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Nicolaus Copernicus (1473-1543) was a Polish Augustinian canon, bien in the city of Torun, and a man of many talents – in mathematics, astronomy, medicine, economics and politics. He made improved astronomical observations of planetary motions from which he concluded that a description of the Solar System with planets including the Earth, all orbiting nthe Sun- a heliocentric model- was more consistent with the observations. In 1543, he described his model in a book, Revolutionibus Orbium Coelestium (On The Orbits of Heavenly Bodies); it is said that he received the printed version of the book on his death-bed. Copernicus was still reluctant to abandon the idea that all motions had to be circular at a constant speed so, since planetary orbits are actually ellipses, he assumed that the Sun was slightly displaced from the orbital centres, which gave varying distances from the Sun, as observed, and also explained why planets have a greater angular speed when closer to the Sun. Even so he still had to introduce small epicycles to match his observations.

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In 1610 Galileo published his observations of Jupiter and Venus in Sidereus Nuncius (The Starry Messenger), which promoted the heliocentric model of the solar system and this once again provoked opposition by the church. In 1616, support for the heliocentric theory was declared as heresy and all heretical publications, which included works by Copernicus, Johannes Kepler and Galileo were placed on the Index Librorum Prohibitorum, the list of books that Catholics were forbidden to read. Thereafter, to openly support the corpernican model was very hazardous indeed. Copernicus never knew of the furore that his ideas were to produce.

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