Copernicus' secret : how the scientific revolution began / Jack Repcheck.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Repcheck, Jack.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Copernicus, Nicolaus, 1473-1543.

Copernicus, Nicolaus.

Astronomers--Poland--Biography.

Astronomers.

Poland.

Astronomy, Medieval.

Genre:

Biographies.

Physical Description:

xvi, 239 pages, 8 unnumbered pages of plates : illustrations, maps ; 23 cm

Edition:

First Simon and Schuster hardcover edition.

Place of Publication:

New York : Simon & Schuster, 2007.

Summary:

Nicolaus Copernicus gave the world perhaps the most important scientific insight of the modern age, the theory that the earth and the other planets revolve around the sun, and that the earth rotates on its axis every 24 hours--nearly everyone then believed that a perfectly still earth rested in the middle of the cosmos, where all the heavenly bodies revolved around it. A transcendent genius, Copernicus was also a flawed and conflicted person. During the tumultuous years of the early Reformation, he may have been sympathetic to the teachings of the Lutherans. Supremely confident intellectually, he hesitated to disseminate his work--in fact, he kept it a secret, and the manuscript containing his theory, which he refined for at least twenty years, remained "hidden among my things." It might never have been published if not for the enthusiasm of a young mathematician who journeyed hundreds of miles to meet him.--From publisher description.

Contents:

1 Prelude to Future Troubles 1

2 The Precursors 11

3 Childhood 26

4 Student Years 39

5 Warmia 51

6 Before the Storm 68

7 The Death of the Bishop 81

8 The Mistress and the Frombork Wenches 89

9 The Taint of Heresy 101

10 The Catalyst 109

11 The Nuremberg Cabal 122

12 The Meeting 132

13 The First Summer 140

14 Convincing Copernicus 149

15 The Publication 159

16 The Death of Copernicus 170

17 Rheticus after Copernicus 174

18 The Impact of On the Revolutions 181

Notes and Select Sources 197

Suggested Additional Readings 215.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages 197-216) and index.

ISBN:

9780743289511

074328951X

OCLC:

144769776

Online:

Publisher description