Trying to Align Forbidden Love, God, and Science: The Secret Relationship of Nicolaus Copernicus and Anna Schilling

Nicolaus Copernicus is one of the most famous astronomers in history. As a man of the Renaissance, his life and work were never focused on just one discipline. However, a secret relationship also led him to be known as one of the more scandalous priests of Central Europe during his lifetime.

Some of Copernicus’ Accomplishments

Nicolaus Copernicus was born on February 19, 1473 in Royal Prussia. He was a polyglot, lawyer, physician, class scholar, governor, diplomat, economist, and translator. During his life, he became famous as a mathematician and an astronomer who formulated a different model of the universe, one which placed the sun at the center.

Copernicus published a text called De revolutionibus orbium coelestium (On the Revolutions of the Celestial Spheres), which became one of the most significant works about astronomy. His research has been called the Copernican Revolution, which became an important contribution to the Scientific Revolution. He also achieved success by deriving a quantity theory of money, a key concept in economics. Furthermore, in 1519, he formulated a version of what later became known as Gresham's law. Apart from all this, Copernicus was a member of the Dominican order as well.

Heliocentric model of the solar system in Copernicus' manuscript (Public Domain)