Reports - 2010
Astronomy Benalla Meeting Presentations - 16th September 2010
Astronomer of the Month - Presenter: Ian Corry
Ian provided a comprehensive direct YouTube presentation on astronomer Nicolaus Copernicus ( 1473- 1543).
Copernicus lived in Poland and died age 70. He was also a mathematician, astronomer, physician, classical scholar,
translator, artist, Catholic cleric, jurist, governor, military leader, diplomat, economist and multilinguist.
Incredibly, as telescopes hadn’t yet been invented, Copernicus did all his observations and interpretations with the naked
eye.
Copernicus was known for his progressive theories on helio-centricity. In an era when the Roman Catholic Church firmly
believed in an earth-centred solar system; his hypotheses set the Earth in motion and the immovable Sun at the centre of the
Universe. He wrote a number of books including his last, great work – De revolutionibus orbium coelestium (On the
Revolution of the Heavenly Spheres) – in Latin, not just because of concern about religious objections as some of his earlier
works had been given church approval, but because it was the language that academia used at the time and all his
letters to the government, the church and even educated patient's were in Latin. It is said that he also avoided
expressing his theories too strongly because of concern about possible astronomical and philosophical objections.
De revolutionibus
