--- title: Improvement Era description: Monthly periodical of the Mormon church, 1897 onward. This library holds the issues of November 1897 to December 1930. authors: - F. S. Harris collections: - periodicals tags: - magazine - improvement-era periodical: Improvement Era volume: 21 number: 5 published: 1918-03 publisher: Young Men’s Mutual Improvement Associations publisher_place: Salt Lake City language: en type: magazine reference: "F. S. Harris, “The Makers of Science: VI,” *Improvement Era* 21, no. 5 (March 1918): 397–398." source: url: https://archive.org/details/improvementera2105unse transcription: Transcribed from the Internet Archive scan of each issue (the item for each issue is named in the issue's own source); unnumbered advertising leaves are omitted, printed page numbers are kept as page markers. identifier: improvementera2105unse start_page: 397 end_page: 398 rights: status: public-domain basis: US publication 1930 or earlier (published 1918-03) source: https://archive.org/details/improvementera2105unse publication_year: 1918 note: The Internet Archive item metadata carries a blanket "© Copyright by Intellectual Reserve, Inc." notice. The library owner judged it inapplicable because this issue was published in 1918, before 1931; a scan-level notice does not restore copyright. --- # The Makers of Science: VI The Makers of Science By F. S. Harris, Director Utah Agricultural Experiment Station VI — Copernicus Copernicus furnishes an example of a man who by diligent study gave to the world one of the most important discoveries of all time in spite of the fact that he possessed no unusual mental endowments. His intellectual prowess cannot be com- pared to that of Newton who lived a century later nor to some of the earlier scholars; but a life of painstaking investigation enabled him to completely demonstrate that the old Ptolemaic idea of the solar system is wrong. So great was the contribution of this Polish monk that the real dawn of modern science is usually considered to date from 1543, the year he published his life's work. Copernicus was born at Thorn, in Polish Prussia, in 1473. His real name was Nicolas Copernik which was Latinized to the name that is usually applied to him. He was brought up under the guardianship of his uncle Lucas, Prince-bishop of the Prus- sian diocese of Ermland. He entered Cracow University the year before Columbus discovered America. Here he studied mathematics, optics, and perspective, and later was graduated as doctor of arts and medicine; in the meantime he was also preparing for the ecclesiastical profession. Not many details of his life are recorded, but he is known to have been an assistant at Cracow and to have studied mathe- matics at Bologna. In 1500 he lectured in mathematics and astronomy at Rome. About this time he observed an eclipse of the moon. The following year he began the study of medicine at Padua, going into the orders at about the same time. On his return home he took charge of the principal church in his native home and became canon, although he was never made a priest. Here at Frauenburg, near the mouth of the Vistula, he lived the rest of his life in comparative quiet, seldom taking any im- portant part in the life of the times. One exception to this, however, was a report he made to the government on coinage. There seems to have been nothing unusual in his life. He was just a quiet, patient, God-fearing student who through his scholarly habits drew to himeslf several earnest pupils whom he instructed mainly through conversation. He compiled tables on the movements of the planets, thinking to improve the Ptolemaic system which was universally believed in at the time. 398 IMPROVEMENT ERA This system considered the earth to be the center of the universe with all the other heavenly bodies revolving around it. His studies, however, gradually forced him to the idea that the earth moved around the sun; this was a complete change from any idea that had previously been held. To our way of looking at things today this may not have been much of a step, but the havoc it wrought is shown by the bitter strife that lasted through several generations after the an- nouncement of the Copernican theory. Although Copernicus definitely proved his points, it remained for Kepler, Galileo, and Newton to give a complete explanation of the movements of heavenly bodies and the reasons for these movements. Copernicus did not live to feel the persecution that was heaped on those who adhered to his teachings. After thirty-six years of study he wrote his life's thesis entitled De Revolution- ibus Orbium Caelestium which he dedicated to the Pope. The expense of printing the book was paid by a Cardinal. The first printed copy of the book came to him just a few hours before his death, enabling him to die happy in the thought that his work was finished. The work, being dedicated to the Pope, was at first well received by the Catholics but not by the Protestants. Martin Luther denounced the author as "an arrogant fool who wrote in defiance of scripture." Later, even the Catholics denounced the teachings as heresy and persecuted all who adhered to them. That Copernicus expected criticism is shown from the following statement in the dedication: "If there be some babblers who, through ignorance of all mathematics, take upon them to judge of these things and dare to blame and cavil at my work, because of some passage of scripture which they have wrested to their own purpose, I re- gard them not, and will not scruple to hold their judgment in contempt." In brief, the life work of Copernicus was to place the sun in its true place as the center of the solar system, instead of the earth, and to greatly simplify by this one step the theory of planetary motion. There are many defects in his system; but as one biographer said: "His chief merit is that he dared to look at facts of nature with his own eyes, unhampered by the prejudice of centuries. A system venerable with age, and sup- ported by great names, was universally believed, and had been believed for centuries. To doubt this system and to seek after a better one at a time when all men's minds were governed by tradition — this required a great mind and a high character. Such a mind and such a character had this monk of Frauen- burg."