Nicolaus Copernicus died on 24 May 1543 in Frombork, aged 70. A Polish astronomer and mathematician, Copernicus studied in Kraków and in Italy, and spent most of his life as a canon of the cathedral at Frombork. He proposed a heliocentric model of the Solar System, in which the Earth and the other planets revolve around the Sun, and the Earth rotates daily on its axis, in contrast to the geocentric system of Ptolemy. He worked out his theory in the 1510s but published it only in 1543, in On the Revolutions of the Heavenly Spheres, the year he died. His work began the Scientific Revolution. He was also a physician, administrator and economist.
Before and after
- from 1543 to 1687Scientific Revolution
- 1543De revolutionibus orbium coelestium
- 1543Copernicus publishes On the Revolutions of the Heavenly Spheres
- 1543Vesalius publishes De humani corporis fabrica
- 24 May 1543Death of Nicolaus Copernicus
- from 1545 to 1648Counter-Reformation
- from 13 December 1545 to 21 February 1563Council of Trent
- 18 February 1546Death of Martin Luther
- from 10 July 1546 to 23 May 1547Schmalkaldic War
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The era
This moment belongs to the Early modern world (1500 CE to 1760 CE), voyages, printing and new ideas. You can also browse everything in the 16th century.