COPERNICUS 



1571 



COPLEY 



the most notable churches are the metropoli- 

 tan cathedral, or Vor Frue Kirke, and the 

 Frederiks Kirke or Marble Church, begun by 

 Frederick V in 1740. The former contains six- 

 teen magnificent statues executed by Thor- 

 waldsen, one of the world's greatest sculptors, 

 and the other is noted for its great dome, 

 which lacks only a few feet of being as large 

 as Saint Peter's at Rome. In the Thorwaldsen 

 Museum are more than 300 of the sculptor's 

 works, which he bequeathed to his native city, 

 and here also is his tomb. The Prinsens Palais, 

 once a royal residence, but now a national 

 museum, contains one of the finest ethnolog- 

 ical collections in the world. The University 

 of Copenhagen, founded by Christian I in 1478, 

 is one of the oldest in Northern Europe. In 

 the Royal Library are 540,000 volumes and 

 20,000 manuscripts. The city is the chief cen- 

 ter of Scandinavian literature, art and science. 



History. The history of Denmark was once 

 little more than the history of the city; it 

 dates back to 1043, when it was only a fishing 

 village, remaining unimportant until the mid- 

 dle of the twelfth century. As there was a 

 good harbor, the village soon attracted many 

 merchants and was called Kaupmannahojn, or 

 merchant's harbor, to which may be traced the 

 present name. It did not become the royal 

 residence and capital until 1443. During the 

 centuries following, the city withstood several 

 sieges. In 1658-1660 it held out against that 

 noted warrior Charles X of Sweden and saved 

 the country from conquest. In 1807 it was 

 bombarded by the English and part of the 

 city was destroyed by fire. In 1911 its popu- 

 lation was 462,161. K.A.G. 



COPERNICUS, ko pur' ni kus, NICHOLAS 

 (1473-1543), a great astronomer of the six- 

 teenth century, who announced the discovery 

 that the sun is the center of the universe. He 

 therefore gave to the world the basis of mod- 

 ern astronomy. Copernicus was born in Po- 

 land. After spending several years in the 

 study of medicine he devoted himself to mathe- 

 matics, toward which he had a natural leaning. 

 The study of astronomy soon enthralled him, 

 and he taught mathematics with great suc- 

 cess. In 1505 he left Rome, where much of 

 his fame had been gained, and returned to 

 his native country and entered into Holy 

 Orders, becoming a canon in the Cathedral 

 of Frauenburg, an office he held until his death. 



Previous astronomers had held to the 

 Ptolemaic principle that the earth was the 

 center of the universe. Copernicus doubted 



the correctness of this conclusion, and his 

 observations confirmed his doubts. His discov- 

 eries were not at once given to the world, 

 however. He feared the criticism and hostil- 

 ity of the Church, for a hint of his discoveries 



SATURN 



URANUS 



NEPTUNE 



THE COPERNICAN SYSTEM 

 It was Copernicus who declared the sun (the 

 heavy inner dot) to be the center of the solar sys- 

 tem, and showed that the planets revolve around 

 it. Distances as compared on the above chart 

 are not correct, and cannot be made so ; the rea- 

 son is given in the article ASTRONOMY. 



had brought forth the accusation that he was 

 proceeding in a task that was opposed to the 

 Scriptures. When his great work appeared 

 explaining his theories and discoveries, it was 

 dedicated to the Pope, in the hope of gaining 

 the sanction of the Church. The attitude of 

 the Pope, however, did not affect the astrono- 

 mer. A few hours after receiving a copy of 

 his publication Copernicus died, without real- 

 izing that he had achieved imperishable fame. 

 See PTOLEMY; ASTRONOMY. 



COPLEY, kop'li, JOHN SINGLETON (1737- 

 1815), one of the most illustrious of the early 

 American painters. He was born in Boston, 



