ABSTRACT
Niklas Koppernigk was born February 19, 1473, at Thorn, on the Vistula. His father was a merchant whose nationality, whether German or Polish, is a matter of controversy. His mother was of German extraction. The father died in 1483, and Copernicus was brought up by an uncle who destined him for a career in the Church. Copernicus from the first was well aware of the opposition, based on both learned and doctrinal grounds, which would be aroused by the publication of his novel views on the constitution of the solar system. The Copernican system took the better part of a century to become firmly established in scientific thought. It was opposed from the beginning by Luther and the Reformers, and though at first it was tolerated by the Catholics, their resistance to it strengthened until, in 1616, they were prepared to forbid Galilei to teach Copernican astronomy.
