COPERNIUS, Nicholas (German: Nikolas Koppernigk, Polish: Miko?aj Kopernik, Latin: Nicolaus Copernicus; 1473–1543), astronomer, canon 714 We will consider the Sun to occupy the center of the world. “On the revolutions (On the rotations) of the celestial spheres” (1543), book. I, ch. 9; lane I. N. Veselovsky? Copernicus N. On the rotations of the celestial spheres... - M., 1964, p.

From the words of Copernicus we can conclude that already in 1506-1508 he developed that harmonious system of views on movement in the solar system, which constitutes, as they now say, the heliocentric system of the world.

But as a true scientist, Nicolaus Copernicus could not limit himself to expressing hypotheses, but devoted many years of his life to obtaining the clearest and most convincing evidence of his statements. Using the achievements of mathematics and astronomy of his time, he gave his revolutionary views on the kinematics of the Solar system the character of a strictly substantiated, convincing theory. It should be noted that at the time of Copernicus, astronomy did not yet have methods that could directly prove the rotation of the Earth around the Sun (such a method appeared almost two hundred years later).

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 position, Copernicus very simply explained all the apparent confusion of the movements of the planets, but, not yet knowing the true paths of the planets and considering them to be circles, he was still forced to preserve the epicycles and deferents of the ancients to explain the unevenness of movements.

The main and almost only work of Copernicus, the fruit of more than 40 years of his work, is De revolutionibus orbium coelestium("On the circulation of the celestial spheres"). The work was published in Nuremberg in 1543; it is divided into 6 parts (books) and was printed under the supervision of Copernicus’s best student, Rheticus.

In the preface to the book, Copernicus writes: “Considering how absurd this teaching must seem, I for a long time did not dare 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 ".

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.

The fifth is about planets in general.

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.

The heliocentric system in the Copernican version can be formulated in seven statements:

• · Orbits and celestial spheres do not have a common center.
• · The center of the Earth is not the center of the universe, but only the center of mass and the orbit of the Moon.
• · All planets move in orbits centered on the Sun, and therefore the Sun is the center of the world.
• · The distance between the Earth and the Sun is very small compared to the distance between the Earth and the fixed stars.
• · The diurnal movement of the Sun is imaginary, and is caused by the effect of the rotation of the Earth, which rotates once every 24 hours around its axis, which always remains parallel to itself.
• · The Earth (together with the Moon, as well as other planets) revolves around the Sun, and therefore the movements that the Sun seems to make (the daily movement, as well as the annual movement when the Sun moves through the Zodiac) are nothing more than the effect of movement Earth.
• · This motion of the Earth and other planets explains their positions and the specific characteristics of planetary motion.

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 the orbits in it are circular, the movement along them is uniform, so the epicycles had to be retained - although there were fewer of them than in Ptolemy. The mechanism of rotation of the planets is also left the same - the rotation of the spheres to which the planets are attached. But then the Earth’s axis must rotate during its annual rotation, describing a cone; to explain the change of seasons, Copernicus had to introduce a third (reverse) rotation of the Earth around an axis perpendicular to the ecliptic, which he also used to explain the reason for the anticipation of the equinoxes.

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 real motion of the planets, especially Mars, is not circular or uniform, and contrived epicycles are unable to reconcile the model with observations for a long time. Because of this, Copernicus' tables, initially more accurate than Ptolemy's, soon diverged significantly from observations, which greatly puzzled and cooled the enthusiastic supporters of the new system. Exact heliocentric ( Rudolfovs) tables were published later by Johannes Kepler, who discovered the true shape of the planets’ orbits (ellipse), and also recognized and mathematically expressed the unevenness of their motion.

Yet Copernicus's model of the world was a colossal step forward and a crushing blow to archaic authorities. The reduction of the Earth to the level of an ordinary planet definitely prepared (contrary to Aristotle) ​​the Newtonian combination of earthly and heavenly natural laws.

His book contains theorems from planimetry and trigonometry (including spherical), necessary for the author to construct a theory of planetary motion based on the heliocentric system.

Nicolaus Copernicus very beautifully and convincingly proves that the Earth is spherical, citing both the arguments of ancient scientists and his own. Only in the case of a convex earth, when moving along any meridian from north to south, the stars located in the southern part of the sky rise above the horizon, and the stars located in the northern part of the sky descend towards the horizon or completely disappear below the horizon. But, as Copernicus quite correctly notes, only in the case of a spherical Earth, movements at the same distance along different meridians correspond to the same changes in the heights of celestial bodies above the horizon.

All the works of Nicolaus Copernicus are based on a single principle, free from the prejudices of geocentrism and which amazed the scientists of that time. This is the principle of relativity of mechanical movements, according to which all movement is relative. The concept of motion has no meaning if the reference system (coordinate system) in which it is considered is not chosen.

Copernicus’s original considerations regarding the size of the visible part of the universe are also interesting: “The sky is immeasurably large in comparison with the Earth and represents an infinitely large value; according to the assessment of our feelings, the Earth in relation to it is like a point to a body, and in size as finite to infinite.” From this it is clear that Copernicus held the correct views on the size of the Universe, although he explained the origin of the world and its development by the activity of divine forces.

Copernicus's theory reveals that only the heliocentric system of the world provides a simple explanation for the fact why the magnitude of the forward and backward motion of Saturn relative to the stars is less than that of Jupiter, and that of Jupiter is less than that of Mars, but the number of changes of direct motion per revolution is Saturn's retrogrades are larger than those of Jupiter, and Jupiter's are larger than those of Mars. If the Sun and Moon always move in the same direction among the stars from west to east, then the planets sometimes move in the opposite direction.

Copernicus gave an absolutely correct explanation for this interesting and mysterious phenomenon. Everything is explained by the fact that the Earth, in its movement around the Sun, catches up and overtakes the outer planets Mars, Jupiter, Saturn (and the later discovered Uranus, Neptune and Pluto), and itself, in turn, also becomes overtaken by the inner planets, Venus and Mercury, for that reason that they all have different angular velocities relative to the Sun.

Concluding the description of the work of Copernicus, I would like to emphasize once again the main natural scientific significance of Copernicus’ great work “On the Rotations of the Celestial Spheres”, which lies in the fact that its author, having abandoned the geocentric principle and adopted a heliocentric view of the structure of the solar system, discovered and learned the truth of the real world ,

Contents of the book “On the revolution of the celestial spheres”

Copernicus turned 66 years old. Far beyond Frombork he was respected as a doctor and scientist. The manuscript of the book De revolutionibus orbium coelestium (“On the revolution of the celestial spheres”) was basically ready, but, fearing being misunderstood, Copernicus was in no hurry to publish it.

At the University of Wittenberg there was a circle of scientists who were interested in astronomy, which included teachers Krutzinger, Reingold and Rheticus. They had heard about Copernicus' theory and became seriously interested in it, but the information available about it was unreliable and incomplete. Since Copernicus did not publish his works, the idea arose to visit the scientist in Frombork and find out the details of his work.

Rheticus arrived in Frombork in May 1539, expecting to stay with Copernicus for a couple of months, but stayed with him for almost two years. Joachim succumbed to the charm of the scientist’s intellect and immediately appreciated the scientific feat performed by the Warmian hermit. And what Copernicus liked about Rheticus was the energy and passion for science. Rheticus, under the guidance of Copernicus, immersed himself in the study of the manuscript and became his constant interlocutor. He gave the elderly scientist something that Copernicus had been deprived of all his life - the opportunity to discuss scientific problems with a person who deeply understood the essence of the matter. Rheticus passionately urged Copernicus to publish his work, and the scientist finally decided to publish the book.

In the preface to the book, Copernicus writes: “Considering how absurd this teaching must seem, I for a long time did not dare 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. " Copernicus N. On the rotations of the celestial spheres. Small comment. Message against Werner. Uppsala record / N. Copernicus; Translation by I.N. Veselovsky. - M.: Nauka, 1964. - P.431. The astronomer believed that the development of a hypothesis must certainly be brought to numbers, moreover, to tables, so that the data obtained with its help could be compared with the actual movements of the luminaries.

In structure, Copernicus's main work almost repeats the Almagest in a somewhat abbreviated form (6 books instead of 13). At the beginning of the book, Copernicus, following Ptolemy, sets out the basics of operations with angles on a plane and, most importantly, on a sphere, related to spherical trigonometry. Here the scientist introduced a lot of new things into this science, acting as an outstanding mathematician and calculator. Among other things, Copernicus gives a table of sines (though he does not use this name) in increments of ten minutes of arc. But it turns out that this is only an excerpt from more extensive and accurate tables that he calculated for his calculations. Their pitch is one minute of arc and their precision is seven decimal places! For these tables, Copernicus needed to calculate 324 thousand quantities. This part of the work and detailed tables were later published as a separate book.

The book “On Rotations” contains descriptions of astronomical instruments, as well as a new, more accurate than Ptolemy’s, catalog of fixed stars. It deals with the apparent motion of the Sun, Moon and planets. Since Copernicus used only circular uniform motions, he had to spend a lot of effort searching for ratios of the size of the system that would describe the observed movements of the luminaries.

In the modern edition, these books have the following content:

first book in chapters 1-11, he criticizes the main provisions of Ptolemy's geocentric system, substantiates the sphericity of the Earth, the infinite distance of the firmament and describes the heliocentric system, introducing three types of Earth movement - daily rotation, annual revolution around the Sun and annual declination movement of the Earth's rotation axis, designed to maintain the direction of this axis fixed; chapters 12-14 contain geometric theorems in planimetry, plane and spherical trigonometry;

second book also consists of 14 chapters and is devoted to spherical astronomy, the main circles and points on the celestial sphere are defined here - the equator, meridian, ecliptic, horizon, etc. Visible phenomena associated with the daily and annual movement of the Earth are explained here. The second book is accompanied by a catalog of 1025 stars, indicating their apparent magnitudes, as well as longitude and latitude with an accuracy of 5";

V third book explains the apparent movement of the Sun and the precession of the Earth's axis, which is indicated at 50.20 "/year. To describe the annual movement of the Earth around the Sun, the theory of the eccentric (deferent with an epicycle) was introduced, and the center of the Earth's orbit revolves with a period of 3434 years around a certain point, which in in turn revolves around the center of the Sun in 50,000 years, which made it possible to indicate the length of the tropical year with an accuracy of 29 seconds;

V fourth book in Chapters 1-17, an epicyclic theory of the motion of the Moon is constructed, which in terms of the accuracy of angular motion is comparable to the eccentric-equant theory of Ptolemy in its modern edition, but superior to the latter in terms of the parameters of the Moon’s orbit. Chapters 18-22 present the theory of lunar and solar eclipses;

V fifth book 36 chapters outline the theory of the apparent motion of the planets (Saturn, Jupiter, Mars, Venus and Mercury) in longitude, which is composed of two movements - the Earth around the Sun, called parallactic motion, and the proper motion of the planets around the Sun, which is described by the theory of the eccentric with an epicycle.

The theory constructed explains the apparent retrograde motion of the planets, which is why the planets are named wandering luminaries. In the fifth book, the angular parameters of the heliocentric motion of Jupiter, Saturn and Mars are indicated with enormous actual accuracy (0.001%);

V sixth book 9 chapters outline the theory of the apparent latitudinal motion of the planets, based on the idea of ​​uniform fluctuations in the inclination of the eccentric of the planets to the ecliptic. Here are the inclinations of the outer planets' orbits to the ecliptic, which in relation to Jupiter and Saturn are less accurate than in theory Ptolemy in its modern edition;

Copernicus's book On the Revolutions of the Celestial Spheres had an anonymous preface written by the Lutheran theologian Osiander. The latter, wanting to veil the direct contradictions between the Bible and the teachings of Copernicus, tried to present it only as an “amazing hypothesis”, not related to reality, but simplifying calculations.

However, the true significance of the Copernican system, not only for astronomy, but for science in general, was soon widely understood.

The heliocentric system in the Copernican version is formulated in seven statements:

• - Orbits and celestial spheres do not have a common center.
• - The center of the Earth is not the center of the universe, but only the center of mass and the orbit of the Moon.
• - All planets move in orbits centered on the Sun, and therefore the Sun is the center of the world.
• - The distance between the Earth and the Sun is very small compared to the distance between the Earth and the fixed stars.
• - The daily movement of the Sun is imaginary, and is caused by the effect of the rotation of the Earth, which rotates once every 24 hours around its axis, which always remains parallel to itself.
• - The Earth (together with the Moon, like other planets) revolves around the Sun, and therefore the movements that the Sun seems to make (the daily movement, as well as the annual movement when the Sun moves through the Zodiac) are nothing more than the effect of movement Earth.
• - This movement of the Earth and other planets explains their location and the specific characteristics of the movement of the planets.

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. Yet Copernicus's model of the world was a colossal step forward and a crushing blow to archaic authorities. The reduction of the Earth to the level of an ordinary planet definitely prepared (contrary to Aristotle) ​​the Newtonian combination of earthly and heavenly natural laws. Since the Earth lost its central position and became the same as all the other planets observed in the sky, the churchmen’s statement about the opposition of “earthly” and “heavenly” lost its meaning. Man has ceased to be the “crown of creation.”

Figuratively speaking, we can say that before Copernicus, people were fenced off from space by a blank wall. Copernicus made a wide gate in this wall through which the human mind rushed into the abyss of the Universe.
Before the publication of his main work, “On the Rotations of the Celestial Spheres,” Copernicus compiled a brief handwritten summary of the heliocentric system of the world called “Commentariolus,” i.e. The Small Commentary, and in printed form, the foundations of Copernicus' theory were first published in 1540 by Copernicus's student Rheticus in a pamphlet entitled The First Narrative. All these works were written in Latin.
This is the first time that Copernicus' work has been published in Russian in its entirety. Translations of the “Small Commentary” and “First Narrative” are also published along with it.

ContentsFrom the editors (5).
ABOUT THE ROTATIONS OF THE HEAVENLY SPHERES
To the Most Holy Sovereign, Pontifex Maximus Paul III, preface by Nicolaus Copernicus to books on rotations (11).
Book one
Introduction (16).
Chapter I. About the fact that the world is spherical (18).
Chapter II. That the Earth is also spherical (18).
Chapter III. About how the earth and water form a single ball (19).
Chapter IV. That the motion of celestial bodies is eternal, uniform and circular or composed of circular motions (20).
Chapter V. About whether circular motion is characteristic of the Earth, and about the place of the Earth (22).
Chapter VI. On the immeasurability of the sky compared to the size of the Earth (23).
Chapter VII. Why did the ancients believe that the Earth is motionless in the middle of the world and is, as it were, its center (25).
Chapter VIII. Refutation of the above arguments and their inconsistency (26).
Chapter IX. About whether several movements can be attributed to the Earth, and about the center of the world (30).
Chapter X. On the order of celestial orbits (30).
Chapter XI. Proof of the triple motion of the Earth (36).
Chapter XII. On straight lines subtended by arcs (41).
Chapter XIII. On the sides and angles of plane rectilinear triangles (57).
Chapter XIV. On spherical triangles (60).
Book two
Chapter 1. About circles and their names (72).
Chapter II. About the inclination of the zodiac, the distance of the tropics and how they are determined (73).
Chapter III. About the arcs and angles between the intersecting circles - the equinox, the zodiac and the meridian, by which declination and right ascension are determined, and about their calculation (75).
Chapter IV. About how one can find the declination and right ascension of any luminary located outside the circle and passing along the midline of the zodiac, if the latitude and longitude of the luminary are known, as well as with what degree of the zodiac this luminary divides the sky in half (82).
Chapter V. About sections of the horizon (83).
Chapter VI. About what are the differences between midday shadows (84).
Chapter VII. About how the mutual relationship between the magnitude of the longest day, the latitude of the place of sunrise and the inclination of the sphere is determined, as well as about other differences between days (85).
Chapter VIII. About the hours and divisions of day and night (94).
Chapter IX. About the oblique ascension of the degrees of the zodiac and how for each ascending degree the one that divides the sky in half is determined (94).
Chapter X. On the angle of intersection of the zodiac with the horizon (96).
Tables of the ascensions of signs and angles made by the zodiac with the horizon (98).
Chapter XI. About the use of these tables (102).
Chapter XII. On the angles and arcs drawn through the poles of the horizon to the same circle of the zodiac (102).
Chapter XIII. About the rising and setting of stars (103).
Chapter XIV. On the determination of the places of stars and the tabular description of the fixed stars (105).
Catalog of zodiac signs and stars (110).
Book three
Chapter I. On the anticipation of the equinoxes and solstices (158).
Chapter II. History of observations proving the unevenness of the anticipation of equinoxes and solstices (160).
Chapter III. Assumptions that can explain the change in the equinoxes and the inclination of the zodiac to the equinoctial circle (162).
Chapter IV. About how oscillatory, or librational, motion is composed of circular ones (165).
Chapter V. Proof of the unevenness of the movements preceding the equinoxes and changing the inclination (166).
Chapter VI. On the uniform movements of the anticipation of the equinoxes and the inclination of the zodiac (168).
Chapter VII. About what is the greatest difference between the average and visible anticipation of the equinoxes (176).
Chapter VIII. On the particular values ​​of the differences of the indicated movements and the compilation of their tables (178).
Chapter IX. On clarification and correction of everything stated regarding the anticipation of the equinoxes (181).
Chapter X. About what is the greatest value of the difference between the angle in the section of the equinoctial circle and the zodiac (182).
Chapter XI. On the establishment of the epochs of mean movements of the equinoxes and anomalies (183).
Chapter XII. On the calculation of the anticipation of the vernal equinox and the inclination of the zodiacal circle (185).
Chapter XIII. On the size and differences of the solar year (187).
Chapter XIV. On uniform and average motions in revolutions of the Earth's center (191).
Chapter XV. Preliminary theorems for determining the inequality of the apparent motion of the Sun (199).
Chapter XVI. On the apparent inequality of the Sun (204).
Chapter XVII. Definition of the first, or annual, solar inequality with its special meanings (207).
Chapter XVIII. On the refinement of uniform motion along longitude (208).
Chapter XIX. On establishing the starting points for the uniform motion of the Sun (210).
Chapter XX. About the second and double inequality, which results from changes in the apses of the Sun (211).
Chapter XXI. About what is the value of the second difference of the solar inequality (214).
Chapter XXII. About how the average motion of the solar apogee is determined along with the uneven one (216).
Chapter XXIII. On correcting the solar anomaly and establishing its starting points (216).
Chapter XXIV. Compiling a table of inequalities of average and apparent motion (217).
Chapter XXV. On calculating the apparent position of the Sun (220).
Chapter XXVI. About????????????, that is, about the differences in natural days (221).
Book Four
Chapter I. Assumptions about the circles of the moon according to the opinion of the ancients (225).
Chapter II. On the shortcomings of the above assumptions (227).
Chapter III. Another opinion about the movement of the Moon (229).
Chapter IV. On the rotations of the Moon and its special movements (231).
Chapter V. Explanation of the first inequality in the movement of the Moon, which occurs at new and full moons (240).
Chapter VI. Verification of what has been stated regarding the mean movements of the Moon in longitude, as well as anomalies (247).
Chapter VII. About the starting points for lunar longitude and anomaly (247).
Chapter VIII. About the second inequality of the Moon and what relation the first epicycle has to the second (248).
Chapter IX. About the last inequality with which the Moon appears to move unevenly from the upper apse of the epicycle (250).
Chapter X. How the apparent motion of the Moon is determined by means of given uniform motions (251).
Chapter XI. Compilation of prostapheresis tables, or lunar equations (253).
Chapter XII. On the calculation of lunar motion (257).
Chapter XIII. About how the movement of the latitude of the Moon is studied and determined (258).
Chapter XIV. About the epochs of the anomaly of the Moon's motion along latitude (260).
Chapter XV. The device of the parallactic instrument (262).
Chapter XVI. About how the parallactic displacements of the Moon are determined (263).
Chapter XVII. Determination of the distance of the Moon from the Earth and how it is expressed in parts, if the distance from the center of the Earth to the surface is taken as one part (265).
Chapter XVIII. On the diameter of the Moon and the earth's shadow at the place where the Moon passes (267).
Chapter XIX. About how the distances of the Sun and Moon from the Earth, their diameters and shadows at the place of passage of the Moon, as well as the axis of the shadow are simultaneously determined (268).
Chapter XX. About the size of the three mentioned luminaries - the Sun, the Moon and the Earth - and about their relationships (271).
Chapter XXI. About the apparent diameter of the Sun and its parallactic displacements (271).
Chapter XXII. On the unevenness of the apparent diameter of the Moon and its parallactic displacements (272).
Chapter XXIII. On the extent of change in the earth's shadow (273).
Chapter XXIV. Compiling a table of various values ​​of the parallactic displacements of the Sun and Moon for a circle passing through the poles of the horizon (274).
Chapter XXV. On calculating the parallax of the Sun and Moon (280).
Chapter XXVI. About how parallaxes differ in longitude and latitude (281).
Chapter XXVII. Confirmation of what has been stated regarding lunar parallaxes (283).
Chapter XXVIII. About average conjunctions and oppositions of the Moon and the Sun (284).
Chapter XXIX. On the study of true conjunctions and oppositions of the Sun and Moon (287).
Chapter XXX. About how ecliptic conjunctions or oppositions of the Sun and Moon differ from others (288).
Chapter XXXI. About what the magnitude of the eclipse of the Sun or Moon will be (289).
Chapter XXXII. To predict the duration of an eclipse (290).
Book five
Chapter I. On the revolutions and mean motions of the planets (293).
Chapter II. Explanation of the mean and apparent motions of the planets according to the opinion of the ancients (306).
Chapter III. General explanation of apparent irregularity due to the motion of the Earth (307).
Chapter IV. About how the proper motions of the planets can appear uneven (309).
Chapter V. Explanation of the motion of Saturn (312).
Chapter VI. About the three other recently observed acronychial positions of Saturn (316).
Chapter VII. On checking the motion of Saturn (321).
Eyes VIII. On establishing the initial positions of Saturn (322).
Chapter IX. About the parallactic revolutions of Saturn, resulting from the annual motion of the Earth in its orbit, and about its distance from the Sun (322).
Chapter X. Determination of the motion of Jupiter (324).
Chapter XI. About three other recently observed acronichic positions of Jupiter (327).
Chapter XII. Confirmation of calculations of the mean motion of Jupiter (332).
Chapter XIII Establishment of the starting points of the movement of Jupiter (332).
Chapter XIV. On the determination of the parallactic movements of Jupiter and its height in relation to the earth's orbit (333).
Chapter XV. About the planet Mars (335).
Chapter XVI. About three other recently observed oppositions of the planet Mars (338).
Chapter XVII. Confirmation of the calculation of the movement of Mars (341).
Chapter XVIII. Establishing starting points for Mars (341).
Chapter XIX. About the magnitude of the orbit of Mars, expressed in parts, one of which is the “radius” of the annual orbit of the Earth (342).
Chapter XX. About the planet Venus (344).
Chapter XXI. About what is the ratio of the diameters of the orbits of Venus and Earth (346).
Chapter XXII. On the dual movement of Venus (347).
Chapter XXIII. On the study of the movement of Venus (348).
Chapter XXIV. About the starting points of the Venus anomaly (352).
Chapter XXV. About Mercury (352).
Chapter XXVI. On the position of the upper and lower apses of Mercury (355).
Chapter XXVII. About what is the eccentricity of Mercury and what is the proportionality of its orbits (356).
Chapter XXVIII. For what reason the deflections of Mercury near the hexagonal aspects seem greater than those obtained at perigee (359).
Chapter XXIX. Study of the mean motion of Mercury (360).
Chapter XXX. About recent observations of the motion of Mercury (362).
Chapter XXXI. On establishing the starting points for Mercury (368).
Chapter XXXII. About some other representation of approaching and moving away (368).
Chapter XXXIII. About the tables of prostapheresis of the five planets (370).
Chapter XXXIV. About how the positions of the five planets in longitude are calculated (381).
Chapter XXXV. On the stationary and retrograde movements of the five wandering luminaries (382).
Chapter XXXVI. About how times, places and arcs of retrograde movements are determined (385).
Book six
Chapter I. General information about the movements of the five planets in latitude (388).
Chapter II. Suggestions about the circles in which these planets move in latitude (390).
Chapter III. About the inclination of the orbits of Saturn, Jupiter and Mars (395).
Chapter IV. On the calculation of the latitudes of these three luminaries in other positions and in general (397).
Chapter V. About the latitudes of Venus and Mercury (398).
Chapter VI. About the second deviation of Venus and Mercury in latitude due to the inclination of their orbits at apogee and perigee (401).
Chapter VII. About what the liquation angles are for each planet - Venus and Mercury (403).
Chapter VIII. About the third type of latitude of Venus and Mercury, which is called deviation (406).
Chapter IX. On calculating the latitudes of the five planets (415).
SMALL COMMENT. THE MESSAGE OF COPERNICUS AGAINST WERNER. UPSAL RECORDING
Nicolaus Copernicus has a short commentary on the hypotheses he established about the celestial movements (419).
On the order of the spheres (420).
On the visible movements of the Sun (421).
That the uniformity of motion should be determined in relation not to the equinoxes, but to the fixed stars (422).
About the moon (423).
About the three upper planets - Saturn, Jupiter and Mars (424).
About Venus (427).
About Mercury (429).
Epistle of Copernicus against Werner (431).
Uppsala record (438).
Notes (458).
APPLICATIONS
From the translator (469).
A.A. Mikhailov. Nicolaus Copernicus. Biographical sketch (471).
George Joachim Rheticus on the books of rotations of Nicolaus Copernicus, first narrative to John Schoener (488).
On the motion of the fixed stars (489).
General considerations regarding the year counted from the equinox (491).
On the change in the inclination of the ecliptic (493).
On the eccentricity and motion of the apogee of the Sun (494).
That, according to the movement of the eccentric, world monarchies are replaced (495).
Special consideration of the size of the year counted from the equinoxes (498).
General considerations about the movements of the Moon together with new hypotheses of Mr. Mentor (502).
The main reasons why one should deviate from the hypotheses of ancient astronomers (505).
Proceed to listing new hypotheses of all astronomy (508).
Location of the Universe (509).
About what movements correspond to the Great Circle and those associated with it. Three movements of the Earth - daily, annual and declination (513).
About librations (517).
The second part of hypotheses about the movements of the five planets (522).
Hypotheses about the motion of five planets in longitude (526).
On the manner in which the planets appear to deviate from the ecliptic (533).
Praise of Prussia (540).

Price Realized: $2,210,500

Copernicus, Nicolaus. De revolutionibus orbium coelestium, libri VI. Nuremberg: Johann Petreius, 1543. 202 leaves. 148 woodcut diagrams, including 6 repeats (Gingerich count), tables of calculations, ornamental woodcut initials in part attributed to Hans Sebald Beham, some Greek. Bound in c/parchment of the era. 4o (270x204 mm.).PMM 70.

Care: $2,210,500. Christie's auction. Important Scientific Books: The Richard Green Library. June 17, 2008. New York, Rockefeller Plaza. Lot No. 60.

On the monument to Nicolaus Copernicus in Warsaw the words are carved:"He stopped the Sun and moved the Earth."

More care:

Price Realized: $1 067 950

Care: £662,500. Auction Christie's Valuable Manuscripts and Printed Books. November 20, 2013. London. Queen's Street. Lot No. 110.

Treatise of Nicolaus Copernicus

On the first day of creation, God, as is known, separated light from darkness, on the second - he took up the structure of the Earth; then on the firmament of heaven he strengthened the Sun, the Moon, the stars... This is what the Bible says, reflecting the ideas and beliefs of the ancients, who thought that our planet Earth was motionless and that it was the center of the entire Universe. The ancient Greek scientist Claudius Ptolemy also placed the Earth at the center of the Universe. Ptolemy’s main work, “The Great Construction of Astronomy in the XIII Books,” known in medieval Europe under the name “Almagest,” served until the 16th century. a model for the presentation of astronomical knowledge. The Church adopted Ptolemy's teaching about the immobility of the Earth. Any other idea about the structure of the Universe was considered “ungodly.” In the fourteen centuries that passed from the writing of the Almagest to Copernicus, not a single astronomical discovery of primary importance was made. Astronomers for a century used the system of Claudius Ptolemy, which was extremely complex. No wonder King Alfonso the Wise of Castile (13th century) said:

“What a pity that God did not consult with me when he created the Universe! He, perhaps, would have established a simpler and more reasonable order in it.”

Alphonse even tried to create his own, simpler system of the universe, for which he paid with the royal title. The first who consistently substantiated the new doctrine of the structure of the world was one (in the words of F. Engels) of the “titans in the power of thought, passion and character” - the Polish astronomer Nicolaus Copernicus, whose discovery became a heroic page in the history of science. The biography of the scientist is known to some extent; his books, manuscripts, letters have been preserved... Nicolaus Copernicus was born in 1473 into a merchant family in the large shopping center of Toruń. Therefore, he is sometimes called Torunets. After the death of his father, he was raised by his uncle, the bishop. At the age of nineteen (1492 - the year of the discovery of America by Columbus) he entered the University of Krakow, one of the best educational institutions in the world at that time, then studied at a number of universities in Italy. He studied mathematics and astronomy, law and medicine, learned Greek, and became acquainted with the wisdom of the ancients. He was a versatile person - a mathematician and a poet, an administrator and an artist, a politician and a doctor. But still he devoted most of his life to astronomy. Copernicus lived the last thirty years of his life in one of the towers of the fortress wall of Frombork, a city on the shores of the Baltic Sea. Here he created his main scientific work, “On the Rotations of the Celestial Spheres,” which immortalized his name. It was a time when Europe was waking up from the thousand-year darkness of the Middle Ages. Cities grew, trade expanded, more and more ships set off on long voyages... Let us only remember the most remarkable books of that time, these beacons on the difficult path of the birth of science. The pamphlet "On the Newly Discovered Islands" (1494) announced that Christopher Columbus's caravels had crossed the Atlantic Ocean. Amerigo Vespucci guessed that Columbus had discovered the New World - he reported this in his book “Travels” (1507). The outlines of a gigantic continent appear on maps and globes; the boundaries of the world have expanded immensely. And Magellan’s voyage experimentally confirmed: the Earth is a ball. Reason rebels against the dominance of the church, against darkness and ignorance. The “Golden Book, as useful as amusing, about the best structure of the state and about the new island of Utopia” (year 1516) was published. Author - Thomas More. With his book “On the Structure of the Human Body” (1543), Andrei Vesalius opened a new anatomical era in the study of medicine. The beginning of mineralogy is associated with the publication of G. Agricola’s book “On Mining and Metallurgy” (1546). And finally, the five-volume satirical epic by Francois Rabelais (1532-1552). ) “Gargantua and Pantagruel” is a real encyclopedia of humanistic ideas. These peaks of thought rose among a boundless sea of ​​other kinds of books - astrological reference books, theological treatises, manuals for torture (“Inquisitor Directories”) and the fight against witches (“Hammer of Witches”). The “Holy Inquisition” was raging, fires were burning on which “people were burned like straw” (Montesquieu), mountains of books were burning in the flames of the fires... At this time, Nicolaus Copernicus lived and wrote a book about the heliocentric system of the world. He was a very brave man because he was not afraid to rebel against the official opinion of the church. He created his work for many years, consciously preparing for it throughout most of his life. The idea that Ptolemy was wrong arose in Copernicus a long time ago, during his years of study at the University of Krakow. It was here, according to a 15th-century chronicler, that “astronomy flourishes more than all other sciences.” In Krakow, Copernicus managed to buy two printed books. One is Euclid’s “Elements” with the treatise “The Complete Wonderful Book of Divination by the Stars.” The other is the astronomical tables of King Alfonso of Castile. These two volumes accompanied Copernicus throughout his life, and both of them have survived to this day. In their margins, inscriptions and calculations were made by the hand of a scientist, and the sayings of ancient authors are given. In addition, at the end of the Alphonsian Tables there is a notebook of 16 sheets in which Copernicus entered the data he needed. On the back of the fifteenth sheet is the first record of the heliocentric system of Copernicus (the time of compilation of this record should not differ much from the time of compilation of the “Small Commentary”). Unfortunately, there is almost no information about how the new doctrine of the heliocentric system of the world matured: it is also unknown how Copernicus came to discover the true structure of the solar system. The scientist himself wrote that he began searching for a new theory, having become convinced of the disagreement of mathematicians in calculating the motion of celestial bodies. In search of a new theory, Copernicus reread all the philosophical books he could get his hands on. The scientist wanted to find out whether anyone had expressed the view that the movements of the heavenly bodies were not what they were portrayed to be. And he found in Cicero and Plutarch that the disciples of Pythagoras and Plato held an opinion about the mobility of the Earth. He also became acquainted with the ideas of Aristarchus of Samos, who back in the 3rd century. BC e. in his work “Assumptions” he came to the conclusion that at the center of the Universe is not the Earth, but the Sun. And the Earth, this scientist argued, makes an annual movement around the Sun and a daily rotation around its axis. Other planets also revolve around the central star. This theory was not supported by contemporaries.

In his book, Copernicus does not mention Aristarchus, although in the surviving manuscript of his work there are two crossed out pages where he speaks of him as his predecessor. It was unreasonable to refer to a teaching that was already perceived in ancient times as godless. Gradually, Copernicus became more and more convinced that Ptolemy was wrong about the most important thing - regarding the movement of the Sun around the Earth. Therefore, his calculations cannot correspond to the true movement of the planets. It turned out that the calculations proceeded on their own, and the movements of the planets on their own. Amendments and additions to Ptolemy’s Almagest will not help here. It was necessary to find out how the planets actually move. This is what Copernicus dedicated his life to. At the very beginning of the century (1507), he conceived his address-treatise - “Nicolaus Copernicus, a small commentary on the hypotheses he established about the celestial movements.” Ten pages, densely written in clear handwriting, are the first sketch of a new system of the universe. It already stated that “the center of the Earth is not the center of the world”, that the Earth revolves “around the Sun, like every other planet”, and rotates around its axis... Apparently, the “commentary” was sent out in large numbers, about which can be judged by the fact that two copies of it were discovered in Vienna and Stockholm (in 1878 and 1881). It is not difficult to imagine that such a discovery must have amazed Copernicus’ correspondents no less than the discovery of the New World! After all, Copernicus did not simply point out the errors of authority. He blew up the entire Ptolemaic system. When contemplating and revealing the wonders of the sky, Copernicus experienced, in his words, an almost incredible feeling of elation and inspiration. Ten years after the first draft, after the “Small Commentary,” the scientist began writing the main work. On the first page of the manuscript there is the inscription:

“Nicholas Copernicus, Torunets, on the rotations of the celestial spheres. VI books."

Meeting with friends, talking with other scientists, he expressed to them his cherished (heretical!) thoughts. He listened to objections. Once Copernicus was visited by his Krakow teacher L. Corvinus. He later sang in verse his admiration for the ideas of Copernicus:

He explores the fast run of the Moon,

Movements of the changing constellations

And the path of the planets in the midst of starry silence,

A step of time in an incomprehensible abyss.

The reasoning was based on

It is a new and extraordinary principle.

And the world of things dutifully opened

It has its own countless secrets.

The years passed, they turned into decades. The author rewrote his treatise three times, introducing new changes and additions, new drawings and tables. On the title page is written in Greek: “Let no one enter here who does not know geometry” (these words adorned the entrance to the building of Plato’s Academy). We read in the dedication the lines about the entire work:

“Having assumed the existence of those movements which, as will be shown below in the work itself, are attributed by me to the Earth, I finally, after numerous and lengthy observations, discovered that if we compare the movements of the other wandering luminaries with the circular motion of the Earth and calculate these movements for the period of revolution each luminary, then the phenomena observed in these luminaries are obtained. In addition, the sequence and magnitude of the luminaries, all the spheres and even the sky itself will be so connected that nothing can be rearranged in any part without causing confusion in the remaining parts and in the entire Universe. Therefore, in the presentation of my work, I adopted an order: in the first book I will describe the positions of all the spheres along with those movements of the Earth that I attribute to it; thus, this book will contain, as it were, the general constitution of the Universe. In other books, I will attribute the movements of the remaining luminaries and all orbits to the movement of the Earth.”

A page from the manuscript of Nicolaus Copernicus “On the rotations of the celestial spheres” with a diagram of the heliocentric system of the world.

The first book contains a visual drawing. Copernicus puts the Sun at the center. The Earth occupies a place among other planets between Venus and Mars, the Moon is a satellite of the Earth... The greatest merit of Nicolaus Copernicus lies in the fact that with his immortal work he revealed the true structure of the planetary system. So, the manuscript is ready... But Copernicus still has doubts. He is hurried by his friends, including Bishop Giese and Cardinal Schoenberg, but he himself is in no hurry. Schoenberg, having read the Small Commentary, turned to Copernicus with a request to send him a more detailed presentation of the new theory (Copernicus published this letter in the preface to his book). In the early spring of 1539, a young professor from Wittenberg, G. Retik, came to visit the Frombork astronomer. He brought several books as a gift, including the Greek text of Ptolemy's Almagest. Imbued with special trust in the guest, Copernicus handed him his manuscript. Retik studied this unusual treatise for several months and became indescribably delighted. He realized what a magnificent edifice Copernicus had erected on the ruins of the Ptolemaic system. No, such a truth should be known to everyone, it cannot be kept in a monastery cell! And the scientist agreed that Rheticus would prepare a brief summary of the new theory and publish it. Rheticus presented Copernicus' theory simply and clearly in a small pamphlet. According to the custom of those years, it was written in the form of a letter with the following title:

“To the most serene man, Mr. John Schoener, about the book of addresses of the most learned man and the most excellent mathematician, the venerable Mr. Dr. Nicholas of Torun, canon of Warmia, compiled by a certain young man studying mathematics, the first narrative.”

In the spring of 1540 in Gdansk, this “first narrative” was published, announcing in print the birth of a new teaching. The interest generated by the brochure was so great that the second edition was published in Basel the following year. The name of Rheticus does not appear in the title of this work, but the second narrative did not follow, since because of the first the professor lost his chair at the University of Wittenberg. This did not stop the ardent supporter of the heliocentric system of Copernicus. G. Retik began to actively work for the publication of the work in full. Copernicus, after much deliberation, decided to dedicate the book to Pope Paul III. The dedication contains the following lines:

Nicolaus Copernicus gave his manuscript to the Bishop of Giza, who sent it to Rheticus in May 1542. A copy was made (with a slight deviation from the text) of the original manuscript, apparently by Rheticus himself, who is hastily preparing its publication in Nuremberg. Typographer I. Petrey began typing under the supervision of G. Retik himself. But when Rheticus had to leave Nuremberg, he entrusted further work to the local theologian and mathematician A. Ossiander. In February 1543 the book was published. There is a beautiful legend about a horseman galloping through the fields with the treasured first copy of a printed treatise. The rider jumped off his lathered horse at the tower of Frombork Cathedral, quickly ran up the steps of the stone staircase and entered the room where the elderly canon of the cathedral lay on his deathbed. He made it on time. The old man took his book with withered hands and died, clutching it to himself. True, Copernicus saw his work published before his death. But there was no messenger in a hurry. There was no rush to show the book to the author, who was indeed seriously ill that last winter. The treatise was published in February, and Copernicus died in May. In three months, a pedestrian could deliver the printed work from Nuremberg to the banks of the Vistula. There was no rush to bring the book, primarily because of the preface “To the reader. On the hypotheses of this essay,” which was written and arbitrarily included in the book by its editor A. Ossiander. It stated. that the doctrine presented is an abstract hypothesis, which “should not be considered either true or probable.” This fundamentally contradicted the views of Nicolaus Copernicus, who believed that he had managed to discover the true structure of the planetary system and was convinced that the movement of the Earth was a physical reality. After reading the book, Giese wrote to Rheticus about the preface (it was anonymous):

“At the very beginning I saw a breach of trust... How can one not be outraged by such a great sacrilege under the protection of trust.”

He proposed to remove the preface and reprint the first pages of Copernicus’s work, but everything remained unchanged. In addition, the first edition contained errors and typos, some of which were indicated on a separate sheet. Relatives did not dare show the book with the address “To the reader...” to Copernicus until the very last minute. He saw her only on May 23, 1543, the day of his death. The book went around the world. However, Copernicus's main conclusion, that the Earth moves around the Sun, was so contrary to the religious and philosophical views of the time that it was perceived as a paradox. True, the name of Copernicus began to appear in books, but only to indicate his unsuccessful attempt to renew the teachings of Aristarchus of Samos (this is evidenced by Galileo’s student notebook, which has survived to this day). But Copernicus' theory was not so easy to refute. And the number of supporters slowly but grew. Eight years after the death of the great Polish astronomer, Reingold published his so-called “Prussian Tables”, the calculations in them are based on both the Ptolemaic system and the Copernican system. In the preface, Reinhold stated bluntly:

“We owe Copernicus deep gratitude for his arduous observations and especially for the restoration of the true doctrine of the motion of celestial bodies.”

The teachings of Nicolaus Copernicus provided food for thought about the structure of the Universe. If we assume that stars are celestial bodies similar to the Sun and are located at different distances from it, then there is no single “sphere of stars” enclosing the Universe. This bold conclusion was reached by the follower of Copernicus T. Digges, who lived in England (died in 1595). Galileo Galilei spoke about how Copernicus’ views were received in Italy in his Dialogue. One of the Dialogue’s interlocutors, J. Sagredo, recalls:

“When I was still very young and had just completed a course in philosophy, which I left for other studies, it happened that a certain northerner from Rostock (I think his name was Christian Wursteisen), a follower of Copernicus, came to our region and read two or three lectures on this topic to a large crowd of listeners, caused, I think, more by the subject than by anything else. I did not go there in the firm conviction that such views can only be sheer stupidity. When I then questioned some of those present at the lecture, I heard only continuous mockery, and only one person said that there was nothing funny about this subject.”

This "one man" was Giordano Bruno. Then he himself read the work of Copernicus. The inspired pages of the immortal work, which set forth the new teaching, shocked him. “The persuasive word of Copernicus knocked on the gates of the youthful soul,” wrote Bruno. His imagination transported him to cosmic space, where the planets revolve around the central luminary - our Sun. He was delighted when reading Copernicus' lines about the solar system:

“In the middle of all these orbits is the Sun, for how could this beautiful light be placed in such a magnificent temple in another, better place, from where it could illuminate everything?”

Bruno energetically propagated the ideas of Copernicus; by presenting them without any mathematical formulas, he made them accessible. Based on the ideas of Copernicus, Bruno developed the doctrine of the infinity of the Universe and the plurality of inhabited worlds. And it was Giordano Bruno who first suggested that the preface to the book was not written by Copernicus. The Church felt what a formidable power the teachings of Copernicus contained, what danger it contained for religion. And the churchmen committed a terrible crime, burning Giordano Bruno at the stake... However, over the years, the heliocentric system of the world gained an increasing number of supporters. The famous Tycho Brahe still doubted the validity of Copernicus's discovery. He put forward his own system, according to which all the planets except the Earth revolved around the Sun. But Johannes Kepler was not only a convinced supporter of the heliocentric system. He managed to establish the laws according to which the planets move. The first two laws were published in the “New Astronomy” (1609), the third - in 1618. The “New Astronomy” also reports on the appearance of the preface “To the Reader”. Kepler fell into the hands of a copy of the first edition of Copernicus’s work “On the Rotations of the Celestial Spheres,” which the typographer I. Petrey gave at one time to the Nuremberg mathematician I. Streiberg. The mathematician wrote in the margins of the treatise that it was printed without the knowledge of Copernicus. Johannes Kepler had great respect for Copernicus, “a man of supreme genius and... free thinking.” Kepler, along with Galileo, contributed to the final approval of Copernicus' ideas. Over time, confidence in the truth of Copernicus's theory spread more and more widely; The church, of course, rebelled against this. She tolerated this teaching as an abstract mathematical hypothesis, but could not agree that the movement of the Earth should be proclaimed as an objective truth. On March 5, 1616, a decree of the Catholic Church was promulgated. Due to the widespread dissemination of the “false and completely contrary to the Holy Scriptures of the Pythagorean doctrine of the movement of the Earth and the immobility of the Sun,” the book of Nicolaus Copernicus was banned. Speaking about the significance of Copernicus’s book, F. Engels wrote:

“The revolutionary act by which the study of nature declared its independence was the publication of the immortal work, in which Copernicus challenged ... the authority of the Church in matters of nature.”

According to Engels, the ideas of Copernicus played a huge role in the “liberation of natural science from theology.” The first edition of the book “On the Rotations of the Celestial Spheres” was published in Nuremberg in Latin in 1543. Nowadays it is a bibliographic rarity and is stored in the Department of Manuscripts and Rare Books of the Library of the Academy of Sciences. The second was published in Basel in 1566 (it exactly repeats the first with its typos); the third - in Amsterdam in 1617. In parallel, in Latin and Polish, the book was published in Warsaw in 1854 (during printing, discrepancies between the first three editions and the manuscript, which was discovered in Prague, in the library of Count Nostitz, were taken into account). Finally, the fifth edition was published in Torun, the birthplace of Copernicus, in 1873 from the original manuscript. The fate of the manuscript of the main work of Nicolaus Copernicus is interesting. As already mentioned, Retik made a copy of it, and kept the original for himself. The manuscript contains 212 sheets (20X28 cm), written on both sides, the ink is black, the handwriting is clear, close to the printed font of that time. The manuscript is divided into notebooks of ten sheets each. Rheticus traveled a lot around the world - he was in Germany, Poland, Hungary and took the manuscript with him everywhere. Before his death, he passed it on to his student V. Oto. In 1603, master J. Christman acquired the manuscript from Oto, and ten years later he sold it to student A. Nivanus, later known as Comenius, a famous Czech teacher. He valued the manuscript as a relic; Twice during his life he lost all his property and library, but saved the Copernicus manuscript. Finally, a manuscript in the middle of the 17th century. came to Prague to Count Nostitz, in whose library it was discovered in 1840. It is now kept in a carved wooden box with silver decorations in the Krakow Public Library. Information about the heliocentric system began to penetrate into Russia only in the 17th century. The learned monk Epiphany Slavinetsky and two assistants translated “Cosmography” by Willim Janson Bleu. This was the first Russian written source expounding the revolutionary theory of Copernicus. Soon, “Selenography” by J. Hevelius was translated, which also spoke about Copernicus’s views on the structure of the Universe. The book was intended for Tsarevich Fyodor Alekseevich, and after his death it was transferred to Peter. Both books - “Cosmography” and “Selenography” - were not published and remained in manuscripts. But the translation of a French book on astronomy, performed by Antiochus Cantemir, became available to a large number of Russian people. In Paris, Cantemir met the “freethinker” Fontenelle. Then, in 1730, a Russian satirist translated it “Conversations about Many Worlds.” The book, in a simple, entertaining form, gave an idea of ​​the structure of the Universe, the views of Copernicus, Bruno and Galileo. In Russia, it was published in 1740 and aroused the indignation of the Synod, which banned this work, and ordered the published copies to be collected and burned at the stake. However, five years after the ban, the second edition of “Conversations ...” appeared by a man who risked breaking his will Synod, there was a wonderful Russian scientist Mikhail Vasilyevich Lomonosov... On the monument to Nicolaus Copernicus in Warsaw the words are carved:

"He stopped the Sun and moved the Earth."

So one book changed people's understanding of the world... Author of the article: A. Glukhov.

Reference: 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. 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. The main and almost only work of Copernicus, the fruit of more than 40 years of his work, is “On the Rotation of the Celestial Spheres” (Latin: De revolutionibus orbium coelestium). 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:

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 Andreas 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 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 ω; the second (with speed ω′) - 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 an oppositely directed speed ω′′) - around an axis parallel to the axis of the world and passing through the center of the Earth. The last two rotations form (if ω′ and ω′′ exactly coincide in magnitude) a pair of rotations equivalent to the translational motion of the Earth around the Sun in a circular orbit. 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 ω′′ is not exactly equal to ω′, but differs slightly 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.

The heliocentric system in the Copernican version can be formulated in seven statements:

Orbits and celestial spheres do not have a common center;

The center of the Earth is not the center of the Universe, but only the center of mass and the orbit of the Moon;

All planets move in orbits centered on the Sun, and therefore the Sun is the center of the world;

The distance between the Earth and the Sun is very small compared to the distance between the Earth and the fixed stars;

The diurnal movement of the Sun is imaginary, and is caused by the effect of the rotation of the Earth, which rotates once every 24 hours around its axis, which always remains parallel to itself;

The Earth (together with the Moon, like other planets) revolves around the Sun, and therefore the movements that the Sun seems to make (the daily movement, as well as the annual movement when the Sun moves through the Zodiac) are nothing more than the effect of the Earth's movement ;

This motion of the Earth and other planets explains their positions and the specific characteristics of planetary motion.

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 actual motion of the planets (especially Mars) is not circular and uniform, and the epicycle technique was unable to reconcile the model with observations for long. Because of this, Copernicus' tables (initially more accurate than Ptolemy's tables) soon diverged significantly from observations, which greatly puzzled and cooled the enthusiastic supporters of the new system. Accurate heliocentric (Rudolph) tables were published later by Johannes Kepler, who discovered the true shape of the planets’ orbits (ellipse), and also recognized and mathematically expressed the unevenness of their motion. Yet Copernicus's model of the world was a colossal step forward and a crushing blow to archaic authorities. The reduction of the Earth to the level of an ordinary planet definitely prepared (contrary to Aristotle) ​​the Newtonian combination of earthly and heavenly natural laws. The Catholic Church, busy fighting the Reformation, initially reacted condescendingly to the new astronomy, especially since the leaders of the Protestants (Martin Luther, Melanchthon) were sharply hostile to it. This was also due to the fact that the observations of the Sun and Moon contained in the book of Copernicus were useful for the upcoming reform of the calendar. Pope Clement VII even listened favorably to a lecture on the heliocentric approach prepared by the scientist Cardinal Wigmanstadt. Although some bishops even then came out with fierce criticism of heliocentrism as a dangerous ungodly heresy. In 1616, under Pope Paul V, the Catholic Church officially prohibited the adherence and defense of the Copernican theory as a heliocentric world system, since such an interpretation was contrary to Scripture, although the heliocentric model could still be used to calculate the movements of the planets. The theological commission of experts, at the request of the Inquisition, examined two provisions that incorporated the essence of Copernicus’ teachings and issued the following verdict:

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.

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, Copernicus’s book “De Revolutionibus Orbium Coelestium” 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 under the heading "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, 1543), second (Basel, 1566) and third (Amsterdam, 1617) 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 complete obscuring the required fragments of Copernicus and inscribing 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. Copernicus was one of the first to express the idea of ​​universal gravitation. His book (Part I, Chapter IX) says:

“I think that heaviness is nothing more than a certain desire with which the divine Builder endowed 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.”

Contrary to popular belief, Copernicus did not predict that Venus and Mercury had phases similar to the moon.