256 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



SKETCH OF NICOLAUS COPERNICUS. 



MODERN" astronomy may be said to have begun with Coperni- 

 cus. Previous to his time the received theories of the struct- 

 ure and motions of the universe were incorrect, inconsistent, and 

 incomprehensible, and did not explain the inexact observations 

 that were referred to them. He gave to science a correct theory, 

 in which exact observations have found clear and consistent ex- 

 planations. 



Nicolaus Kopernik was born in Thorn, now in Prussia, but 

 at that time a part of Poland, February 18, 1473, and died May 

 24, 1543. The accounts vary concerning the station of his family. 

 According to the one which seems best established, his father was 

 a native of Cracow, the son of a man in good position there, and 

 had settled as a wholesale trader in Thorn ; his mother, Barbel 

 von Wasselrode, was a sister of a Bishop of Ermeland. His 

 earlier instruction, given him in the school at Thorn, included 

 Greek and Latin letters. He then went, under the patronage of 

 his uncle Lukas, who afterward became bishop, to the University 

 of Cracow, where he applied himself to philosophy and medicine, 

 but more ardently than to either of these branches, under the in- 

 spiration of the lessons of Albert Brudzewki, to mathematics and 

 astronomy, in which he made himself familiar with the use of 

 the instruments. He also, in his intervals of leisure, practiced 

 in painting, with considerable success. When twenty-three years 

 of age he proceeded to the University of Bologna, where he 

 attended the lectures of Dominico Maria Novarra in astronomy, 

 and formed a personal friendship with him ; and then to Padua, 

 where he studied mathematics and astronomy, and obtained the 

 degree of Doctor of Medicine. In 1499 and 1500 he was in Rome, 

 the associate of the astronomer Regiomontanus, and lecturing on 

 the science to a numerous class. He then returned to his native 

 land, where his reputation for learning and his gentle bearing 

 gained him a cordial welcome. He became a priest, and, under 

 the patronage of his episcopal uncle, a canon of Frauenburg, on 

 the banks of the Vistula. Here, from 1503, he spent the remain- 

 der of his life, dividing his time between the duties of his pro- 

 fession, works of charity, and the study of astronomy. He visited 

 the poor and sick, gave them medical attention, and relieved their 

 wants at his own expense ; devised a hydraulic system for the 

 distribution of water through the city, remains of which are still 

 to be seen; and composed a treatise on the coinage of money, 

 which was preserved in the archives of the Diet of Grodno. The 

 house which he occupied at Allenstein still stands there, or did 



