or How Copernicus rev olutionized the Cosmos
by: Dava Sobel
This is a great yomp through medieval history at a time when the long held believe was of a universe where everything revolved around the earth in a series of perfect circles.
This journey follows the life and career of Copernicus from a student to a Canon in the Dioceses of Verme in Poland and only really touches on his work in any depth when Rheticulous arrives to persuade Copernicus to record his observations and new theory so that it could be of use to mankind.
At a time when the environment is one of the Roman Catholic Church battling it out with Lutherans and when anything that is directly against the writings in the bible can be censured and the authors and printers punished, the doubt in the mind of Copernicus of being ridiculed or just disproven sadly meant he didn't get to see the final publication of his manuscript.
The story is picked up after his death dealing with how the wider reading audience perceived his new theory and the ramifications thereof, culminating in Kepler's works expanding Copernicus theory on planetary motion, Astronomia Nova.
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