De revolutionibus orbium coelestium

Nicolai Copernici Torinensis De revolutionibus orbium coelestium, Libri VI (On the Revolutions of the Heavenly Spheres by Nicolaus Copernicus of Torin 6 Books), first printed in 1543 in Nuremberg, is the seminal work on heliocentric theory and the masterpiece of astronomer Nicolaus Copernicus (1473–1543). The book offered an alternative model of the universe to the Ptolemy's geocentric system that had been widely accepted since ancient times. Cop... more

Nicolai Copernici Torinensis De revolutionibus orbium coelestium, Libri VI (On the Revolutions of the Heavenly Spheres by Nicolaus Copernicus of Torin 6 Books), first printed in 1543 in Nuremberg, is the seminal work on heliocentric theory and the masterpiece of astronomer Nicolaus Copernicus (1473–1543). The book offered an alternative model of the universe to the Ptolemy's geocentric system that had been widely accepted since ancient times. Copernicus initially outlined his system in a short, untitled, anonymous manuscript that he distributed to several friends, referred to as the Commentariolus. A physician's library list dating to 1514 includes a manuscript whose description matches the Commentariolus, so Copernicus must have begun work on his new system by that time. However, most historians believe that he wrote the Commentariolus after his return from Italy, and possibly only after 1510. At this time, Copernicus anticipated that he could reconcile the motion of the Earth to the... less