one thing about the people of Toruń, they'll shove Kopernik down your throat any chance they have

The resting place of Nicholas Copernicus was once lost but was found through a blend of history, science, and detective work, showcasing the power of persistence and modern technology in solving the mysteries of the past.

Discover how archaeologists and scientists pieced together clues to finally locate the final resting place of the man who placed the Sun at the center of our universe.

2024 March 30

Medieval Astronomy from Melk Abbey

Image Credit: Paul Beck (Univ. Vienna), Georg Zotti (Vienna Inst. Arch. Science)

Copyright: Library of Melk Abbey, Frag. 229

Explanation: Discovered by accident, this manuscript page provides graphical insight to astronomy in medieval times, before the Renaissance and the influence of Nicolaus Copernicus, Tycho de Brahe, Johannes Kepler, and Galileo. The intriguing page is from lecture notes on astronomy compiled by the monk Magister Wolfgang de Styria before the year 1490. The top panels clearly illustrate the necessary geometry for a lunar (left) and solar eclipse in the Earth-centered Ptolemaic system. At lower left is a diagram of the Ptolemaic view of the Solar System with text at the upper right to explain the movement of the planets according to Ptolemy's geocentric model. At the lower right is a chart to calculate the date of Easter Sunday in the Julian calendar. The illustrated manuscript page was found at historic Melk Abbey in Austria.

The Hall of Honor at the Polish Pavilion during the Exposition Internationale des Arts et Techniques dans la Vie Moderne (International Exposition of Art and Technology in Modern Life) held in 1937 in Paris. The Hall was designed by Stanisław Brukalski and Bohdan Pniewski. The statues depict Bolesław Chrobry, Władysław Jagiełło, Nicolaus Copernicus, Tadeusz Kościuszko, Adam Mickiewicz, Fryderyk Chopin and Józef Piłsudski. The motto above reads Są ludzie i są prace ludzkie tak silne i tak potężne, że śmierć przezwyciężają, że żyją i obcują między nami (There are people and there are human labours so mighty and so potent, that they conquer death, that they live and commune among us), words spoken by Józef Piłsudski at the reburial of Juliusz Słowacki, a great Polish poet.

Nicolaus Copernicus (Konstanty Laszczka, Polish sculptor)

Happy birthday, Nicolaus Copernicus!

Nicolaus Copernicus (February 19, 1473 — May 24, 1543) is primarily known as an exceptional astronomer who formulated the true model of the solar system, which led to an unprecedented change in the human perception of Earth’s place in the universe. This great Pole, who is rightly included among the greatest minds of the European Renaissance, was also a clergyman, a mathematician, a physician, a lawyer and a translator. He also proved himself as an effective strategist and military commander, leading the defence of Olsztyn against the attack of the German Monastic Order of the Teutonic Knights. Later on, he exhibited great organizational skills, quickly rebuilding and relaunching the economy of the areas devastated by the invasion of the Teutonic Knights. He also served in diplomacy and participated in the works of the Polish Sejm.

Copernicus’ scientific achievements in the field of economics were equally significant, and place him among the greatest authors of the world economic thought. In 1517 Copernicus wrote a treatise on the phenomenon of bad money driving out good money. He noted that the“debasement of coin” was one of the main reasons for the collapse of states. He was therefore one of the first advocates of modern monetary policy based on the unification of the currency in circulation, constant care for its value and the prevention of inflation, which ruins the economy. In money he distinguished the ore value (valor) and the estimated value (estimatio), determined by the issuer. According to Copernicus, the ore value of a good coin should correspond to its estimated value. This was not synonymous, however, with the reduction of the coin to a piece of metal being the subject of trade in goods. The ore contained in the money was supposed to be the guarantee of its price, and the value of the legal tender was assigned to it by special symbols proving its relationship with a given country and ruler. Although such views are nothing new today, in his time they constituted a milestone in the development of economic thought.

Additionally Copernicus was not only a theorist of finance, but he was also the co-author of a successful monetary reform, later also implemented in other countries. It was Copernicus, the first of the great Polish economists, who in 1519 proposed to King Sigismund I the Old to unify the monetary system of the Polish Crown with that of its subordinate Royal Prussia. The principles described in the treatise published in 1517 were decades later repeated by the English financier Thomas Gresham and are currently most often referred to around the world as Gresham’s law. Historical truth, however, requires us to restore the authorship of this principle to its creator, for example through the popularization of knowledge about the Copernicus-Gresham Law. (© NBP - We protect the value of money).

When you ask for a “surprise” inscription.

This weekend I got 25 copies of AHTU (and a couple of LRPD and LYNLTP) signed, personalized, boxed, and ready to head out tomorrow. My goal is to get another ten ready and sent each day this week and hopefully by the end of next weekend all 120(!!) will be shipped. Keep an eye on your email if you ordered one from me!

Copernicus crater on the Moon // Gonzalo

Copernicus crater is named after none other than Polish astronomer Nicolaus Copernicus (1473 - 1543), the man who came up with a model of the universe that placed the Sun at the center rather than the Earth. (Just ignore Aristarchus of Samos who did that eighteen centuries earlier!)

Thomas S. Kuhn, (1957), The Copernican Revolution. Planetary Astronomy in the Development of Western Thought, Vintage Books, New York, NY, 1959 ((1957-)1970 Harvard University Press edition here)

(via Michael Dyer)

There is no greater feeling than Polish rage when Polish heritage isn't recognized when talked about someone famous

1661~Cellarius's chart illustrating a heliocentric model of the universe,as proposed by Nicolaus Copernicus

View of Mayor Coleman A. Young, Michigan Governor William G. Milliken and other dignitaries at the dedication of the Copernicus bust and mosaic at the Detroit Public Library. The mosaic, by artist Frank Varga, is displayed on an easel.

Burton Historical Collection, Detroit Public Library

Warsaw’s Copernicus Monument at night, pre 1939.

since there are some people out here who are finally starting to give a shit about Eastern Europe and our culture, just let me remind you quickly that

Chopin was Polish

Marie Curie Maria Skłodowska-Curie was Polish

Copernicus was Polish

that's all, keep scrolling

Neque enim ita mihi mea placent, ut non perpendam, quid alii de illis iudicaturi sint. Et quamvis sciam, hominis philosophi cogitationes esse remotas à iudicio vulgi, propterea quòd illius studium sit veritatem omnibus in rebus, quatenus id à Deo rationi humanæ permissum est, inquirere, tamen alienas prorsus à rectitudine opiniones fugiendas censeo. Itaque cum mecum ipse cogitarem, quàm absurdum ἀκρόαμα existimaturi essent illi, qui multorum seculorum iudiciis hanc opinionem confirmatam norunt, quòd terra immobilis in medio cœli, tanquam centrum illius posita sit, si ego contra assererem terram moveri.

For I am not so enamored of my own opinions that I disregard what others may think of them. I am aware that a philosopher's ideas are not subject to the judgment of ordinary persons, because it is his endeavor to seek the truth in all things, to the extent permitted to human reason by God. Yet I hold that completely erroneous views should be shunned. Those who know that the consensus of many centuries has sanctioned the conception that the earth remains at rest in the middle of the heaven as its center would, I reflected, regard it as an insane pronouncement if I made the opposite assertion that the earth moves.

—Nicolaus Copernicus, De revolutionibus orbium cœlestium, Prefatio (1543

[Robert Scott Horton]

Copernican Assemblage No. One - digital photograph - robert matejcek - 2023

Stuart Mackenzie: "I'm not kidding, that boy's head is like Sputnik; spherical, but quite pointy at parts." - Mike Myers - So I Married an Axe Murderer

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