ABSTRACT
The year 1543 saw the publication of De Revolutionibus Orbium Coelestium (On the Revolutions of the Celestial Spheres) and the death of its author, Nicholas Copernicus. He received the first printed copy of the work on his death-bed. For some historians this work marks the end of the Middle Ages and the beginning of modern times. However, in his study of the period, The Astronomical Revolution, Alexander Koyré wonders if we ought not to go further and say that the break caused by the work of Copernicus lies between us and, not only the Middle Ages, but classical antiquity too. For, he says, ‘only since the time of Copernicus has man ceased to be the centre of the Universe, and the Cosmos ceased to be regulated around him’ (Koyré 1973: 15f.).
