NASA HISTORY: Revolutionary Astronomer Nicolaus Copernicus Was Born In 1473

By  //  February 19, 2016

ABOVE VIDEO: Nicolaus Copernicus – Mini Biography (TV-PG; 2:41) Astronomer Nicolaus Copernicus identified the concept of a heliocentric solar system, in which the sun, rather than the earth, is the center of the solar system.

(NASA) – On this day (February 19) in 1473, revolutionary astronomer Nicolaus Copernicus was born.

Copernicus, in formulating a heliocentric model of the universe, provided the ignition for one of the most significant scientific revolutions in history—the aptly named Copernican Revolution.

Un-tethered from the geocentric dogma of his times, Copernicus was able to start with a fresh slate and develop a more elegant heliocentric system of concentric circles, planetary orbits.

Copernicus’s work, though not initially superior to the geocentric model in its predictive power, gained a firmer foundation when Galileo observed Jupiter’s moons in 1610.

He was an exemplary scientist who became aware of his erroneous assumptions and, in doing so, sparked a major mental shift in the collective human awareness of our world.

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On this day (February 19) in 1473, revolutionary astronomer Nicolaus Copernicus was born. (Image for SpaceCoastDaily)