the printing house of Johann Petraeus in Nuremberg, where the first edition of Copernicus's book "De revolutionibus orbium coelestium" was published

The second part of Copernicus's work provides information on spherical trigonometry and rules for calculating the apparent positions of stars, planets and the Sun in the firmament.

The third talks about the annual movement of the Earth and the so-called precession of the equinoxes, which shortens the tropical year (from equinox to equinox) compared to the sidereal year (return to the same position relative to the fixed stars) and leads to a movement of the line of intersection of the equator with the ecliptic, which changes the ecliptic longitude of the star by one degree per century. Ptolemy's theory, in principle, could not explain this precession. Copernicus gave this phenomenon an elegant kinematic explanation (proving himself to be a very sophisticated mechanic): he suggested that the angular velocity not exactly equal to u?, but slightly different from it; the difference between these angular velocities is manifested in the precession of the equinoxes.

The fourth part talked about the Moon, the fifth about planets in general, and the sixth about the reasons for changes in the latitudes of the planets. The book also contained a star catalog, an estimate of the sizes of the Sun and Moon, distances to them and to the planets (close to true), and the theory of eclipses. It should be specially noted that the Copernican system (unlike the Ptolemaic system) made it possible to determine the ratios of the radii of planetary orbits. This fact, as well as the fact that in the description of the motion of the planets the first and most important epicycle was thrown out, made the Copernican system simpler and more convenient than the Ptolemaic one.

Let us dwell on one of Mikhailov’s remarks, made in a report at the same anniversary where Fok also spoke. Mikhailov writes: “Since the loops in the movements of the planets turned out to be a reflection of the circular motion of the Earth along its orbit, the size of these loops indicated the distance of the planets: the farther the planet, the smaller the loop it described. Based on this, Copernicus, with the help of impeccable geometric reasoning, was able to determine the distances of the planets for the first time from the Sun, expressed in units of its distance from the Earth<...>Copernicus gave a correct and accurate plan of the Solar system, drawn up on a single scale (my italics; the unit was orbis magnus - the radius of the earth's orbit. - S.T.), and the task of subsequent generations was to express all distances in earthly units (stadia, kilometers or other )".

Conclusion

In Renaissance philosophy, the main goal is objective knowledge of the world. The development of natural science made significant progress in the 16th century. Knowledge and reason come out of exile, where they were imprisoned by the medieval attitude to the primacy of faith over feelings, and feelings over reason. The world, the universe are infinite. In natural philosophy, the central place in the range of problems considered is given to the problem of the infinite. The infinity of the world is cognized by reason. During the Renaissance, N. Copernicus, creating a heliocentric system of the world, in fact shows the creative possibilities of the mind, which allows, through the identification and study of contradictions in the sphere of phenomena, to penetrate into the essence of things, which can be completely opposite to the phenomenon. So, Copernicus created the heliocentric system of the world. Its main ideas are as follows: The Earth is not the stationary center of the world, but rotates around its axis and at the same time around the Sun, which is in the center of the world. This discovery was revolutionary. It refuted the picture of the world that existed for more than a thousand years, which was based on the geocentric system of Aristotle and Ptolemy. But it took at least a century before Copernicus's heliocentric system was widely accepted. Only Kepler mastered the complete Copernican system. Copernicus, in the first book of his work “On the Rotations of the Celestial Spheres,” gave only an initial sketch of a picture of the solar system, in which each planetary sphere is depicted as a circle in the center of which was the Sun. This picture was wrong. It was created by Aristarchus of Samosok. However, this picture was corrected by Johannes Kepler; he replaced circles with ellipses, and instead of motion along a circle with a constant speed, he introduced motion with a constant sectorial speed. These two Kepler laws provided the basis on which modern celestial mechanics is built.

List of used literature

1. Antipova O.L. "Development of natural science in the Renaissance" [Electronic resource] - Access mode. - http://bibliofond.ru/view.aspx?id=134522 (access date: 01/02/2015).

2. K. Marx and F. Engels. Works, ed. II, vol. 21. - 785 p.

3. Copernicus, Nicholas (biography) [Electronic resource] - Access mode. --URL: https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Copernicus,_Nicholas (access date: 01/03/2015).

4. Levin A. The Man Who Moved the Earth // Popular Mechanics.-- 2009.-- No. 6.

5. Mikhailov A.A. Nicolaus Copernicus, his life and work // Nicolaus Copernicus. pp. 18, 20.

6. N. Copernicus. On the rotations of the celestial spheres, 1964, p. 553.

7. Nicolaus Copernicus - biography. [Electronic resource] - Access mode. --URL: http://to-name.ru/biography/nikolaj-kopernik.htm (access date: 01/02/2015).

8. Development of natural sciences. N. Copernicus, G. Bruno, G. Galileo. [Electronic resource] - Access mode. --URL:http://lib.kstu.kz:8300/tb/books/Filosofiya/t5gl2.htm (access date: 01/02/2015).

9. Engelhardt M.A. Nicolaus Copernicus. Chapter 4.

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Biography of Nicolaus Copernicus (1473-1543)

Short biography:

Education: University of Padua, University of Krakow, University of Ferrara, University of Bologna

Place of Birth: Toruń, Poland

A place of death: Frauenburg, Poland

– Polish astronomer, mathematician: biography with photos, main ideas and discoveries, contributions to science, heliocentric system of the world, the Sun in the center.

Accepted in modern times as the father of astronomy, he was born on February 19, 1473. starts in Toruń, Poland. He was the son of a successful merchant. After the death of his father, he was raised by his uncle, a wealthy Catholic bishop. It was his uncle who got Copernicus into the University of Krakow, which was famous at the time for its mathematical, philosophical and astronomical curricula. Copernicus later studied humanities in Bologna, medicine in Padua, and law at the University of Ferrarra. In 1500 he lectured on astronomy in Rome and in 1503 he graduated from Ferrara with the degree of Doctor of Canon Law. Soon after this, in 1507, Copernicus returned to Poland, where he was elected canonist of the church. He conscientiously fulfilled his ecclesiastical duties, but also practiced medicine, wrote a treatise on monetary reform, and eventually turned his attention to the topic of astronomy.

The interest in astronomy eventually developed into a major interest. During its biographies Nicolaus Copernicus he worked alone, without outside help or advice. All observations were made without the use of optical instruments, because the latter were invented only a hundred years later. Nicolaus Copernicus watched from a tower located on the protective wall surrounding the monastery. In 1530, Copernicus completed work on his first great work entitled “De Revolutionibus Orbium Coelestium” (On the Revolution of the Celestial Spheres). It was in this book that he argued that the Earth rotates on its axis once every day and travels around the Sun throughout the year. This was an unimaginably fantastic idea at the time. Before the time of Copernicus, thinkers in the Western world adhered to the Ptolemaic theory, according to which the universe was a closed space, limited by a spherical shell, beyond which there was nothing. They believed that the Earth was the center of the Universe and that the stars, planets and the Sun revolved around the stationary Earth. This was the famous geocentric (Earth-centered) theory. Copernicus was in no hurry to publish his book, as he was a perfectionist and believed that it was necessary to check and double-check his observations.

Thirteen years after it was written, in 1543, De Revolutionibus Orbium Coelestium was finally published. Unfortunately, Copernicus died later that year and did not learn about the great controversy he had created. It is said that he apparently received the first copy of his book on his deathbed when he died on May 24, 1543 in Frombork, Poland. His great book went against the philosophical and religious beliefs that were propagated in the Middle Ages. The Church argued that man was created by God in his own image and therefore is the next creature after him. That is, man is superior to all other creatures and was not at all part of the natural world. The Church feared that because of the teachings of Nicolaus Copernicus, people would believe that they were just part of the world, but not above it, which went against the theories of politically powerful churchmen of the time. His work forever changed man's place in outer space. The revelation of the heliocentric (sun-centered) theory marked the beginning of a scientific revolution and a new look at the picture of the Universe.

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