Copernicus

From Slackerpedia Galactica

a.k.a. Nicolaus Copernicus, Mikolaj Kopernik, Nicolaus Koppernigk and Copperknickers.

A 16th century astronomer often criticized for not publishing enough of his research. His Commentariolus was only circulated amongst his friends leaving De revolutionibus orbium coelestium as his only contribution to the scientific discourse of the day. De revolutionibus, for short, started a revolution in the science of astronomy by suggesting that it was the Earth that revolved around the Sun (a.k.a. a heliocentric system), rather than continuing the assumption that the entire Universe revolved around a small group of creatures on the Earth - the Catholic Church.

Copernicus sought to simplify the system that had been constructed by the ancient Greeks, most notably Ptolemy, that utilized such archaic devices as epicycles and deferents (a.k.a. circles) to explain planetary motion. In the Commentariolus, Copernicus hoped to build a system with "only" 34 circles, but things changed by the time De revolutionibus reached the public. Although counting the total number of circles in the final Copernican vision of the Universe is difficult, it appears that it was no less cumbersome than the geocentric baggage mankind had been carrying with them for a few thousand years.

Ultimately, the heliocentric model seems to be the correct one, although it should be noted that all of the perfect circles should be thrown out and replaced with one elliptical orbit for each planet.