May 6, 2006

Nicolaus Coperni- cus (1473-1543) was the first man to claim that the Earth revolved round the Sun, and not the other way round as was the general concept at the time. His theory was rejected by the church, although it did set the course for investigations that were later carried out.

The main contributions made by Copernicus included the establishment of the Copernicus system of astronomy and Reformation of Calendar. In addition, he wrote some books, including Revolutions of the Heavenly Spheres and Treatise on Currency.

Born in Poland, Copernicus was the son of a baker in the Polish village of Thorn, situated on the banks of the Vistula. History tells us that from his early childhood Copernicus was an avid stargazer.

As a child he inquisitively watched the Sun as it rolled along from morning to evening and at night he gazed at the innumerable stars that lit up the circular ceiling above. When he wanted to know more about these stars, the young astronomer asked his parents to enlighten him. They referred him to his uncle, the learned bishop Luke Wassilrode who sent him books on astronomy.

When Copernicus was ten years old his father died and he was put under the guardianship of his uncle Wassilrode. At the age of 18 he entered the University of Cracow and was taught by Prof Albert Brudzewski, one of the leading astronomers of the day. After receiving the “doctor’s cap” at Cracow, Copernicus decided to continue his studies in Italy where he devoted himself to medicine and astronomy.

By now, the good doctor had learned to paint not only the landscapes of the Earth but the constellations of the heavens as well. As a result, at the end of his three years of study he was awarded two degrees — medicine and philosophy. Surprisingly, he neither settled for medicine nor for philosophy. Instead, he was appointed to the chair of astronomy (1499) at the University of Rome.

In Rome he spent four years — a period marked by brilliant lectures and widespread fame. At that time, Copernicus was teaching astronomy in accordance with the Ptolemaic theory: a doctrine that placed the Earth at the centre of the universe and relegated the Sun and the stars to the position of satellites that moved around Earth. The Ptolemaic system had held its ground for 1500 years and seemed destined to stay.

The astronomers had observed that Ptolemaic explanation of the universe was not so simple as it had appeared first. For instance, they noticed that some of the stars kept changing places in relation to some of the other stars. These wandering stars or planets seemed to have a motion of their own.

One such planet, which the astronomers had named “Venus”, appeared at times to follow the setting Sun and at other times to precede the rising Sun. Another planet, Jupiter, made a leisurely journey over the sky in twelve years. Yet another planet, Mars made this journey in two years while Saturn took thirty years to complete the journey. Mercury also seemed to move around the sky independently of the rest of the stars.

Here was the Earth in the centre, surrounded by seven heavenly bodies — the moon, the five planets and the Sun — each set like a jewel in a moving sphere of its own. And beyond and above them all was the vast and all embarrassing sphere of the fixed stars. This, in brief, was the Ptolemaic system of astronomy: a succession of spheres fixed within spheres, and all of them rotating in different directions and different speeds around Earth.

But little by little, as time progressed, it became necessary for the astronomers to invent additional spheres and more complicated motions in order to explain eclipses of the Sun and of the moon and occasional “capricious” migration of a planet out of one sphere into another. By the late 15th and early 16th century, the number of planets and their motion had become confused beyond the comprehension of human mind. This was when astronomers turned to mysticism.

Such was the pseudo-scientific and semi-mystical astronomy as taught by Copernicus at the University of Rome. However, after three years of teaching, the astronomer and mathematician in him rebelled. In the course of his studies, he came across the philosophy of Pythagoras that the centre of the universe was not Earth but the Sun. In fact, the Earth was merely one of the stars that revolved around the Sun.

Unfortunately, this idea of Pythagoras’s was met with a lot of ridicule, notably by Aristotle. Copernicus, however, was impressed by it because it explained all the eclipses, all the positions and the motions of heavenly bodies. He regarded the theory as worth examining.

And so, Copernicus gave up his professorship at the University of Rome and entered the priesthood in the Polish village of Frauenburg. But even this did not exhaust his versatility and, not content with his spiritual ministration and medical care for the people, he continued his research activities. Copernicus continued to study the majesty of the heavens and became more and more convinced of the man’s insignificance.

He realised that the Earth was nothing but a speck of dust in the universe, that revolved around the massive Sun. Night after night he watched the stars from his mountaintop, and gradually he worked out the sublime theory, which to this day is known by his name: the Copernicus theory.

This theory accounts so accurately for all the inter-related movements and eclipses of the heavenly bodies that it is accepted today as a fact, even though it met with fierce resistance when it was first propounded. The theory explained that the Sun is in the centre of our universe, and our Earth revolves around it in a double motion — like a top spinning on its own axis and around a circular (oval in this case) track. This double motion explains the succession of the days and nights as well as the rotation of the seasons.

But the Earth is not the only planet that spins round the Sun. Other planets — Neptune, Uranus, Saturn, Jupiter, Mars, Venus, Mercury — also move around the Sun. Each of these planets revolves in its individual orbit, never swaying from its course, and never deviating by as much as a fraction of a second from the immutable time-table of the sky.

Every planet at every moment is to be found at its appointed place, every season arrives at its appointed time, and every motion of the heavenly body fulfils its appointed destiny. This, in the Copernicus system of astronomy, is the unerring eternal clockwork of the sky.

It took Copernicus over 30 years to elaborate and expand on this theory. He worked it out not only experimentally by means of his unaided senses (the telescope has not yet been discovered), but also mathematically by the calculations of his precise mind.

Copernicus, writes Clavius in his monumental work on the calendar, was the first to discover the exact duration of the year (actually Copernicus miscalculated the length of the year by 28 seconds).

While Copernicus was at work on his astronomical theory, he corresponded about it with the leading scientists of Europe. Again and again he hesitated to publish the results of his studies — believing as he wrote that it would be wise to follow the example of Pythagoreans who left nothing in writing but communicated their observations orally, and then only to those who were intelligent enough to understand them.

In this hesitation, Copernicus displayed perhaps a greater degree of prudence than of patience. It is possible that for a long time he was afraid to publish his book. Not because of the possible peril to his life but because of the danger to his theory. Unless and until he could substantiate his theory with sufficient support of corroborative evidence, he felt that he would be merely bringing a premature idea into a hostile world.

He dreaded to see this precious idea destroyed before it had a chance to become established. Finally, however, his evidence was complete and he was ready to present his new system of the universe — not as a hypothesis but as a fact. Too old to attend the publication of the book himself, he passed the manuscript to his friend, Georg Joachim Rheticus, the bishop of Culm. The book was issued in the spring of 1543.

Unfortunately, when the book came off the press, Copernicus was unable to go through his valuable contribution, as he was already nearing his death. He had suffered a massive paralytic attack some weeks earlier, which had left his body immobile.

The great thinker, astronomer and philosopher died on May 24, 1543, a few days after the publication of his indelible work.

The writer is a former chief scientific officer of the PCSIR Laboratories, Karachi