He wrote a treatise on the revolutions of the celestial spheres. Composition of Nicolaus Copernicus "on the rotations of the celestial spheres". The essence of the theory of Copernicus

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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. In black/parchment binding of the epoch. 4o (270x204 mm.).PMM 70.

Care: $2,210,500. Auction Christie "s. 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."

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

Treatise by Nicolaus Copernicus

On the first day of creation, God, as you know, separated light from darkness, on the second, he took up the organization of the Earth; then he strengthened the Sun, the Moon, the stars on the firmament of heaven ... So it is said in the Bible, which reflected 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 put the Earth at the center of the universe. The main work of Ptolemy "The Great Construction of Astronomy in the XIII Books", known in medieval Europe under the name "Almagest", served until the 16th century. exemplary presentation of astronomical knowledge. The Church adopted Ptolemy's doctrine of the immobility of the Earth. Any other idea about the structure of the Universe was considered "blasphemous". In the fourteen centuries that have elapsed from the writing of the Almagest to Copernicus, not a single astronomical discovery of paramount importance has been made. Scientists-astronomers for a century used the system of Claudius Ptolemy, which was extremely complex. No wonder King Alphonse of Castile the Wise (XIII century) said:

“What a pity that the Lord did not consult with me when he created the Universe! Perhaps he would have established a simpler and more reasonable order in it.

Alphonse even tried to create his own, more simple system universe, for which he paid with the royal title. The first to consistently substantiate the new doctrine of the structure of the world was one (in the words of F. Engels) of the "titans in terms of 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 Torun. Therefore, sometimes it is called Torunets. After the death of his father, he was brought up by his uncle, the bishop. Nineteen years old (1492 - the year of the discovery of America by Columbus) entered the University of Krakow - one of the best educational institutions in the world at the time, then studied at a number of universities in Italy. Studied mathematics and astronomy, law and medicine, learned Greek language, got 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. Nevertheless, he devoted most of his life to astronomy. The last thirty years of his life, Copernicus lived in one of the towers of the fortress wall of Frombork, a city on 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 new ships set off on distant voyages ... Let us recall only the most remarkable books of that time, these lighthouses on hard way the birth of science. The brochure "On the newly discovered islands" (1494) announced that the caravels of Christopher Columbus crossed the Atlantic Ocean. Amerigo Vespucci guessed that Columbus discovered New World- he reported this in the book "Travel" (1507). The outlines of a gigantic continent appear on maps and globes, the boundaries of the world have expanded immensely. And the voyage of Magellan 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 it is funny, about the best structure of the state and about the new island of Utopia” (year 1516) saw the light of day. Author - Thomas More. With his book "On the structure of the human body" (year 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" (year 1546). And finally, the five-volume satirical epic of Francois Rabelais (1532-1552) "Gargantua and Pantagruel" is a real encyclopedia of humanistic ideas. These pinnacles of thought rose among boundless sea another kind of books - astrological reference books, theological treatises, manuals for torture ("Inquisitor's Directories") and fight against witches ("Hammer of Witches"). The “Holy Inquisition” was raging, bonfires were blazing, on which “people were burned like straw” (Montesquieu), mountains of books were burning in the flames of bonfires ... At that time, Nicolaus Copernicus lived and created 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 came to Copernicus long ago, during his studies at the University of Krakow. It is here, according to the chronicler of the XV century, "astronomy flourishes more than all sciences." In Krakow, Copernicus managed to buy two printed books. One is Euclid's "Beginnings" with the treatise "A complete wonderful book on predictions from the stars." The other is the astronomical tables of King Alphonse of Castile. These two volumes accompanied Copernicus throughout his life, both of which have survived to this day. Inscriptions, calculations, sayings of ancient authors are given on their margins by the hand of a scientist. In addition, at the end of the Alphonse Tables there is a notebook of 16 sheets, in which Copernicus entered the data he needed. On the back of the fifteenth sheet - the first entry heliocentric system Copernicus (the time of this entry should not differ much from the time of the Minor Commentary). Unfortunately, there is almost no information about how the new doctrine of the heliocentric system of the world has matured: it is also unknown how Copernicus came to reveal the true structure solar system. The scientist himself wrote that he began to search for a new theory, making sure of the disagreement of mathematicians in calculating the motion of celestial bodies. In search of a new theory, Copernicus reread every philosophical book he could get his hands on. The scientist wanted to find out if anyone had expressed the view that the movements of the heavenly bodies are not the same as they are depicted. And he found in Cicero and Plutarch that the disciples of Pythagoras and Plato held opinions about the mobility of the Earth. He also got acquainted with the ideas of Aristarchus of Samos, who, back in the 3rd century. BC e. in his work "Assumptions" 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 the doctrine, which already in antiquity was perceived as godless. Gradually, Copernicus became more and more convinced that Ptolemy was mistaken in the most important thing - in regard to the movement of the Sun around the Earth. Therefore, his calculations cannot correspond to the true motion of the planets. It turned out that the calculations went by themselves, and the movements of the planets - by themselves. Amendments and additions to Ptolemy's Almagest will not help here. It was necessary to find out how the movement of the planets actually occurs. This is what Copernicus devoted his life to. At the very beginning of the century (1507), he conceived his address-treatise - "Nicholas Copernicus is a small commentary on the hypotheses he established about celestial movements." Ten pages, thickly written in clear handwriting, are the first draft 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 any other planet”, and rotates around its axis ... Apparently, the “comment” was sent out in large numbers, about which can be judged by the fact that two copies of it were found in Vienna and Stockholm (in 1878 and 1881). It is not difficult to assume that such a discovery should 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 uplift 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 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. Listened to objections. Once Copernicus was visited by his Krakow teacher L. Korvin. Later, he sang in verse his admiration for the ideas of Copernicus:

He explores the fast run of the moon,

The 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.

Based on the reasoning

It is a new and extraordinary principle.

And the world of things dutifully opened

Before him are his countless mysteries.

Years passed, they were formed in decades. The author rewrote his treatise three times, introducing new changes and additions, new drawings and tables. On the title page it is written in Greek: “Let no one who does not know geometry enter here” (these words decorated the entrance to the building of Plato's Academy). We read in the dedication the lines about the whole composition:

“Having assumed the existence of those movements that, 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 rest of the wandering luminaries with the circular movement of the Earth and calculate these movements for the period of revolution each luminary, then the phenomena observed in these luminaries are obtained. Moreover, 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 other parts and in the whole Universe. Therefore, in the presentation of my work, I have adopted the order: in the first book I will describe the positions of all the spheres, together 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, the movements of the other luminaries and all orbits, I will refer to the movement of the Earth.

Page of the manuscript of Nicolaus Copernicus "On the rotations of the celestial spheres" with a diagram of the heliocentric system of the world.

In the first book, a visual drawing is given. Copernicus puts the sun in 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 doubts. His friends, including Bishop Giese and Cardinal Schoenberg, rush him, but he himself is in no hurry. Schoenberg, having familiarized himself with 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 confidence in the guest, Copernicus handed him his manuscript. Retik studied this unusual treatise for several months and came to an indescribable delight. He realized what a majestic building Copernicus 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 Retik prepared summary new theory and published it. Retik simply and clearly stated the theory of Copernicus 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 my Serene Husband, Mr. John Schoner, 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 youth 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 doctrine. The interest aroused by the pamphlet was so great that the second edition of it appeared in Basel the following year. In the title of this work, the name of Retik does not appear, but the second narration did not follow, because because of the first, the professor lost his chair at the University of Wittenberg. This did not stop the ardent supporter of the Copernican heliocentric system. G. Retik began to actively work on 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 handed over his manuscript to Bishop Giza, who sent it in May 1542 to Rheticus. A copy was made of the original manuscript (with a slight digression from the text), apparently by Retik himself, who is hastily preparing its publication in Nuremberg. Printer I. Petrei started typesetting under the supervision of G. Retik himself. But when Rhetik 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 rider that gallops through the fields with the cherished first copy of the printed treatise. The rider dismounted from the lathered horse at the tower of Frombork Cathedral, hurried up the steps of the stone stairs and entered the room where the aged canon of the cathedral lay on his deathbed. He made it on time. The old man took his book with dry hands and died, clutching it to himself. True, Copernicus saw his work printed before his death. But there was no hurrying messenger. There was no hurry to show the book to its author, who really was seriously ill that last winter. The treatise was published in February, and Copernicus died in May. In three months, even a pedestrian could deliver the printed work from Nuremberg to the banks of the Vistula. They were in no hurry to bring the book, primarily because of the preface “To the reader. On the Hypotheses of the Present Work”, which was written and arbitrarily placed in the book by its editor A. Ossiander. It stated . that the stated doctrine 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 managed to discover the true structure of the planetary system, was convinced that the movement of the Earth is a physical reality. After reviewing the book, Giese wrote to Rhetic about the preface (it was anonymous):

"In the very beginning I saw a breach of trust... How not to resent so much blasphemy under the protection of trust."

He suggested removing the preface and reprinting the first pages of Copernicus's work, but everything remained unchanged. In addition, there were errors and misprints in the first edition, some of which were listed on a separate sheet. Relatives did not dare to show Copernicus the book with the appeal "To the reader ..." 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, the main conclusion of Copernicus, 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 in order only to point to his failed attempt to resume the teachings of Aristarchus of Samos (this is evidenced by the student notebook of Galileo, which has survived to this day). But the Copernican 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 calculation in them goes both according to the Ptolemaic system and the Copernican system. In the preface, Reingold stated bluntly:

"We owe Copernicus a deep gratitude for his laborious 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 the stars are celestial bodies, similar to the Sun, and are located at different distances from it, then there is no single "sphere of stars" that closes the Universe. Such a bold conclusion was reached by the follower of Copernicus T. Digges, who lived in England (died in 1595). About how the views of Copernicus were perceived in Italy, Galileo Galilei spoke in his Dialogue. One of the interlocutors of the Dialogue, 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 Wursteizen), a follower of Copernicus, came to our region and read two or three lectures on the subject, to a large confluence of listeners, caused, it seems, more by the subject than by anything else. I did not go there in the firm conviction that such views can only be excellent stupidity. When I then questioned some of those present at the lecture, I heard only continuous mockery, and only one person said that this subject does not contain anything funny.

That "one man" was Giordano Bruno. Then he himself read the work of Copernicus. The inspired pages of the immortal work, in which the new teaching was expounded, shocked him. “The persuasive word of Copernicus knocked on the gates of the youthful soul,” wrote Bruno. Imagination transferred him to the world space, where the planets revolve around the central luminary - our Sun. He was enthralled as he read Copernicus' lines about the solar system:

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

Bruno vigorously propagated the ideas of Copernicus; by presenting them without any mathematical formulas, he made them accessible. On the basis of the ideas of Copernicus, Bruno developed the doctrine of the infinity of the universe, of 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 force the teaching of Copernicus conceals in itself, what danger it contains for religion. And the clergy committed a terrible crime, betraying Giordano Bruno to be burned at the stake ... However, over the years, the heliocentric system of the world acquired all more supporters. The famous Tycho Brahe still doubted the validity of the discovery of Copernicus. He put forward his own system, according to which all the planets revolved around the Sun, with the exception of the Earth. But already Johannes Kepler was not only a staunch supporter of the heliocentric system. He succeeded in establishing 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 the appearance of the preface "To the Reader". Kepler got a copy of the first edition of Copernicus's work "On the rotations of the celestial spheres", which the printer I. Petrei had presented to the Nuremberg mathematician I. Shtraiberg. 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 superior genius and ... free thinking." Kepler, along with Galileo, contributed to the final approval of the ideas of Copernicus. Over time, the belief in the truth of the theory of Copernicus spread more and more; against this, of course, the church rebelled. She tolerated this teaching as an abstract mathematical hypothesis, but could not agree that the movement of the Earth was proclaimed as an objective truth. On March 5, 1616, a decree of the Catholic Church was promulgated. In connection with the wide dissemination of the "false and completely contrary to the sacred writings of the Pythagorean doctrine of the motion of the Earth and the immobility of the Sun," the book of Nicolaus Copernicus was banned. Speaking about the significance of the book of Copernicus, F. Engels wrote:

"The revolutionary act by which the study of nature declared its independence was the publication of an immortal work in which Copernicus challenged ecclesiastical authority 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 Revolutions of the Celestial Spheres" was published in Nuremberg on Latin in 1543. Now it is a bibliographic rarity and is kept in the Department of Handwritten 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 misprints); the third - in Amsterdam in 1617. In parallel, in Latin and in Polish, the book was published in Warsaw in 1854 (when printing, discrepancies between the first three editions and the manuscript found in Prague, in the library of Count Nostitz were taken into account). And finally, the fifth edition was published in Torun, in the homeland 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 type of that time. The manuscript is divided into notebooks of ten sheets each. Retik traveled a lot around the world - he was in Germany, Poland, Hungary and carried the manuscript with him everywhere. Before his death, he gave it to his student V. Oto. In 1603, master J. Kristman bought the manuscript from Oto, and ten years later he sold it to the student A. Nivanus, later known as Comenius, the famous Czech teacher. He valued the manuscript as a relic; twice in his life he lost all his property and library, but saved the Copernican manuscript. Finally, the manuscript in the middle of the XVII 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 Epiphanius Slavinetsky and two assistants translated Cosmography by Willim Janson Bleu. It was the first Russian written source expounding the revolutionary theory of Copernicus. Soon the “Selenography” by J. Hevelius was also translated, which also spoke about the views of Copernicus on the structure of the Universe. The book was intended for Tsarevich Fedor Alekseevich, and after his death it was handed over to Peter. Both books - both "Cosmography" and "Selenography" - were not printed, they remained in manuscript. But the translation of the French book on astronomy, performed by Antioch Cantemir, became available a large number Russian people. In Paris, Cantemir met the "freethinker" Fontenelle. Then, in 1730, a Russian satirist translated his “Conversations about the 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 saw the light in 1740 and aroused the indignation of the Synod, which banned this work, and issued copies "ordered 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 violating his will Synod, there was a remarkable 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 turned people's idea 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 writings of ancient philosophers, especially Nikita of Syracuse and Philolaus, he came to the conclusion that not the Earth, but the Sun should be the motionless center of the Universe. Based on this assumption, Copernicus quite simply explained all the apparent intricacy of the movements of the planets, but, not yet knowing true ways planets and considering them to be circles, he was forced to retain the epicycles and deferents of the ancients in order to explain the uneven movements. Creating his heliocentric system, Copernicus relied on the mathematical and kinematic apparatus of Ptolemy's theory, on the concrete geometric and numerical patterns obtained by the latter. So, in Ptolemy's model, all the 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 (Mercury, Venus) occurred with a single year period for all planets. In the Copernican model, this law received a simple and logical explanation. The main and almost the only work of Copernicus, the fruit of more than 40 years of his work, is “On the rotation of the celestial spheres” (lat. De revolutionibus orbium coelestium). The work was published in Nuremberg in 1543; it was printed under the supervision of the best student of Copernicus, 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 by 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 conditional mathematical device invented to reduce calculations. At one time, this preface was attributed to Copernicus himself, although he resolutely refused to make such a reservation in response to Osiander's request. The preface is followed by a letter of praise from Cardinal Schoenberg and a dedication to Pope Paul III. In terms of structure, the main work of Copernicus almost repeats the Almagest in a somewhat abridged form (6 books instead of 13). The first book (part) speaks of the sphericity of the world and the Earth, and instead of the position of 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 heliocentric positions, he easily explains the return 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 (at the 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 the oppositely directed speed ω′′) - around the axis parallel to the axis of the world and passing through the center of the Earth. The last two rotations form (with exact coincidence of ω′ and ω′′ in magnitude) a pair of rotations equivalent to the translational motion of the Earth around the Sun in a circular orbit. In the second part of the work of Copernicus, information is given on spherical trigonometry and the 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 (return to the same position relative to the fixed stars) and leads to a shift in the line of intersection of the equator with the ecliptic, which changes ecliptic longitude of a star by one degree per century. Ptolemy's theory, in principle, could not explain this precession. Copernicus, on the other hand, gave this phenomenon an elegant kinematic explanation (having shown himself to be a very sophisticated mechanic): he suggested that the angular velocity ω′′ is not exactly equal to ω′, but slightly different from it; the difference between these angular velocities manifests itself in the precession of the equinoxes.

The fourth part talked about the Moon, the fifth - about the planets in general, and the sixth - about the reasons for changing the latitudes of the planets. The book also contained a star catalog, an estimate of the size of the Sun and Moon, the distances to them and to the planets (close to true), the theory of eclipses. It should be specially noted that the Copernican system (unlike the Ptolemy system) made it possible to determine the ratios of the radii of planetary orbits. This fact, and also the fact that the first and most important epicycle was omitted from the description of the motion of the planets, 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 orbit of the Moon;

All the 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 around the Zodiac) are nothing more than the effect of the Earth's movement ;

This movement of the Earth and other planets explains their location and the specific characteristics of the movement of the planets.

These statements completely contradicted the prevailing at that time geocentric system. 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 that the epicycles were preserved (although there were fewer of them than with Ptolemy). The mechanism that ensured the movement of the planets is also left the same - the rotation of the spheres to which the planets are attached. On the border of the world, Copernicus placed the sphere of fixed stars. Strictly speaking, Copernicus' 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 match the model with observations for a long time. Because of this, the tables of Copernicus (originally more accurate than those of Ptolemy) soon diverged significantly from observations, which puzzled and cooled the enthusiastic supporters of the new system. Accurate heliocentric (Rudolf) tables were published later by Johannes Kepler, who discovered the true shape of the orbits of the planets (ellipse), and also recognized and mathematically expressed the unevenness of their movement. Yet the Copernican 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, engaged in the struggle against the Reformation, initially treated the new astronomy condescendingly, 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 graciously listened to a lecture on the heliocentric approach prepared by the learned Cardinal Wigmanstadt. Although some bishops even then came out with a fierce criticism of heliocentrism as a dangerous ungodly heresy. In 1616, under Pope Paul V, the Catholic Church officially banned the adherence and defense of the Copernican theory as a heliocentric system of the world, since such an interpretation is contrary to Scripture, although the heliocentric model could still be used to calculate the movement of the planets. The theological commission of experts, at the request of the Inquisition, considered two provisions that absorbed the essence of the teachings of Copernicus and issued the following verdict:

Assumption I: The sun is the center of the universe and, therefore, is 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 Scripture, according to the literal meaning of the words, as well as the usual interpretation and understanding of the Church Fathers 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 circulation. Everyone thinks that this position deserves the same philosophical condemnation; in terms of theological truth, it is at least wrong in faith.

The most famous consequence of this decision in the 17th century was the trial of Galileo (1633), who violated the church prohibition in his book “Dialogues about two major systems peace."

Contrary to popular belief, the very book of Copernicus "De Revolutionibus Orbium Coelestium" was formally banned by the Inquisition for only 4 years, but was subjected to censorship. In 1616, it was listed in the Roman Index of Prohibited Books, marked "before correction." The required censorship amendments, which had to be made by the owners of the book for further use, were made public in 1620. These corrections mainly concerned statements that implied that heliocentrism is not just mathematical model but a reflection of reality. Many copies of the first (Nuremberg, 1543), second (Basel, 1566) and third (Amsterdam, 1617) editions have been preserved, which belonged, in particular, to famous astronomers and other historical figures, in which the owners complied with censorship requirements with varying degrees of loyalty: from complete obscuring the required fragments of Copernicus and inscribing the recommended text, to the point of completely ignoring the prescriptions. About 2/3 of the surviving copies from Italy have been corrected by their owners, while the vast majority of copies from other countries have not been corrected. The Spanish Index of Prohibited 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 the Roman 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 gravity is nothing but a certain desire with which the divine Architect bestowed particles of matter so that they would unite in the form of a ball. The Sun, the Moon, and the planets probably have this property; to him these luminaries owe their spherical shape.

Contrary to popular belief, Copernicus did not predict that Venus and Mercury would have moon-like phases.

In this book, for the first time in Christian Europe, a heliocentric model of the world was proposed, according to which the Sun is the center of the Universe, and the planets move around it. The system of the world of Copernicus was proposed instead of the geocentric model of Ptolemy, generally recognized at that time, where the center was the motionless Earth. The book of Copernicus had a huge impact on the development of the scientific revolution in modern Europe and on the formation of a new scientific worldview. The successors who developed the Copernican system of the world, Giordano Bruno, Galileo, Kepler and Newton, relied on the ideas of Copernicus.

background

In medieval Europe, it was considered a generally accepted truth that the Earth is motionless at the center of the Universe, and the Moon, Sun and planets make several types of movements around the Earth (daily, annual and proper). For a mathematical description of the uneven motion of the planets, Claudius Ptolemy proposed in the 2nd century AD. e. an extremely complex model that gave practically acceptable accuracy, but seemed artificial to many. In particular, the speculative concept of the equant, which was used to explain uneven movement planets across the sky.

The question of which of the ancient or medieval scientists influenced the formation of the heliocentric idea by Copernicus has not been fully clarified. Perhaps the initial impetus was given by Wojciech Brudzewski and Jan Glowowczyk at the University of Krakow, whose lectures (or works) Copernicus could have studied during his years of study in Krakow. Neither Brudzewski nor Glogowczyk were heliocentrists, but both were critical of Ptolemy's model and argued its shortcomings. Copernicus himself in the preface to the book refers to the ancient Greek philosopher of the 5th century BC. e. Philolaus (who, however, did not have the Sun in the center of the world, but a certain “Central Fire”) and the opinion of three ancient scientists of the 4th century BC. BC: Heraclid of Pontus, Ekfant and Giketa (Nikita of Syracuse). The immediate ancient predecessor of Copernicus, Aristarchus of Samos, is not mentioned in the book, although the views of Aristarchus were undoubtedly known to Copernicus from the works of Archimedes and Plutarch. As historians have discovered, the name of Aristarchus is present in the draft manuscript, but was later crossed out.

From medieval scientists, indecisive attempts to consider the possibility of the Earth's movement were made by Nicholas Orem, Nicholas of Cusa, the Indian Nilakanta Somayaji, Arab astronomers of the XI century Al-Biruni and Ibn al-Khaytham ( Alhazen, Copernicus could learn about his views from the works of Purbach). For a long time these ideas were not developed. Contemporary of Copernicus, Italian professor Celio Calcagnini ( Celio Calcagnini, 1479-1541), in his eight-page pamphlet, expressed the opinion that the Earth makes a daily rotation. This opinion was also discussed by the respected Italian astronomer Francesco Mavrolico. The works of Calcagnini and Mavrolico appeared almost simultaneously with the book of Copernicus, but it is likely that these hypotheses were discussed in the scientific community long before publication. The more daring idea of the rotation of the Earth around the Sun before Copernicus was not openly expressed or discussed in Christian Europe, and none of the predecessors mentioned tried to create a developed mathematical model of the motion of the planets, comparable to the Ptolemaic one.

Creating a book

The idea of a new, simpler and more natural astronomical system than that of the ancients arose from Copernicus, apparently already in the 1500s, when he was a student in Italy. The mathematical advantage of the new system of the world was the fact that in it each celestial body made two movements less than in Ptolemy: the daily and annual periods became apparent, arising from the movement of the Earth. Copernicus hoped that thanks to this he would be able to describe the motion of the planets more accurately and harmoniously than was done in the Ptolemaic Almagest and the generally recognized at that time Alphonse Tables , calculated in the 13th century.

Upon his return from Italy in 1506, Copernicus settled in the Prussian town of Frauenburg. There he began his book on a new model of the world, discussing his ideas with friends, among whom were many of his like-minded people (for example, Tiedemann Giese, Bishop of Kulm). Around 1503-1512, Copernicus circulated among friends a handwritten summary of his theory, A Small Commentary on Hypotheses Relating to Celestial Motions. Apparently, rumors about the new theory had already spread widely in the 1520s. Work on the main work lasted almost 40 years, Copernicus constantly made adjustments to it, made observations at his observatory, and prepared new astronomical calculation tables.

In the 1530s, a significant part of the book was completed, but Copernicus was in no hurry to publish it. In 1539, Georg Joachim Retik, a young mathematician from Wittenberg, arrived in Frauenburg to see Copernicus, was inspired by his ideas and became a devoted supporter. After reading the manuscript of Copernicus' work, Rheticus immediately wrote a summary of his ideas in the form of an open letter addressed to Johann Schöner, his teacher of astrology in Nuremberg. Rhetic published this letter under the title " Narratio Prima"in Danzig in 1540 (second edition" Narratio published in Basel in 1541). Having met with general interest, Copernicus agreed to a separate publication in 1542 of his treatise on trigonometry - the second part future book"On the rotation of the celestial spheres". A personal manuscript of Copernicus's work was discovered in the 19th century in Prague, in the papers of Retik. A careful study of the manuscript has helped historians to reconstruct the sequence of its compilation.

Yielding to the persuasion of Rhetic and Tiedemann Giese, Copernicus finally agreed to publish the book in its entirety. He gave the manuscript to Rheticus through Tiedemann to Giese and the book was published in 1543 in Nuremberg, shortly before Copernicus' death. The book consisted of 196 large pages (folio format).

Name

Apparently, Copernicus did not immediately finally decide on the title of his work. In the preface, the theme of the book is called "On the Revolution of the Spheres of the World" (lat. De Revolutionibus Sphaerarum Mundi), and in the headings of individual chapters there is a short title: “On Appeals” ( De revolutionibus) . It is possible that the name was ultimately given by the publisher, since the surviving copy of the Copernican manuscript does not contain a title page.

Foreword

The book of Copernicus opens with a preface beginning with a dedication to Pope Paul III. In the preface, the author acknowledges that the ideas of his work, contrary to centuries of tradition, will cause rejection and ridicule among many, so he hesitated for a long time whether to make them public. Copernicus stipulates in advance that he rejects any extra-scientific criticism: “If there are any idle talkers who, being ignorant in all mathematical sciences, nevertheless, they undertake to judge them and, on the basis of some place of Holy Scripture, misunderstood and perverted for their purpose, dare to condemn and persecute this work of mine, then I, without any delay, can neglect their judgment as frivolous ".

General structure

In structure, the work "On the rotation of the celestial spheres" almost repeats " Almagest" in a somewhat abridged form (6 books instead of 13).

Copernican world system

The spheres perform complex uniform rotations, entraining the planets associated with them. The daily movement of the Sun is illusory and is caused by the rotation of the Earth around its axis, which always remains parallel to itself. Similarly, the annual movement of the Sun among the constellations is illusory - the Earth (together with the Moon), like other planets, revolves around the Sun, and therefore the movement of the luminaries along the Zodiac is nothing more than the effect of the annual movement of the Earth. Note that the centers of the planetary orbits of Copernicus slightly do not coincide with the Sun.

Within the framework of heliocentrism, many people immediately found a simple solution. scientific problems. From the point of view of the moving Earth, the apparent backward movement of the planets also becomes understandable, and the change of seasons on Earth is explained in exactly the same way as it is today. Copernicus was the first to find the correct explanation for the phenomenon of pre-equinoxes, which astronomers argued about for 18 centuries - the reason was the periodic displacement of the earth's axis, which shifts the celestial coordinate system.

Despite the poor accuracy of his astronomical instruments, Copernicus was able to present a theory of the motion of the moon, much more accurate than the Ptolemaic one. According to Ptolemy's theory, the Moon's apparent diameter at perigee should be twice that at apogee; this absurd conclusion contradicted all observations, but for a long time passed by in silence. Copernicus gave his calculations, according to which the difference was 8 "(according to modern data, about 5").

All these provisions are argued in detail, and the arguments of Aristotle and other geocentrists are criticized. For example, Copernicus first proves that the distance between the planets and the Sun is negligible compared to the distance to the fixed stars, and he uses this fact to prove daily rotation Earth - after all, if the Earth is motionless, then the sphere of stars makes a daily revolution, and then, taking into account its remoteness, it will be necessary to attribute unthinkable speed to the stars. The conclusion about the extreme remoteness of the stars helped Copernicus solve another problem. If the Earth moves around the Sun in a year, then there must be annual parallaxes of stars: the configuration of the constellation must change with a period of one year. However, no one observed this phenomenon at the time of Copernicus. Copernicus explained that since the distances to the stars are much greater than the radius of the earth's orbit, the annual parallaxes are too small to be measured. A similar answer to the same question was given by Aristarchus of Samos in the 3rd century BC. e. Parallax was reliably recorded only in 1838.

True, the absolute value of the astronomical unit at that time was known only from a rough estimate by Ptolemy. Copernicus, like his other contemporaries, took the value of the astronomical unit equal to 1142 Earth radii, which corresponded to the horizontal parallax of the Sun 3 minutes of arc (instead of the correct value of 23,440 Earth radii and 8.8″ (\displaystyle 8.8"")). Already the work of astronomers of the 17th century (first J. Horrocks, and then J. Cassini, J. Flamsteed and others) led to the conclusion that the daily parallax of the Sun does not exceed 10″ (\displaystyle 10"").

Copernicus also gave an estimate of the size of the Sun and Moon, indicated the correct value for the period of Mercury's revolution around the Sun: 88 days.

Physical ideas of Copernicus

In a number of arguments of Copernicus, the emergence of a new, non-Aristotelian mechanics is seen. In approximately the same terms as the later Galileo, he formulates the principle of the relativity of motion:

Any change in location occurs due to the movement of the observed object, or the observer, or, finally, due to the unequal movement of both ... When the ship moves in calm weather, everything outside it appears to the sailors as moving, as if reflecting the movement of the ship.

At the same time, Copernicus comes close to the law of inertia, indicating that falling bodies and adjacent layers of the atmosphere participate in the movement of the Earth, although no forces specifically support this movement (Aristotle's mechanics in this situation saw no reason for movement).

The idea of the Earth as one of the planets allowed Copernicus to be one of the first to speculate about the universality of gravity:

Apparently, gravity is nothing more than a natural desire, which the Creator of the Universe bestowed on all particles, namely, to unite into one common whole, forming bodies of a spherical shape. It is also probable that the Sun, Moon and other planets are endowed with the same property.

Disadvantages of the Copernican Theory

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 in order to agree with real observations, artificial Ptolemaic epicycles had to be preserved - however, they became somewhat smaller. The idea of the Sun as an ordinary star (already at the end of the 16th century it was defended by Giordano Bruno) and estimates of the true scale of the Universe also had to mature.

The mechanism of rotation of the planets Copernicus left the same - the rotation of the spheres with which the planets are associated. But then the Earth's axis during the annual rotation should rotate, describing a cone; to explain the change of seasons, Copernicus had to introduce the third (reverse) rotation of the Earth around an axis perpendicular to the ecliptic; the same mechanism was used by Copernicus to explain the cause of the precession of the equinoxes.

Another anachronism was the special status of the Earth - although with Copernicus it became an ordinary planet from the center of the world, however, the center of all planetary orbits did not coincide with the Sun, but with the center of the earth's orbit.

The elimination of the equant brought the Copernican theory to the attention of astronomers in the 16th century. However, the Copernican theory did not lead to a significant increase in the accuracy of calculating the motion of the planets: the actual motion of the planets is neither circular nor uniform. The Copernican model gave the worst agreement with observations for planets with large eccentricities (Mercury, Mars, Saturn). Only the discovery of Kepler's laws made it possible to make a qualitative leap in increasing the accuracy of astronomical calculations.

Historical influence

The work of Copernicus immediately received wide popularity upon its release; this can be judged by the fact that of the 500 copies of the first edition, more than half (267) have survived to this day, many with notes and comments from the owners. Immediately after the publication of the book, she found both staunch supporters and irreconcilable opponents. The well-known Wittenberg astronomer Erasmus Reingold, a colleague of Rheticus, published the astronomical Prussian Tables calculated on the basis of the Copernican system (1551). Rheingold's tables served for over 70 years until the much more accurate Rudolph's Kepler tables (1627) appeared. Reingold considered the main thing in the theory of Copernicus to be that the Ptolemaic equant is eliminated in it. However, Reingold kept complete silence about the main thing that, from our point of view, is in the book of Copernicus: the heliocentric hypothesis, as if he simply did not notice it.

In England, an apology for Copernicus "A perfect description of the celestial spheres in accordance with the ancient doctrine of the Pythagoreans, revived by Copernicus, supported by geometric demonstrations" was published in 1576 by astronomer Thomas Digges.

The Catholic Church, engaged in the struggle against the Reformation, initially treated the new astronomy condescendingly, especially since the leaders of the Protestants (Martin Luther, Melanchthon) spoke of it with sharp hostility. This indulgence 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 graciously listened in 1533 to a lecture on the heliocentric approach prepared by the Orientalist scholar Johann Albert Widmanstadt. However, several bishops came out with virulent criticism of heliocentrism as a dangerous ungodly heresy.

Assumption I: The sun is the center of the universe and, therefore, is 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 Scripture, 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 an integral (body) and, moreover, makes a daily circulation. Everyone thinks that this position deserves the same philosophical condemnation; in terms of theological truth, it is at least wrong in faith.

Original text (lat.)
Propositio I: Sol est centrum et omnino immobilis motu locali. Censura: omnes dixerunt dictam propositionem esse stultam et absurdam in philosophia et formaliter hereticam, quatenus contradicit expresse sententiis sacrae Scripturae in multis locis, secundum proprietatem verborum et secundum expositionem et sensum SS, Patrum et theologorum doctorum. Propositio II: Terra non est centrum mundi nec immobilis, sed secundum se totam movetur etiam motu diurno. Censura: omnes dixerunt hanc propositionem recipere eandem censuram in philosophia et spectando veritatem theologicam ad minus esse in fide erroneam.

The most famous consequence of this decision in the 17th century was the trial of Galileo (1633), who violated the church prohibition in his book Dialogues Concerning the Two Chief Systems of the World.

Contrary to popular belief, the very book of Copernicus " De Revolutionibus Orbium Coelestium”was formally banned by the Inquisition for only 4 years, but was censored. In 1616, it was listed in the Roman Index of Forbidden Books, marked "before correction"; a list of censorship amendments was made public in 1620. The book "De revolutionibus" was the first purely scientific work in history to be included in the "Index"; before it, the Vatican only persecuted religious or occult writings. In explaining its decision to remove the ban from the book, the Congregation for the Index made the following arguments:

Although the Fathers of the Holy Congregation of the Index found it necessary to completely ban the work of the illustrious astronomer Nicolaus Copernicus, "De Mundi revolutionibus" [sic], on account of the fact that it contains principles regarding the position and movement of the globe, inconsistent with Holy Scripture and its true and Catholic interpretation (which a Christian should in no way tolerate) are not stated as hypothetical, but are defended without hesitation as true, nevertheless, due to the fact that this work contains many things very useful for the state, the fathers unanimously agreed that the writings of Copernicus printed so far should be allowed. And they are allowed, provided that they are corrected in accordance with the correction below of those places where he [Copernicus] discusses the position and movement of the Earth, not hypothetically, but as a statement.

Original text (lat.)
Quanquam scripta Nicolai Copernici, nobilis astrologi, De mundi revolutionibus prorsus prohibenda esse Patres Sacrae Congregationis Indicis censuerunt, ea ratione quia principia de situ et motu terreni globi, Sacrae Scripturae eiusque verae et catholicae interpretationi repugnantia (quod in homine Christiano minime), tolerandum est per hypothesim tractare, sed ut verissima adstruere, non dubitat; nihilominus, quia in iis multa sunt reipublicae utilissima, unanimi consensu in eam iverunt sententiam, ut Copernici opera ad hanc usque diem impressa permittenda essent, prout permiserunt, iis tamen correctis, iuxta subiectam emendationem, locis, in quibus non ex hypothesi, sed asserendo, de situ et motu terrae disputat. Qui vero deinceps imprimendi erunt, nonnisi praedictis locis ut sequitur emendatis, et huiusmodi correctione praefixa Copernici praefationi, permittuntur.

The list of corrections given later in the resolution mainly concerned statements from which it followed that heliocentrism is not just a mathematical model, but a reflection of reality. The works of the heliocentrists were removed from the Roman Index of Prohibited Books in 1835.

Some astronomers of the 16th and 17th centuries preferred a modified version of the Copernican model, in which the Earth was stationary, the Sun revolved around the Earth, and all other planets around the Sun. From the point of view of astronomical observations, this version was no different from the Copernican one. The most prominent supporter of such a model was Tycho Brahe, who admired Copernicus and his book, but refused to recognize the movement of the Earth.

The most prominent successor of heliocentric ideas in the 17th century was Johannes Kepler, in honor of Copernicus, he named one of his main works “ Abbreviation of Copernican Astronomy” (lat. Epitome Astronomiae Copernicanae). Kepler's system of the world was no longer similar to Copernicus in many respects: the celestial spheres were abolished, Kepler replaced the circular orbits of the planets with ellipses, the motion of the planets became uneven. Thanks to the discoveries of Kepler, the accuracy of the model increased dramatically, and the very accurate heliocentric Rudolph tables published by Kepler became a triumph of heliocentrism. In the same period, thanks to the invention of the telescope, Galileo made a number of astronomical discoveries (phases of Venus, satellites of Jupiter, etc.), confirming the Copernican world system.

Despite all its (mentioned above) imperfections, the Copernican model of the world was a major step forward and a crushing blow to archaic authorities. The reduction of the Earth to the level of an ordinary planet prepared (contrary to Aristotle) the Newtonian combination of earthly and heavenly natural laws. At the end of the 17th century, Newton completed the development of the dynamic foundation of celestial mechanics, and Ptolemy's model finally passed into history.

Publications

First editions

Russian translation

Copernicus, N. On the rotations of the celestial spheres = De revolutionibus orbium coelestium: [transl. from lat.] ; Small comment = Commentariolus ; Epistle against Werner = Epistola contra Vernerum; Uppsala record / Per. prof. I. N. Veselovsky; Art. and general ed. corresponding member Academy of Sciences of the USSR A. A. Mikhailova. - M. : Nauka, 1964. - 646 p. - (Classics of science).
- Appendix: Retik G.I. First story.

Texts on the Internet

Copernicus N. On the rotation of the celestial spheres in the Gumer library.
De revolutionibus orbium coelestium, Harvard, text in Latin.

Notes

, from. 8.
, from. 73-74, 186-188, 298.
Swerdlow N.M. The Derivation and First Draft of Copernicus’s Planetary Theory: A Translation of the Commentariolus with Commentary // Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society. - 1973. - Vol. 117. - P. 423-512.
, from. 28.
, from. 553, 562.
, from. 85-89.
, from. 145-146.
, from. 23.
, Chapter 4.
, p. 32.
, from. 556-558.
Levin A. The man who moved the earth. Scientific revolution of Nicolaus Copernicus // Popular Mechanics. - 2009. - № 6 .

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Subtitles

background

In medieval Europe, it was considered a generally accepted truth that the Earth is motionless at the center of the Universe, and the Moon, Sun and planets make several types of movements around the Earth (daily, annual and proper). For a mathematical description of the uneven motion of the planets, Claudius Ptolemy proposed in the 2nd century A.D. e. an extremely complex model that gave practically acceptable accuracy, but seemed artificial to many. In particular, the speculative concept of the equant caused protest, with the help of which the uneven movement of the planet across the sky was explained.

The question of which of the ancient or medieval scientists influenced the formation of the heliocentric idea by Copernicus has not been fully clarified. Perhaps the initial impetus was given by Wojciech Brudzewski and Jan Hlogowczyk at the University of Krakow, whose lectures (or works) Copernicus could have studied during his years of study in Krakow. Neither Brudzewski nor Glogowczyk were heliocentrists, but both were critical of Ptolemy's model and argued its shortcomings. Copernicus himself in the preface to the book refers to the ancient Greek philosopher of the 5th century BC. e. Philolaus (who, however, did not have the Sun in the center of the world, but a certain “Central Fire”) and the opinion of three ancient scientists of the 4th century BC. BC: Heraclid Pontic, Ekfant and Giketa (Nikita of Syracuse). The immediate ancient predecessor of Copernicus, Aristarchus of Samos, is not mentioned in the book, although the views of Aristarchus were undoubtedly known to Copernicus from the works of Archimedes and Plutarch. As historians have discovered, the name of Aristarchus is present in the draft manuscript, but was later crossed out.

Of the medieval scientists, indecisive attempts to consider the possibility of the Earth's movement were made by Nikolay Orem, Nikolai Kuzansky, the Indian Nilakanta Somayaji, the Arab astronomers of the XI century Al-Biruni and Ibn al-Khaytham ( Alhazen, Copernicus could learn about his views from the works of Purbach). For a long time these ideas were not developed. Contemporary of Copernicus, Italian professor Celio Calcagnini ( Celio Calcagnini, 1479-1541), in his eight-page pamphlet, expressed the opinion that the Earth makes a daily rotation. This opinion was also discussed by the authoritative Italian astronomer Francesco Mavrolico. The works of Calcagnini and Mavrolico appeared almost simultaneously with the book of Copernicus, but it is likely that these hypotheses were discussed in the scientific community long before publication. The more daring idea of the rotation of the Earth around the Sun before Copernicus was not openly expressed or discussed in Christian Europe, and none of the predecessors mentioned tried to create a developed mathematical model of the motion of the planets, comparable to the Ptolemaic one.

Creating a book

Upon his return from Italy in 1506, Copernicus settled in the Prussian town of Frauenburg. There he began his book on a new model of the world, discussing his ideas with friends, among whom were many of his like-minded people (for example, Tiedemann Gize, Bishop of Kulm). Approximately in 1503-1512, Copernicus distributed among his friends a handwritten summary of his theory "Small commentary on hypotheses related to celestial movements . Apparently, rumors about the new theory had already spread widely in the 1520s. Work on the main work lasted almost 40 years, Copernicus constantly made adjustments to it, made observations at his observatory, and prepared new astronomical calculation tables.

In the 1530s, a significant part of the book was completed, but Copernicus was in no hurry to publish it. In 1539, Georg Joachim Retik, a young mathematician from Wittenberg, arrived in Frauenburg to see Copernicus, was inspired by his ideas and became a devoted supporter. After reading the manuscript of Copernicus' work, Rheticus immediately wrote a summary of his ideas in the form of an open letter addressed to Johann Schöner, his teacher of astrology in Nuremberg. Rhetic published this letter under the title " Narratio Prima"in Danzig in 1540 (second edition" Narratio published in Basel in 1541). Having met with general interest, Copernicus agreed to a separate publication in 1542 of his treatise on trigonometry - the second part of the future book "On the rotation of the celestial spheres." A personal manuscript of Copernicus's work was discovered in the 19th century in Prague, in the papers of Retik. A careful study of the manuscript has helped historians to reconstruct the sequence of its compilation.

Name

Foreword

The book of Copernicus opens with a preface, at the beginning of which there is a dedication to Pope Paul III. In the preface, the author acknowledges that the ideas of his work, contrary to centuries of tradition, will cause rejection and ridicule among many, so he hesitated for a long time whether to make them public. Copernicus stipulates in advance that he rejects any extra-scientific criticism: “If there are any idle talkers who, being ignorant in all mathematical sciences, nevertheless undertake to judge them on the basis of some place in Holy Scripture, misunderstood and perverted for their goals, dare to condemn and persecute this work of mine, then I, without any delay, can neglect their judgment as frivolous.

General structure

In structure, the work "On the rotation of the celestial spheres" almost repeats " Almagest" in a somewhat abridged form (6 books instead of 13).

Copernican world system

Within the framework of heliocentrism, many scientific problems immediately found a simple solution. From the point of view of the moving Earth, the apparent backward movement of the planets also becomes understandable, and the change of seasons on Earth is explained in exactly the same way as it is today. Copernicus was the first to find the correct explanation for the phenomenon of pre-equinoxes, about which astronomers argued for 18 centuries - the reason was the periodic displacement of the earth's axis, due to which the celestial coordinate system shifts.

All these provisions are argued in detail, and the arguments of Aristotle and other geocentrists are criticized. For example, Copernicus first proves that the distance between the planets and the Sun is negligible compared to the distance to the fixed stars, and he uses this fact to prove the daily rotation of the Earth - because if the Earth is stationary, then the sphere of stars makes the daily rotation, and then, taking into account its remoteness, you will have to attribute unthinkable speed to the stars. The conclusion about the extreme remoteness of the stars helped Copernicus solve another problem. If the Earth moves around the Sun in a year, then there must be annual parallaxes of stars: the configuration of the constellation must change with a period of one year. However, no one observed this phenomenon at the time of Copernicus. Copernicus explained that since the distances to the stars are much greater than the radius of the earth's orbit, the annual parallaxes are too small to be measured. A similar answer to the same question was given by Aristarchus of Samos in the 3rd century BC. e. Parallax was reliably recorded only in 1838.

Copernicus also gave an estimate of the size of the Sun and Moon, indicated the correct value for the period of Mercury's revolution around the Sun: 88 days.

Physical ideas of Copernicus

In a number of arguments of Copernicus, the emergence of a new, non-Aristotelian mechanics is seen. In approximately the same terms as later Galileo, he formulates the principle of the relativity of motion:

Any change in location occurs due to the movement of the observed object, or the observer, or, finally, due to the unequal movement of both ... When the ship moves in calm weather, everything outside it appears to the sailors as moving, as if reflecting the movement of the ship.

At the same time, Copernicus comes close to the law of inertia, indicating that falling bodies and adjacent layers of the atmosphere participate in the motion of the Earth, although no forces specifically support this motion (Aristotle's mechanics in this situation saw no reason for motion).

The idea of the Earth as one of the planets allowed Copernicus to be one of the first to speculate about the universality of gravity:

Apparently, gravity is nothing more than a natural desire, which the Creator of the Universe bestowed on all particles, namely, to unite into one common whole, forming bodies of a spherical shape. It is also probable that the Sun, Moon and other planets are endowed with the same property.

Disadvantages of the Copernican Theory

The mechanism of rotation of the planets Copernicus left the same - the rotation of the spheres with which the planets are associated. But then the Earth's axis during the annual rotation should rotate, describing a cone; to explain the change of seasons, Copernicus had to introduce the third (reverse) rotation of the Earth around an axis perpendicular to the ecliptic; Copernicus used the same mechanism to explain the cause of the prelude of the equinoxes.

Historical influence

The work of Copernicus immediately received wide popularity upon its release; this can be judged by the fact that of the 500 copies of the first edition, more than half (267) have survived to this day, many with notes and comments from the owners. Immediately after the publication of the book, she found both staunch supporters and irreconcilable opponents. The famous Wittenberg astronomer Erasmus Reingold, a colleague of Rheticus, published the astronomical Prussian Tables calculated on the basis of the Copernican system (1551). Rheingold's tables served for more than 70 years, until the much more accurate Rudolf's tables of Kepler (1627) appeared. Reingold considered the main thing in the theory of Copernicus to be that the Ptolemaic equant is eliminated in it. However, Reingold kept complete silence about the main thing that, from our point of view, is in the book of Copernicus: the heliocentric hypothesis, as if he simply did not notice it.

Assumption I: The sun is the center of the universe and, therefore, is 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 Scripture, according to the literal meaning of the words, as well as the usual interpretation and understanding of the Church Fathers and teachers of theology.
Assumption II: The earth is not the center of the universe, it is not motionless and moves as an integral (body) and, moreover, makes a daily circulation. Everyone thinks that this position deserves the same philosophical condemnation; in terms of theological truth, it is at least wrong in faith.

Original text (lat.)
Propositio I: Sol est centrum et omnino immobilis motu locali. Censura: omnes dixerunt dictam propositionem esse stultam et absurdam in philosophia et formaliter hereticam, quatenus contradicit expresse sententiis sacrae Scripturae in multis locis, secundum proprietatem verborum et secundum expositionem et sensum SS, Patrum et theologorum doctorum. Propositio II: Terra non est centrum mundi nec immobilis, sed secundum se totam movetur etiam motu diurno. Censura: omnes dixerunt hanc propositionem recipere eandem censuram in philosophia et spectando veritatem theologicam ad minus esse in fide erroneam.

The most famous consequence of this decision in the 17th century was the trial of Galileo (1633), who violated the church prohibition in his book Dialogues on the two most important systems of the world.

Contrary to popular belief, the very book of Copernicus " De Revolutionibus Orbium Coelestium”was formally banned by the Inquisition for only 4 years, but was censored. In 1616, it was included in the Roman Index of Forbidden Books, marked "before correction"; a list of censorship amendments was made public in 1620. The book "De revolutionibus" was the first purely scientific work in history to be included in the "Index"; before it, the Vatican only persecuted religious or occult writings. In explaining its decision to remove the ban from the book, the Congregation for the Index made the following arguments:

Although the Fathers of the Holy Congregation of the Index found it necessary to completely ban the work of the illustrious astronomer Nicolaus Copernicus, "De Mundi revolutionibus" [sic], on account of the fact that it contains principles regarding the position and movement of the globe, inconsistent with Holy Scripture and its true and Catholic interpretation (which a Christian should in no way tolerate) are not stated as hypothetical, but are defended without hesitation as true, nevertheless, due to the fact that this work contains many things very useful for the state, the fathers unanimously agreed that the writings of Copernicus printed so far should be allowed. And they are allowed, provided that they are corrected in accordance with the correction below of those places where he [Copernicus] discusses the position and movement of the Earth, not hypothetically, but as a statement.

Original text (lat.)
Quanquam scripta Nicolai Copernici, nobilis astrologi, De mundi revolutionibus prorsus prohibenda esse Patres Sacrae Congregationis Indicis censuerunt, ea ratione quia principia de situ et motu terreni globi, Sacrae Scripturae eiusque verae et catholicae interpretationi repugnantia (quod in homine Christiano minime), tolerandum est per hypothesim tractare, sed ut verissima adstruere, non dubitat; nihilominus, quia in iis multa sunt reipublicae utilissima, unanimi consensu in eam iverunt sententiam, ut Copernici opera ad hanc usque diem impressa permittenda essent, prout permiserunt, iis tamen correctis, iuxta subiectam emendationem, locis, in quibus non ex hypothesi, sed asserendo, de situ et motu terrae disputat. Qui vero deinceps imprimendi erunt, nonnisi praedictis locis ut sequitur emendatis, et huiusmodi correctione praefixa Copernici praefationi, permittuntur.

Some astronomers of the 16th and 17th centuries preferred a modified version of the Copernican model, in which the Earth was stationary, the Sun revolved around the Earth, and all other planets around the Sun. From the point of view of astronomical observations, this version was no different from the Copernican one. The most prominent supporter of such a model was Tycho Brage, who admired Copernicus and his book, but refused to recognize the movement of the Earth.

The most prominent successor of the heliocentric ideas in the 17th century was Johannes Kepler, who named one of his main works in honor of Copernicus “The Reduction of Copernican Astronomy” (lat. Epitome Astronomiae Copernicanae). Kepler's system of the world was no longer similar to Copernicus in many respects: the celestial spheres were abolished, Kepler replaced the circular orbits of the planets with ellipses, the motion of the planets became uneven. Thanks to the discoveries of Kepler, the accuracy of the model increased dramatically, and the very accurate heliocentric Rudolf tables published by Kepler became the triumph of heliocentrism. In the same period, thanks to the invention of the telescope, Galileo made a number of astronomical discoveries (phases of Venus, satellites of Jupiter, etc.), confirming the Copernican world system.

Publications

First editions

Russian translation

Copernicus, N. On the rotations of the celestial spheres = De revolutionibus orbium coelestium: [transl. from lat.] ; Small comment = Commentariolus ; Epistle against Werner = Epistola contra Vernerum; Uppsala record / Per. prof. I. N. Veselovsky; Art. and general ed. corresponding member Academy of Sciences of the USSR A. A. Mikhailova. - M. : Nauka, 1964. - 646 p. - (Classics science).
- Appendix: Retik G.I. First story.

Texts on the Internet

Copernicus N. On the rotation of the celestial spheres in the Gumer library.
De revolutionibus orbium coelestium, Harvard, text in Latin.

Notes

, from. 8.
, from. 73-74, 186-188, 298.
Swerdlow N.M. The Derivation and First Draft of Copernicus’s Planetary Theory: A Translation of the Commentariolus with Commentary // Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society. - 1973. - Vol. 117. - P. 423-512.
, from. 28.
, from. 553, 562.
, from. 85-89.
, from. 145-146.
, from. 23.
, Chapter 4.
, p. 32.
, from. 556-558.
Levin A. The man who moved the earth. Scientific revolution Nicholas Copernicus // Popular Mechanics. - 2009. - No. 6.

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

But as a true scientist, Nicolaus Copernicus could not confine himself to proposing 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 possess 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 writings of ancient philosophers, especially Nikita of Syracuse and Philolaus, he came to the conclusion that not the Earth, but the Sun should be the motionless center of the Universe.

Proceeding from this position, 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 still forced to preserve the epicycles and deferents of the ancients in order to explain the uneven movements.

The main and almost the only work of Copernicus, the fruit of more than 40 years of his work, is De revolutionibus orbium coelestium("On the circulation of the heavenly spheres"). The work was published in Nuremberg in 1543; it is divided into 6 parts (books) and was printed under the supervision of the best student of Copernicus, 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 passed on their teaching only to friends, spreading it only through tradition. ".

In terms of structure, the main work of Copernicus almost repeats the Almagest in a somewhat abridged form (6 books instead of 13).

The first part speaks of the sphericity of the world and the Earth, and instead of the position of 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 heliocentric positions, he easily explains the return motion of the planets.

The second part provides information on spherical trigonometry and the 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 (precession of the equinoxes), and Copernicus correctly explains it by the displacement of the earth's axis, which is why the line of intersection of the equator with the ecliptic moves.

In the fourth - about the moon.

In the fifth about the planets in general.

In the sixth - about the causes of changes in the latitudes of the planets.

The book also contains a star catalog, an estimate of the size of the Sun and Moon, the distances to them and to the planets (close to true), 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 orbit of the Moon.
· All planets move in orbits, the center of which is 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 motion 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 those movements that the Sun seems to make (daily movement, as well as annual movement when the Sun moves around the Zodiac) are nothing more than the effect of movement Earth.
· This movement of the Earth and other planets explains their location and specific characteristics of the movement of the planets.

These statements completely contradicted the geocentric system that prevailed 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 preserved - however, there were fewer of them than those of 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 during the annual rotation should rotate, describing a cone; to explain the change of seasons, Copernicus had to introduce the third (reverse) rotation of the Earth around an axis perpendicular to the ecliptic, which he also used to explain the cause of the prelude of the equinoxes.

On the border of the world, Copernicus placed the sphere of fixed stars. Strictly speaking, Copernicus' 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 neither circular nor uniform, and contrived epicycles are incapable of long-term agreement between the model and observations. Because of this, the tables of Copernicus, initially more accurate than the Ptolemaic ones, soon diverged significantly from observations, which puzzled and cooled the enthusiastic supporters of the new system. Precise heliocentric ( Rudolf) tables were published later by Johannes Kepler, who discovered the true shape of the orbits of the planets (ellipse), and also recognized and mathematically expressed the unevenness of their movement.

Yet the Copernican 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 has a spherical shape, 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 sink to 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 striking scientists of that time. It's the principle of relativity mechanical movements, according to which all motion is relative. The concept of motion does not make sense if the reference system (coordinate system) in which it is considered is not chosen.

The original considerations of Copernicus 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 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 can be seen that Copernicus held correct views on the dimensions of the universe, although he explained the origin of the world and its development by the activity of divine forces.

The theory of Copernicus 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 Jupiter is less than that of Mars, but on the other hand, for one revolution, the number of changes in direct motion by Saturn has more retrograde than Jupiter, and Jupiter has more than 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 of this interesting and mysterious phenomenon. Everything is explained by the fact that the Earth, in its movement around the Sun, overtakes and overtakes the outer planets Mars, Jupiter, Saturn (and later discovered Uranus, Neptune and Pluto), and itself, in turn, also becomes overtaken by the inner planets, Venus and Mercury, for this reason that they all have different angular velocities relative to the Sun.

Concluding the characterization of the work of Copernicus, I would like to emphasize once again the main natural scientific significance of the great work of Copernicus "On the rotations of the celestial spheres", which consists in the fact that its author, having abandoned the geocentric principle and adopting a heliocentric view of the structure of the solar system, discovered and learned the truth of the real world ,

THE BOOK "ON THE ROTATIONS OF THE HEAVENLY SPHERES"

Simultaneously with making observations, partially using them, Copernicus worked on his main work, which, according to his plan, was to replace Ptolemy's Almagest. Copernicus apparently worked on this work for 17 years, from 1515 to 1532. The entire work was initially divided into eight books, then the author reduced their number to seven, and in preparation for printing, the final number of books was determined - six.

To understand the role of Copernicus in the development of astronomy and the formation of a new worldview, it is important to pay attention to how the new theory of the structure of the world was commented on even before it was published in print. Undoubtedly, it was impossible to hide the fact that in Poland, in Frombork, located far from the capital of the state, the canon of the Warmia Chapter created a new theory of the structure of the world, which refuted the scientific views that existed at that time.

Around 1533 word of this theory reached

Rome and interested the then Pope Clement VII. And on November 1, 1536, Cardinal Nikolai Schoenberg sent a letter to Copernicus, in which he expressed his respect and admiration for his theory. He also asked the great astronomer to let him copy his work on his account and send it to Rome. However, Copernicus was in no hurry to publish his work. And only when in 1539 a young mathematician from Wittenberg, Joachim von Lauchen, nicknamed Retik (from the name of the ancient Roman province of Raetia - now part of Austria, where Retik was from), arrived to him, he decided to prepare his work for publication. But even before his work was published, Ratic, who for two years studied with Copernicus in Frombork his new theory of the universe, published in Gdańsk in 1540 a description of Copernicus's work, known as the First Narrative (Narratio Prima). This was the first printed extensive scientific information on the theory of Copernicus, including a listing of the contents of a number of books On the rotations of the celestial spheres with the rationale why the old geocentric system of the world should be discarded.

In 1541 Ratic left Frombork, taking with him a copy of Copernicus's work intended for printing. The Petreya printing house in Nuremberg undertook to print the book. The astronomer Johann Schoner and the Protestant theologian Andreas Ossiander were entrusted with the custody of the submitted manuscript, or in modern terms its editing. In 1542, Copernicus sent a letter dedicating his work to Pope Paul III as an introduction to the book. True, it was printed at the beginning of the book, but Ossiander, arbitrarily excluding Copernicus' original introduction to the first section from the text, provided the book with his own (anonymous) preface, in which, weakening Copernicus's argument, he presented his theory as a formal hypothesis intended only to facilitate calculations. planetary movements. The work of Copernicus, published in 1543, was called On the rotations of the celestial spheres six books (De revolutionibus orbium coelestium libri VI). What was the original title given by Copernicus, we do not know, because the manuscript, discovered in the 19th century in the Nostitz Library near Prague, did not have a title page. It should be noted that reading the book of Copernicus, as well as reading the Almagest of Ptolemy, required serious mathematical preparation.Copernicus understood this very well and wrote that he intended his work for mathematicians.

Scientific work has lasting significance only when it becomes a stimulus leading to the search for new ways of developing human thought. This is exactly what happened with the work of Copernicus, especially if we talk about the views of the scientist on the structure of the world contained in it.

Copernicus was well aware of the great importance of the theory of the heliocentric structure of the world, what a revolution in the minds it would produce. This is evidenced by his words addressed to Pope Paul III in the dedication printed as a preface to the book: “I can easily imagine, Holy Father, that there will be people who, having learned that I attribute the globe some movements will immediately begin to shout demanding condemnation of me and my convictions. Further, however, Copernicus defines the task of the scientist in a completely modern way: "... The thoughts of the scientist are not subject to the judgment of the crowd, for his duty is to search for the truth, as far as God allows this to the human mind." These words contain the credo of Copernicus, the scientist, the creed of all true researchers and true science, which rejects authorities and seeks to reveal the objective laws that govern the world.

Scheme of the heliocentric system of the world from the manuscript "On the rotations of the celestial spheres" by N. Copernicus

Then Copernicus explains why he did not publicize his theory for so long: “I have long reflected on the fact that people who have considered it firmly established for centuries that the Earth rests motionless in the middle of the sky, being its center, inevitably recognize my statements about the movement of the Earth as meaningless ; I hesitated for a long time whether I should publish my studies written to prove this movement, or follow the example of the Pythagoreans and other scientists who used to convey the secrets of their science not in writing, but orally, to their closest friends and associates ... ".

However, friends of Copernicus spoke out in favor of publishing his work, believing, as he himself notes, that “no matter how senseless my teaching about the motion of the Earth may seem to many, they will be delighted and full of gratitude when they are convinced that thanks to my research, the darkness of apparent contradictions." This phrase is of great importance, as it testifies to the author's purely scientific approach to the problems under consideration, which is alien to many writers of the Copernican era. This position is reflected even more clearly in the further part of the preface, where Copernicus explains that he was led to the creation of a new theory by contradictions in the views of supporters of the geocentric system of the structure of the world, who introduced a number of mutually unrelated assumptions to explain the observed movements of the planets. The clear logical mind of Copernicus could not reconcile itself with this, because, in his opinion, a scientific work has value only if it is united from the point of view of methodology. Copernicus very well expressed this in the following words, criticizing the adherents of the old views: not on the scale of the same body; in view of the complete discrepancy with each other, of course, they would rather make a monster, and not a man. So, it turns out that in the process of proof they either missed something necessary, or admitted something alien and in no way relevant to the case. This could not have happened if they followed the true principles" ( Quotations are based on the translation of I. N. Veselovsky of Copernicus's work "On the rotations of the celestial spheres". Moscow, ed. "Science", 1964.).

It is difficult to give a clearer formulation of the need for a logical approach to problems scientific research, the need to substantiate them on certain principles devoid of internal contradictions. These provisions, which testify to a completely modern approach to solving the problems under study, formed the basis of all the scientific activities of the great scientist.

Title page of the second edition (Basel 1566) of Copernicus' On the Revolutions of the Celestial Spheres

Further, in the preface addressed to the pope, Copernicus notes that before starting to develop his theory of the universe, he studied all the thoughts expressed before him about the motion of the Earth. Speaking in the language of modern science, he got acquainted with the literature of the problem. Now, as you know, anyone does it scientist. However, in the time of Copernicus, this method of working was not common. In that era, many scientists did not go further than commenting on generally recognized authorities, and the fear of the possibility of inconsistency with the greatest authority of that time, the Bible, was an almost insurmountable barrier to scientific judgments, even if they were logically justified. Copernicus did not recognize such a barrier. Worthy of admiration are his words in the preface addressed to the pope: “If there are any people who love to rave, who, being ignorant in all mathematical sciences, nevertheless undertake to judge on the basis of some place of Holy Scripture, misunderstood and perverted for their purpose, dare to censure and persecute this work of mine, then I, without any delay, can neglect their judgment as frivolous. After all, it is no secret that Lactantius, generally speaking a famous writer, but a small mathematician, almost childishly talked about the shape of the Earth, ridiculing those who claimed that the Earth has the shape of a ball. Therefore, scientists should not be surprised if we are also ridiculed by one of these.”

These words full of dignity belong to the 69-year-old elder and were expressed by him a year before his death. These were the words of a scientist deeply convinced of the correctness of his theory, and the strength of these words could not be shaken by the anonymous preface written by Ossiander, presenting the theory of Copernicus as just one of the possible and by no means necessarily reliable hypotheses.

Ossiander's unpublished introduction to Book 1 began with words that any modern astronomer who deeply loves his subject could say. It is well known how important a factor in the success scientific work is an emotional approach to the subject of research, and how important an incentive for the researcher is the satisfaction of aesthetic needs. Copernicus also experienced such a need, who began his work with the following words: “Among the many and varied pursuits of the sciences and arts that nourish human minds, I believe that first of all, the highest diligence should be devoted to those that concern the most beautiful and most worthy of knowledge. items. Such are the sciences that study the divine rotations of the world, the currents of the luminaries, their magnitudes, distances, rising and setting, as well as the causes of other celestial phenomena, and, finally, explain the entire form of the universe. And what could be more beautiful than the vault of heaven, containing all that is beautiful! (...) Therefore, if we evaluate the merits of the sciences depending on the matter that they deal with, the most outstanding will be that which some call astrology, others - astronomy, and many of the ancients - the completion of mathematics. She herself, who is indisputably the main head of the noble sciences and the most worthy occupation of a free man, relies on almost all mathematical sciences.

With its beauty, astronomy struck and captivated the mind of Copernicus, as well as many researchers of subsequent generations. And this is also evidence of the universality of the genius of the great humanist, the great revolutionary of science.

The introduction from which we have quoted, removed by the publisher On the Revolutions of the Celestial Spheres and replaced by an anonymous preface written by Ossiander, was not included in two subsequent editions (Basel, 1566 and Amsterdam, 1617). For the first time it was published only in the Warsaw edition of J. Baranovsky in 1854 on the basis of the discovered handwritten text of the work of Copernicus.

The text of the first book, Copernicus began with the statement that the world is spherical and that the Earth is also spherical, and then moved on to describing the movement of celestial bodies. He reduced these movements to uniform circulation in a circle, for, in his opinion, only it can be repeated invariably. Accepting the principle of uniform motion in a circle, Copernicus completely took the position of ancient and contemporary astronomers, because from the Aristotelian principle, which says that celestial bodies should move ideally, i.e. in a circle, he could not free himself yet. Having formulated the basic principles of his theory, Copernicus proceeded to a detailed presentation of the arguments confirming the correctness of the thesis about the motion of the Earth. As the main argument confirming the correctness of his theory, he pointed to the huge size of the sky in comparison with the Earth. He wrote that although the Earth seems huge to a person, “... reasoning clearly enough shows that the sky is immeasurably large in comparison with the Earth and represents an infinitely large size; according to our senses, the Earth is to the sky, as a point is to a body, and in magnitude, as finite to infinite. Obviously, this reasoning does not prove anything else, and, of course, it does not follow from this that the Earth should rest in the middle of the world. And it would be much more surprising if such a bulk of the world turned in twenty-four hours, and not its smallest part, which is the Earth. is finite. How long this immensity extends is by no means known. " With these words, Copernicus came close to the modern scientific presentation about the infinity of the universe.

Having refuted the arguments of Aristotle and Ptolemy against the rotation of the Earth around its axis, Copernicus proceeds to evidence that justifies the movement of the Earth around the Sun, in other words, proves that the Earth is one of the planets. He writes: "Thus, since nothing hinders the mobility of the Earth, I believe that it is necessary to consider whether it can not have several movements, so that it can be considered one of the planets."

Studying the movements of the Earth, Copernicus came to the most important statement of his theory, which he developed in the subsequent parts of his book, namely: “Consequently, if the Earth also makes other movements, such as near the center, then these movements must necessarily be the same externally and in other planets; among these movements we find the annual circulation. Therefore, if we remake this movement from solar to earthly and agree that the Sun is motionless, then the rising and setting of the signs of the zodiac and the fixed stars, when they become either morning or evening, will seem to us to occur in exactly the same way. In the same way, the stations, retrograde and direct movements of the planets will not be their own, but proceed from the movement of the Earth, which they borrow for their visible movements. Finally, the Sun itself will be considered to occupy the center of the world; in all this we are convinced by the rational order in which all the luminaries follow each other, and the harmony of the whole world, if only we want to look at the matter itself with both (as they say) eyes.

Thus, Copernicus, having proved the incorrectness of the thesis about the motionless Earth, which is considered the center of the world, argued that such a center is the Sun - now the picture of the structure of the world became more harmonious. And this was a very significant argument for him, just as such arguments were later significant for Johannes Kepler. Here, first of all, the influence of Plato's philosophy with its canons of harmony in the words of Copernicus was revealed: “After all, it is not in vain that some call the Sun the lamp of the world, others call it its mind, and still others call it the ruler. Hermes Trismegistos calls him the visible god, and Sophocles Electra - the all-seeing. Of course, this is how the Sun, as if sitting on royal throne, rules the family of luminaries around him. Also, the Earth is not deprived of the service of the Moon, but, as Aristotle says in the book On Animals, the Moon has the greatest affinity with the Earth. At the same time, the Earth conceives from the Sun and becomes pregnant every year.

Having outlined the picture of the heliocentric structure of the world, Copernicus decisively states: “Thus, in this arrangement we find an amazing proportionality of the world and a certain harmonious relationship between the movement and size of the orbits, which cannot be detected in any other way.”

Consequently, the Copernican doctrine was not of a conjectural nature, as Ossiander tried to present in his anonymous preface. The great scientist considered the conclusions of his work an objective truth, supported by convincing arguments. In the development of science, each era has its own arguments that are convincing to scientists. In the Renaissance, in the era of the cult of harmony inherited from ancient art and literature, one of the most serious arguments - even in mathematical work, which was the work of Copernicus On the rotations of the celestial spheres - could be the harmonic construction of the world structure system. And the fact that Copernicus achieved a more perfect harmony in the system he developed than the supporters of the geocentric system of the universe was for him proof of the correctness and truth of his theory. After all, the strict logic of arguments is still the greatest advantage of each scientific theory, representing, along with the correspondence to the observed facts, the strongest argument in favor of its reliability. It was this logic of Copernicus that laid the foundation for the development of modern astronomy, and in the future - the creation of a materialistic concept of the structure of the world.

According to the plan of Copernicus, his work On Rotations was supposed to replace the Mathematical Construction of Ptolemy, that is, to present all astronomy in a new heliocentric perspective, just as Ptolemy's work contained all the then understanding of astronomy from the point of view of geocentric theory. In his mathematical conclusions, when presenting the problems of planetary motion, Copernicus, in principle, adopted the mathematical system of reasoning of Ptolemy with the only essential difference that he considered the motions of the planets from the moving Earth.

Mathematical reasoning is the content of the remaining books of Copernicus's work (2 - 6). At the beginning of the 2nd book, Copernicus gives general information relating to phenomena in the celestial sphere and included in the astronomical part of the so-called spherical astronomy. The 3rd book contains important discussions about the path of the Earth around the Sun and the longitude of the year. An important achievement of Copernicus was the establishment of a connection between the phenomenon of precession, which consists in the slow movement of the equinoxes on the ecliptic, with the movement of the Earth around the Sun, and not with the sphere of permanent stars, as was done before him. Book 4 presents the theory of the motion of the moon. By introducing a double epicycle, Copernicus eliminated Ptolemy's paradox, according to which the Moon in squares should have been twice as close to the Earth as it was during a full moon or a new moon.

Important discussions about the motion of the planets are covered in the 5th book, where Copernicus dealt with the motion of the planets in ecliptic longitude. He revealed that the great epicycles of Ptolemy's theory of the motion of the planets are only a reflection of the motion of the Earth in its orbit around the Sun. In his theory, they were no longer necessary. From the numerical value of the arcs described by the planets in the sky in reverse motion, Copernicus calculated the dimensions of the planetary paths in relation to the Earth's orbit. This was one of the most important contributions of Copernicus to the knowledge of the size of the planetary system, because such calculations were not possible in the geocentric theory, where it was not even possible to fully substantiate the accepted order of the planets. In the theory of Copernicus, they directly followed from the data of observations, based on the position that the Earth is one of the planets revolving around the Sun. The relative distances of the planets from the Sun, measured in the radii of the Earth's orbit, coincide with our current data.

The work is completed by the shortest 6th book, written last and partially supplemented in 1540, where the movement of the planets is considered in the ecliptic latitude. This is a book where Copernicus' contribution to astronomy was comparatively small, mainly because instead of taking planetary paths through the Sun, as Kepler later did, Copernicus led them through the center of the Earth's orbit, which made it difficult for him to calculate, and from what he never managed to get out. Book 6 ends with instructions on how to calculate the ecliptic latitude of the planets from the given tables.

With these general remarks the work On Rotations ends. There is no general summary here, as readers of this fundamental work might expect. Problems that were not fully resolved by the author, or were not presented in the form that he would like, were not formulated either. Why there are no conclusions in this work is not known. True, we can partially consider the 1st book as such a summary, which is presented in some detail in this work, and general characteristics Copernicus gave his work in a preface addressed to Pope Paul III.

Copernicus intended to consider in detail the views of ancient astronomers, including Aristarchus, on the alleged movement of the Earth, but the pages of the manuscript with these historical excursions are crossed out, either by Ratic, or by Copernicus himself. Some of the statements of Copernicus already quoted from the 1st book On the rotations of the celestial spheres were the basis on which the scientific worldview of subsequent centuries grew. It was these most important provisions of the teachings of Copernicus that made a revolution in the views on the essence of the world. They dealt a serious blow to the philosophical system of Aristotle, especially to his views on nature, based on the geocentric system of the universe, which, after the debunking of this system, inevitably had to give way to new views.

Copernicus was aware of some of the shortcomings in his book. So, already in the third book On the rotations of the celestial spheres, he promised to clarify the question of whether "the center of the world is in the Sun or near the Sun." However, Copernicus essentially did not give such an explanation, and from the data given in his work it followed that the centers of the paths of all planets are outside the Sun. However, he attributed the paths of the planets not to the Sun, as the center of motion, but to the center of the earth's orbit, located from the center of the Sun at a distance of three diameters of the solar ball. But even so, the centers of the circles of these planetary orbits turned out to be quite far from the center of the earth's orbit. So, for example, the center of Jupiter's path turned out to be near the path of Mercury, and the center of Saturn's path was even outside the path of Venus. All this followed from the accepted principle that the planets revolve uniformly in circles; Copernicus gave this position as the basis of his mathematical reasoning.

Copernicus understood that to eliminate difficulties in determining the motion of the planets, new accurate observations of their positions could be of great help. This can explain the particularly active observations of Copernicus after 1533, already after writing the work On the rotations of the celestial spheres. However, the observations made by Copernicus were sufficient only to test the theory regarding the two planets - Earth and Mars, while the theory of the motion of the remaining planets was based on observations made by others, mainly ancient astronomers.

As new data based on observations were obtained, Copernicus entered them into the manuscript of his book, correcting and supplementing it even after 1533. However, advanced age and some troubles in his personal life caused by the biased attitude towards him of the Bishop of Warmia Jan Dantyszek prevented Copernicus from making a number of observations and calculations, so Copernicus was unable to eliminate many of the shortcomings of his theory, which he was well aware of; he also failed to make more extensive observations of the motions of the planets. A few decades after the death of Copernicus, this was done by the Danish astronomer Tycho Brahe.