Speaking of Copernicus....

In a previous post today, Nicholas Copernicus came up. Copernicus is, of course, the Polish 'revolutionary' cleric who is given credit for the heliocentric model of the solar system. I just came across a story where Polish archaeologists believe they have found the remains of Copernicus, who lived in the 16th century. An interesting coincidence...

The heliocentric model changed our entire picture of the heavens, where the earth is not the center of the universe, but rather just one of many objects in orbit around the Sun. In Copernicus's lifetime, the Church dominated all aspects of life, and 'science' did not truly exist. Copernicus did not want to go public with his beliefs for fear of persecution by the Church, and it was Galileo who took the torch and promoted the heliocentric model. Galileo, in turn, found himself in conflict with the Church. We should be grateful to these two men, who were largely responsible for the birth of what we now call science (particularly Galileo, who promoted experimentation and observation as the basis for one's conclusions; Isaac Newton was Galileo's successor and gave birth to rigorous mathematical science).