Figuratively speaking, we can say that before Copernicus, people were fenced off from space by a blank wall. Copernicus made wide gates in this wall, through which the human mind rushed into the abyss of the Universe.
Before the publication of his main work "On the rotations of the celestial spheres", Copernicus compiled a short handwritten summary of the heliocentric system of the world called "Commentariolus", i.e. The "Small Commentary", and in printed form, the foundations of the Copernican theory were first published in 1540 by the student of Copernicus Rhetik in a brochure called "The First Narrative". All these works were written in Latin.
In Russian, the work of Copernicus is published in its entirety for the first time. Together with him, translations of the "Small Commentary" and "First Narrative" are also printed.

ContentEditor's note (5).
ON THE ROTATIONS OF THE HEAVENLY SPHERES
To His Holiness the Great Pontiff Paul III Preface by Nicolaus Copernicus to books on rotations (11).
Book One
Introduction (16).
Chapter I. That the world is spherical (18).
Chapter II. That the Earth is also spherical (18).
Chapter III. About how the earth and water form a single ball (19).
Chapter IV. About that movement celestial bodies eternal, uniform and circular or composed of circular motions (20).
Chapter V
Chapter VI. On the immeasurability of the sky in comparison with the size of the Earth (23).
Chapter VII. Why did the ancients believe that the Earth is motionless in the middle of the world and is, as it were, its center (25).
Chapter VIII. Refutation of the above arguments and their inconsistency (26).
Chapter IX. About whether several movements can be attributed to the Earth, and about the center of the world (30).
Chapter X. On the Order of the Celestial Orbits (30).
Chapter XI. Proof of the triple motion of the Earth (36).
Chapter XII. On straight lines contracted by arcs (41).
Chapter XIII. On sides and angles of flat right triangles (57).
Chapter XIV. On spherical triangles (60).
book two
Chapter 1. About circles and their names (72).
Chapter II. On the inclination of the zodiac, the distance of the tropics, and how they are determined (73).
Chapter III. About arcs and angles between intersecting circles - equinox, zodiac and meridian, by which declination and right ascension are determined, and about their calculation (75).
Chapter IV. On how to find the declination and right ascension of any luminary that is outside the circle and passes along the middle line of the zodiac, if the latitude and longitude of the luminary is known, and also, together with what degree of the zodiac, this luminary divides the sky in half (82).
Chapter V. On sections of the horizon (83).
Chapter VI. About what are the differences of the midday shadows (84).
Chapter VII. About how the mutual connection of the magnitude of the longest day, the latitude of the place of sunrise and the inclination of the sphere, as well as other differences in days (85) is determined.
Chapter VIII. On hours and subdivisions of day and night (94).
Chapter IX. On the oblique ascent of the degrees of the zodiac, and how for each ascending degree one is determined that divides the sky in half (94).
Chapter X. On the angle of intersection of the zodiac with the horizon (96).
Tables of ascensions of signs and angles formed by the zodiac with the horizon (98).
Chapter XI. On the use of these tables (102).
Chapter XII. About the angles and arcs drawn through the poles of the horizon to the same circle of the zodiac (102).
Chapter XIII. On the rising and setting of the stars (103).
Chapter XIV. About determining the places of stars and tabular description fixed stars (105).
Catalog of signs of the zodiac and stars (110).
Book Three
Chapter I. About the anticipation of the equinoxes and solstices (158).
Chapter II. History of observations proving uneven prelude of equinoxes and solstice (160).
Chapter III. Assumptions that can explain the change in the equinoxes and the inclination of the zodiac to the equinoctial circle (162).
Chapter IV. About how the oscillatory, or libration, movement is composed of circular ones (165).
Chapter V
Chapter VI. On the uniform motions of the precession of the equinoxes and the inclination of the zodiac (168).
Chapter VII. On what is the greatest difference between the mean and apparent precession of the equinoxes (176).
Chapter VIII. On the Partial Values ​​of the Differences of the Indicated Movements and the Compilation of Their Tables (178).
Chapter IX. On the clarification and correction of all that has been said concerning the precession of the equinoxes (181).
Chapter X
Chapter XI. On the establishment of the epochs of the mean movements of the equinoxes and anomalies (183).
Chapter XII. On the calculation of the anticipation of the vernal equinox and the inclination of the zodiacal circle (185).
Chapter XIII. About size and differences solar year (187).
Chapter XIV. On Uniform and Average Motions in Revolutions of the Center of the Earth (191).
Chapter XV. Preliminary theorems for determining the inequality of the apparent motion of the Sun (199).
Chapter XVI. On the apparent inequality of the Sun (204).
Chapter XVII. Definition of the first, or annual, solar inequality with its special values ​​(207).
Chapter XVIII. On refinement of uniform motion in longitude (208).
Chapter XIX. On establishing the starting points for the uniform motion of the Sun (210).
Chapter XX. On the second and double inequality, which is obtained as a result of a change in the apses of the Sun (211).
Chapter XXI. On the value of the second difference of the solar inequality (214).
Chapter XXII. On how the mean motion of the solar apogee is determined, together with the uneven motion (216).
Chapter XXIII. On the correction of the solar anomaly and the establishment of its initial points (216).
Chapter XXIV. Compilation of a table of inequalities of the mean and apparent motions (217).
Chapter XXV. On the calculation of the apparent position of the Sun (220).
Chapter XXVI. About ??????????, that is, about the differences in natural days (221).
Book Four
Chapter I. Assumptions about the lunar circles according to the opinion of the ancients (225).
Chapter II. On the lack of the above assumptions (227).
Chapter III. Another opinion about the motion of the Moon (229).
Chapter IV. On the rotations of the Moon and its special motions (231).
Chapter V. Explanation of the first inequality of the motion of the moon, which occurs in new moons and full moons (240).
Chapter VI. Verification of what has been stated concerning the mean motions of the Moon in longitude, and also the anomalies (247).
Chapter VII. On starting points for lunar longitude and anomalies (247).
Chapter VIII. On the second inequality of the Moon, and on the relation of the first epicycle to the second (248).
Chapter IX. On the last inequality with which the Moon seems to move unevenly from the upper apse of the epicycle (250).
Chapter X. How the apparent motion of the Moon is determined by means of given uniforms (251).
Chapter XI. Compilation of tables of prostapheresis, or lunar equations (253).
Chapter XII. On the calculation of the lunar motion (257).
Chapter XIII. On how the motion of the latitude of the Moon is investigated and determined (258).
Chapter XIV. On the epochs of the anomaly of the motion of the Moon in latitude (260).
Chapter XV. The device of the parallax instrument (262).
Chapter XVI. On how the parallactic displacements of the Moon are determined (263).
Chapter XVII. Determination of the distance of the Moon from the Earth and how it is expressed in parts, if the distance from the center of the Earth to the surface is taken as one part (265).
Chapter XVIII. On the diameter of the moon and the earth's shadow at the place of the passage of the moon (267).
Chapter XIX. On how the distances of the Sun and Moon from the Earth are simultaneously determined, their diameters and the shadow at the place of the passage of the Moon, as well as the axis of the shadow (268).
Chapter XX. About the magnitude of the three luminaries mentioned - the Sun, the Moon and the Earth - and about their ratios (271).
Chapter XXI. On the apparent diameter of the Sun and its parallactic shifts (271).
Chapter XXII. On the unevenness of the apparent diameter of the Moon and on its parallactic displacements (272).
Chapter XXIII. On the measure of change in the earth's shadow (273).
Chapter XXIV. Compilation of a table of various values ​​of the parallactic displacements of the Sun and Moon for a circle passing through the poles of the horizon (274).
Chapter XXV. On the calculation of the parallax of the Sun and the Moon (280).
Chapter XXVI. On how parallaxes differ in longitude and latitude (281).
Chapter XXVII. Confirmation of what has been said about lunar parallaxes (283).
Chapter XXVIII. On the mean conjunctions and oppositions of the Moon and the Sun (284).
Chapter XXIX. On the study of true conjunctions and oppositions of the Sun and the Moon (287).
Chapter XXX. How the ecliptic conjunctions or oppositions of the sun and moon differ from others (288).
Chapter XXXI. On the magnitude of an eclipse of the Sun or Moon (289).
Chapter XXXII. On the prediction of the duration of an eclipse (290).
Book Five
Chapter I. Of the revolutions and mean motions of the planets (293).
Chapter II. Explanation of the mean and apparent motions of the planets according to the opinion of the ancients (306).
Chapter III. General explanation of the apparent unevenness due to the motion of the Earth (307).
Chapter IV. On how the proper motions of the planets may appear uneven (309).
Chapter V. Explanation of the motion of Saturn (312).
Chapter VI. On three other recently observed acronichic positions of Saturn (316).
Chapter VII. On the verification of the motion of Saturn (321).
Eyes VIII. On establishing the initial positions of Saturn (322).
Chapter IX. On the parallactic revolutions of Saturn, resulting from the annual motion of the Earth in orbit, and on what is its distance from the Sun (322).
Chapter X. Determination of the motion of Jupiter (324).
Chapter XI. On three other recently observed acronichic positions of Jupiter (327).
Chapter XII. Confirmation of calculations of the mean motion of Jupiter (332).
Chapter XIII Establishment of starting points for the motion of Jupiter (332).
Chapter XIV. On the determination of the parallactic motions of Jupiter and its altitude relative to the earth's orbit (333).
Chapter XV. On the planet Mars (335).
Chapter XVI. On three other recently observed oppositions of the planet Mars (338).
Chapter XVII. Confirmation of the calculation of the motion of Mars (341).
Chapter XVIII. Establishment of starting points for Mars (341).
Chapter XIX. About what is the magnitude of the orbit of Mars, expressed in parts, one of which is the "radius" of the annual orbit of the Earth (342).
Chapter XX. On the planet Venus (344).
Chapter XXI. On the ratio of the diameters of the orbits of Venus and the Earth (346).
Chapter XXII. On the dual motion of Venus (347).
Chapter XXIII. On the study of the motion of Venus (348).
Chapter XXIV. On the initial points of the anomaly of Venus (352).
Chapter XXV. About Mercury (352).
Chapter XXVI. On the position of the upper and lower apses of Mercury (355).
Chapter XXVII. About what is the eccentricity of Mercury and what is the proportionality of its orbits (356).
Chapter XXVIII. For what reason the deviations of Mercury near hexagonal aspects seem greater than those obtained at perigee (359).
Chapter XXIX. An investigation of the mean motion of Mercury (360).
Chapter XXX. On recent observations of the motion of Mercury (362).
Chapter XXXI. On establishing starting points for Mercury (368).
Chapter XXXII. On some other representation of approach and removal (368).
Chapter XXXIII. On the tables of the prostapheresis of the five planets (370).
Chapter XXXIV. On how the positions of the five planets are calculated in longitude (381).
Chapter XXXV. On the standing and backward movements of the five wandering luminaries (382).
Chapter XXXVI. On how the times, places and arcs of backward movements are determined (385).
Book Six
Chapter I General information on the movements of the five planets in latitude (388).
Chapter II. Assumptions about the circles in which these planets move in latitude (390).
Chapter III. On the magnitude of the inclination of the orbits of Saturn, Jupiter and Mars (395).
Chapter IV. On the calculation of the latitudes of these three luminaries in other positions and in general (397).
Chapter V. Of the latitudes of Venus and Mercury (398).
Chapter VI. On the second deviation of Venus and Mercury in latitude due to the inclination of their orbits at apogee and perigee (401).
Chapter VII. About what are the angles of liquation for each planet - Venus and Mercury (403).
Chapter VIII. On the third kind of latitude of Venus and Mercury, which is called deviation (406).
Chapter IX. On the calculation of the latitudes of the five planets (415).
SMALL COMMENT. THE MESSAGE OF COPERNICA AGAINST WERNER. UPSALA RECORD
Nicolaus Copernicus a small commentary on the hypotheses he established about celestial movements (419).
On the Order of the Spheres (420).
On the apparent motions of the Sun (421).
That the uniformity of motion must be determined in relation not to the equinoxes, but to the fixed stars (422).
About the moon (423).
About the three upper planets - Saturn, Jupiter and Mars (424).
On Venus (427).
About Mercury (429).
Epistle of Copernicus against Werner (431).
Uppsala entry (438).
Notes (458).
APPS
From the translator (469).
A.A.Mikhailov. Nicholas Copernicus. Biographical sketch (471).
George Joachim Reticus about the books of rotations of Nicolaus Copernicus the first narrative to John Schoner (488).
On the motion of fixed stars (489).
General considerations concerning the year counted from the equinox (491).
On the change in the inclination of the ecliptic (493).
On the eccentricity and motion of the Sun's apogee (494).
That, according to the movement of the eccentric, world monarchies are replaced (495).
Special consideration of the magnitude of the year counted from the equinoxes (498).
General Considerations on the Motions of the Moon, Together with the New Hypotheses of Master Instructor (502).
The main reasons why one should depart from the hypotheses of ancient astronomers (505).
Transition to enumeration of new hypotheses of all astronomy (508).
Location of the Universe (509).
About what movements correspond to the Great Circle and related to it. Three motions of the Earth - daily, annual and declinatory (513).
On librations (517).
The second part of the hypotheses about the motions of the five planets (522).
Hypotheses about the movement of the five planets in longitude (526).
On how the planets appear to deviate from the ecliptic (533).
Praise of Prussia (540).

On the rotations of the celestial spheres
"ON ROTATIONS OF HEAVENLY SPHERES" (“De Revo-lutiobus Orbiumo coelestium”) - the work of Nicolaus Copernicus, consisting of six books, was published in 1543 (Russian translation by I.N. Veselovsky, edited by A.A. Mikhailov; M., 1964). The main idea of ​​this essay was that the Earth is not the center of the Universe and, in terms of its astronomical status, can be equated with other planets. solar system, and the observed motions of the planets and the Sun can be explained by the threefold motion of the Earth. This completely overturned the point of view of Greek astronomers and mathematicians, who believed that the goal of their science was not to reveal the real mechanism of the movement of celestial bodies, but only to "save phenomena." The search for the hidden basis of the observed phenomena determines the primacy of the theoretical approach over astronomical data. observations. The merit of Copernicus lies not in the discovery of new facts but in the development of a new theories. This theory is based on principle of relativity which is applied in the study of all perceived movements. Any perceived change, according to Copernicus, occurs due to the movement of either the observed object or the observer, or due to the movement of both. The misunderstanding of this principle by Greek astronomers and mathematicians led to the fact that their arguments were based only on appearances, writes Copernicus in the Minor Commentary. Thus, the apparent movement of the Sun does not come from its movement, but from the movement of the Earth and its sphere. The same can be said about the visible simple and backward motions of the planets.
What is the role of the Sun in the heliocentric system of Copernicus? It is extremely great, but not in its mechanical interpretation. Firstly, the center of planetary movements is not in the Sun itself, but somewhere near it, so that the luminary does not have any mechanical effect on the movement of the planets, as was the case in Aristotelianism. The specific role of the Sun, as understood by Copernicus (and the Pythagoreans), is to illuminate the Universe and give it warmth and life. The sun seemed to Copernicus the mind that governs the world and creates it. “Indeed,” he writes, “in such a magnificent temple, who could place this lamp in a different and better place, if not in the one from where it can illuminate everything.” In this regard, Copernicus is the successor of the ancient organismic concept of the Cosmos (Pythagorean and Aristotelian). He attaches particular importance to the sphericity of the world, to the fact that the world is spherical, since this form is the most perfect of all and represents an integrity, having the greatest capacity. Rhetik in his "First Narrative" also emphasizes the importance of the ideas of Plato and the Pythagoreans about the sphericity of celestial bodies, which is the cause of their movement (circular around the Sun and rotational around its axis). Thus, Copernicus turns not to one, but to several sources. ancient origin, including also hermeticism and Neoplatonism. In his construction of the world, such aesthetic categories as perfection, symmetry, beauty, harmony and simplicity play an important role. In terms of epistemology Copernican methodology can be identified to a large extent with Aristotelianism, since, according to Rheticus, "in physics and astronomy, one must ascend to basic principles mainly from results and observations."
On the whole, the logical structure of the Copernican method can be reconstructed as follows.
1. In the era of Copernicus, there was a firm conviction that the Ptolemaic system and other well-known astronomical teachings did not correspond to the observations of "all times" and should be abandoned.
2. The solution by Copernicus of the special problem of determining the length of the year and month, associated with the reform of the calendar, needed more accurate observations and required the adoption of new hypotheses that contradicted "the evidence of our feelings" and were "as if opposite to the hypotheses of the ancients."
3. The hypothesis of the triple motion of the Earth, adopted in the course of solving the special problem of the motion of the Sun and the Moon, as a result of careful observations, was successively extended to the rest of the luminaries.
4. Preliminary estimation of observations "of all times" indicated that we are talking not about a simple renewal of astronomy (another hypothesis designed to "save phenomena"), but about a radical transformation of its foundations.
5. The next step consisted in the mathematical derivation of possible consequences from the accepted hypotheses in order to harmonize them with the totality of observations accumulated by astronomy over the course of two millennia.
6. Confirmation of these consequences erected accepted hypotheses to rank laws astronomical science.
Thus, in his research, Copernicus relied mainly on the epistemology and methodology of Aristotle, but not on his physics, which proceeded from circular orbits and the uniform motion of the planets.
B.C. Chernyak
Historiography of the book "On the rotations of the celestial spheres". The work of Copernicus was included by the Vatican in the list of banned books (the ban was lifted in 1822). Traces of Copernicanism in Russia can be found in the "New Atlas" by G. and I. Bleu, in the "Selenography" by I. Hevelius (1647). The propaganda of the ideas of Copernicus is presented in the works of D. Bernoulli, L. Euler, M.V. Lomonosov. After visiting Torun in 1902, V.I. Vernadsky gives a number of high assessments of the work of Copernicus (see: Vernadsky V.I. Fav. works on the history of science. M., 1981. S. 101-102, 228).
The revolutionary significance of the book of Copernicus was realized immediately after its publication. I. Kepler, being a Platonist, in the treatise "In defense of Tycho against Ursus" in 1600-1601. (Apologia Tychonis contra Ursum // Kepler I. Opera omnis. Frankfurt am Main, 1858. Vol. 1. P. 215-287) appreciates Copernican heliocentrism and looks for its predecessors in Marcianus Capella, Macrobius, Pliny, Vitruvius and Plato. True, Luther called Copernicus a fool who intended to turn the entire universe upside down, and Melanchthon called on the authorities to tame the scientist. F. Bacon, defending an empiricist, qualitative methodology, opposed the teachings of Copernicus, considering the Earth to be motionless ( Bacon F. Op. M., 1978. S. 147). Galileo considered his teaching in the Dialogue Concerning the Two Chief Systems of the World: the Ptolemaic and the Copernican (1632), a work that provoked condemnation and renunciation of Galileo. T. Hobbes connects heliocentric system Copernicus with a return to the ideas of Pythagoras, Aristarchus and Philolaus ( Hobbes T. Fav. prod. M., 1964. T. 1. S. 45) on the circular motion of the planets. In The Principles of Philosophy (1644), R. Descartes called the systems of Tycho Brahe and Copernicus hypotheses, denying the motion of the Earth even with more care than Copernicus ( Descartes R. Op. M., 1989. T. 1. S. 388). Fontenelle's Discourses on the Plurality of Worlds (1686) became an apology for the heliocentric worldview. Although at that time there were opponents of the teachings of Copernicus and Newton (for example, J.D. Cassini), the vast majority of historians of science emphasized the genius of Copernicus's discovery (J.-S. Bailly, D'Alembert, J. Cuvier). Condorcet, speaking about the successes in the development of natural science in modern times, remarked: "Copernicus resurrected the true system of the world" ( Condorcet J.A. Sketch historical picture progress of the human mind. M., 1936. S. 149). In the Treatise on Systems, Condillac emphasizes that "the Copernican hypothesis was confirmed both by observations and by phenomena, which it explained in a simpler way than any other hypothesis" ( Kondilyak E.B. Op. M., 1982. T. 2. S. 155). The anti-clerical orientation of Voltaire's Philosophical Letters was expressed in the fact that, speaking out against ignorance and intolerance, he aimed at the Catholic hierarchs: “Of course, the inquisitors, who had the shamelessness to curse the Copernican system not only as heretical, but also as absurd, had nothing to be afraid of this system . The Earth, like other planets, could revolve around the Sun as much as they wanted, they did not lose a drop of their income and honors from this ”( Voltaire. Philos. op. M., 1988. S. 159). He opposes the opinion that Pythagoreanism is the source of the Copernican system, calling it "nonsense that has nothing to do with the sublime truths told to us by Copernicus, Galileo, Kepler and especially Newton" (Ibid., p. 710).
In "Thoughts on Education" D. Locke, characterizing the easiest and natural way to prepare the student to understand the motion and theory of the planets, believes that it is necessary to acquaint him with the Copernican hypothesis “not only because it is the simplest and least complex hypothesis for the student, but also because it is at the same time the most plausible in itself » ( Locke D. Op. M., 1988. T. 3. S. 577).
Leibniz, calling the Copernican system a hypothesis, connects it with the revival of Pythagoreanism, which “after so much time, somewhere near the shores of the Baltic Sea, to the greatest happiness, Nicolaus Copernicus again called to life” ( Leibniz. Op. M., 1992. T. 1. S. 192). He also emphasizes that in Italy, Spain and Germany "they still continue to forbid the teachings of Copernicus, to the great detriment of these peoples, who could make the most beautiful discoveries if they enjoyed reasonable and philosophically founded freedom" ( Leibniz. Op. M., 1983. T. 2. S. 532). D. Berkeley emphasizes the opposite of the ordinary perception of the movement of the Sun around the Earth and the teachings of Copernicus, linking the fallacy of ordinary perception with a false expression in speech, with language errors (Berkeley D. Op. M., 1978. S. 194).
P. Bayle, fighting the prejudices of his time, including Cassini's rejection of Copernicus' teachings, wrote: “Did not all schools and all peoples come out against one (or almost one) Copernicus, whose theory is now celebrating victory? In all arts, in all crafts, the opinion of a small number of specialists is preferable to the opinion of numerous ignoramuses "( Bailey P. Historical and critical dictionary. M., 1968. T. 2. S. 364). The Copernican system "was so flexible, so simple, mechanical, that it should have been preferred to the Ptolemaic system" (Ibid., p. 174).
For the democrat and atheist L. Feuerbach, “in the future of mankind, Copernicus will also defeat Ptolemy in politics, as he already defeated him in astronomy” (Feuerbach L. Fav. philosophy prod. M., 1955. T. P. S. 870). According to him, "the Copernican system is a brilliant victory won by idealism over empiricism, reason over feelings" (Feuerbach L. History of Philosophy. M., 1967. T. 3. S. 244). She defeated the Ptolemaic system by virtue of its naturalness, simplicity and reasonableness, declaring that “let Copernicus be your model, and thanks to him you will know the truth ...” (Ibid., p. 345). The name of Copernicus opens with him a list of scientists who put forward a new principle of knowledge - the relation of an object to itself; he calls Spinoza “the Copernicus of modern philosophy” (ibid. vol. 2. p. 147), opposes the system of Tycho de Brahe, who tried to reconcile the system of Ptolemy with the system of Copernicus (ibid. p. 260), shows what influence the condemnation had the system of Copernicus by the Catholic Church on the history of thought, in particular on the thinking of Descartes (Ibid. p. 324).
I. Kant perceived the ideas of Copernicus as a complete revolution in the way of thinking, as a model that turned out to be favorable for natural science and which should be imitated in metaphysics (Kant I. Critique of Pure Reason // Op. M., 1964. T. 3. S. 87, 90-91). The same high assessment of the revolutionary nature of the ideas of Copernicus is presented by F. Engels, for whom the work of Copernicus is “a revolutionary act by which the study of nature declared its independence” and threw down “a challenge to church authority in matters of nature” ( Engels F. dialectics of nature. M., 1955. S. 5). The Czech educator A. Smetana in the article "The Significance of the Modern Era" (1848) named Copernicus among the "Apostles of the Modern Age" (Anthology of Czech and Slovak Philosophy. M., 1982, p. 353).
If at the beginning of the 20th century dominated the cumulative interpretation of the cosmological theory of Copernicus, presented by P. Duhem, who unfolded the history of cosmological teachings from Plato to Copernicus in "Le systeme du monde" (Tt. 1 - 1 0. P., 1954-59), then in the second half of the century, ideas Copernicus become a model and a model scientific revolution(Hall A.R. The Scientific Revolution, 1500-1800. L., 1954; Kuhn T. The Copernician Revolution. Planetary Astronomy in the Development of Western Thought. Cambridge, 1957). The name of Copernicus is associated with a great turning point in the development of science, a shift in problems and in standards. professional activity scientists, the formation of a new paradigms thinking ( Kuhn T. The structure of scientific revolutions. M., 1975. S. 22, 97). T. Kun understands the theory of Copernicus as a new way of seeing the problems of physics and astronomy: “After Copernicus, astronomers began to live in a different world” (Ibid., p. 152). Moreover, Kun interprets the theories of Ptolemy and Copernicus as incompatible paradigms, and explains the emergence of the theory of Copernicus by the accumulation anomalies more than a puzzle, the rise of uncertainty in the rules of normal science and the crisis of the old paradigm. As a sociologist of science, Kuhn speaks of the decisive role of external factors in the development of science in the development of the heliocentric theory. For A. Koyre, the theory of Copernicus is also a model of the scientific revolution, but unlike T. Kuhn, he focuses on the metaphysical, aesthetic and religious origins of Copernican heliocentric astronomy ( Kougyo A. La revolution astronomique: Copernic, Kepler, Borelli. Paris, 1961). He holds the idea of ​​the significance of the work of Copernicus for hypothetical-deductive method in physics and astronomy, since he speaks of principles and assumptions, calling them hypotheses and identifying them with postulates and axioms ( Koire A. Essays on the history of philosophical thought. M., 1985. S. 179-180). And the heliocentric system of Copernicus itself was for a long time perceived as hypothesis.
At present, the main efforts of historians of science are devoted to a painstaking study of the ideological and spiritual origins of the Copernican system, the role of Nicholas of Cusa, Regiomontanus, Italian Neoplatonists, in particular Pico della Mirandolla, and Pythagoreanism in the formation of Copernican ideas (studies by L.A. Birkenmayer, monograph by G. Blumenberg "The Genesis of the Copernican World", 1975), the role of imagination and rhetorical devices in the history of modern European astronomy (Lambert L.B. Imagining the Unimaginable: The Poetics of Early Modern Astronomy. Netherlands, 2002).
A.P. Ogurtsov
Lit.: Nicolaus Copernicus. M. - L., 1947; Rybka E.V., Rybka Copernicus: man and thought. M., 1973; Veselovsky I.N., Bely Yu.A. Copernicus. M., 1974; Kirsanov V. S. Scientific revolution of the 17th century. M., 1987. S. 81-88.

Encyclopedia of Epistemology and Philosophy of Science. M.: "Kanon +", ROOI "Rehabilitation". I.T. Kasavin. 2009 .

In the Minor Commentary, Copernicus does not give mathematical proofs of his theory, remarking that "they are intended for a more extensive work." This essay is “On the rotation of the celestial spheres. Six Books ”(“ De revolutionibns orbium coelestium ”) - published in Regensburg, in 1543, it is divided into six parts and printed under the supervision of the best and most beloved student of Copernicus, Rheticus. The author had the joy of seeing and holding this creation in his hands, even on his deathbed.

The first part talks about the sphericity of the world and the Earth, and also sets out the rules for solving right-angled and spherical triangles; the second gives the foundations of spherical astronomy and the rules for calculating the apparent positions of stars and planets in the firmament. The third speaks of the precession or precession of the equinoxes, with an explanation of its backward movement of the line of intersection of the equator with the ecliptic. In the fourth - about the Moon, in the fifth - about the planets in general, and in the sixth - about the reasons for changing the latitudes of the planets.

Writing "the main book of life" took more than 20 years of hard work. The astronomer believed that the development of a hypothesis must certainly be brought to numbers, moreover, to tables, so that the data obtained with its help could be compared with the actual movements of the stars.

At the beginning of the book, Copernicus, following Ptolemy, sets out the basics of operations with angles on the plane and, most importantly, on the sphere, related to spherical trigonometry. Here the scientist introduced a lot of new things into this science, acting as an outstanding mathematician and calculator. Among other things, Copernicus gives a table of sines (although he does not use this name) in increments of ten minutes of arc. But it turns out that this is only an excerpt from the more extensive and accurate tables that he calculated for his calculations. Their step is one minute of arc, and the accuracy is seven decimal places! For these tables, Copernicus needed to calculate 324 thousand quantities. This part of the work and detailed tables were later published as a separate book.

The book "On Rotations" contains descriptions of astronomical instruments, as well as a new, more accurate than Ptolemy's catalog of fixed stars. It deals with the apparent movement of the Sun, Moon and planets. Since Copernicus used only circular uniform movements, he had to spend a lot of effort searching for such ratios of the size of the system that would describe the observed movements of the luminaries. After all his efforts, his heliocentric system turned out to be not much more accurate than the Ptolemaic one. Only Kepler and Newton succeeded in making it accurate.

The book was also provided with an anonymous preface, which, as I. Kepler later established, was written by the Lutheran theologian Osiander. The latter, wishing to veil the direct contradictions between the Bible and the teachings of Copernicus, tried to present it only as an "amazing hypothesis" not connected with reality, but simplifying calculations. However, the true significance of the Copernican system, not only for astronomy, but for science in general, was soon widely understood.

Nicholas Copernicus .

Nicolaus Copernicus defeated the artificial system based on geocentric concepts and created the heliocentric theory. His main work, On the Circular Motions of Celestial Bodies, was published in the year of his death. The doctrine of Copernicus was a revolutionary event in the history of science. The revolutionary act by which the study of nature declared its independence was the publication of an immortal work in which Copernicus challenged, albeit timidly and, so to speak, only on his deathbed, the ecclesiastical authority in matters of nature.

The ingenious reformer of natural science, the founder of the new astronomy, Nicolaus Copernicus was born on February 19, 1473 in the Polish town of Torun, located on the Vistula. After the death of his father Copernicus, the care of the family passes into the powerful hands of his mother's brother, Luke Vatzetrode (1447-1512), who played an exceptional role in the life of Nicholas. He studied at the best universities of that time and, apparently, was an outstanding personality. Nicolaus Copernicus received his primary education at the Torun school, and a little later he was transferred to the cathedral school in Wlotslavsk in order to prepare for admission to the University of Krakow, famous throughout Europe for its high scientific level of teaching and the best humanistic traditions. At the Faculty of Liberal Arts, of which Copernicus was a student in his first year of study, mathematics, physics, and music theory were taught. Here he received

certain medical knowledge. Much attention in teaching was paid to the teachings of Aristotle, the literature of Ancient Greece and ancient rome. Astronomy was read by the famous professor Wojciech (Albert) Blair Brudzewski (1445-1497), who in his pedagogical activity was guided by the best book on astronomy at that time, New Theories of the Planets, written by the remarkable Viennese astronomer Purbach.

Instilling in young people a deep respect for the ancient thinkers who left impressive astronomical results to future generations, Brudzevsky taught to compare and compare various theories and go beyond simply mastering the achievements of ancient science.

Copernicus carried this feature of a true researcher through his whole life.

In 1497 Copernicus was elected canon with an official three-year

leave to obtain a degree in Italy. The position of canon gave him the means to freely continue his studies.

Copernicus spent almost ten years in different cities of Italy, during which he became an educated and widely erudite scientist.

Remembering conversations on astronomy with his professor Brudzewski, Copernicus became interested in astronomical observations and became an assistant to the famous Bolognese astronomer.

Domenico Maria di Novara (1454–1504) who also encouraged him to devote himself to astronomy.

At the end of 1505, Copernicus left Italy forever and returned to his native

the edges. During his nine years in Italy, Copernicus turned from a talented young man into an encyclopedic scientist, mathematician, astronomer and physician, who absorbed all the achievements of the theoretical and applied sciences of that time.

All researchers of the life and scientific activity of Nicolaus Copernicus agree that during this period he comprehended the basic postulates of the heliocentric system of the world and began its development.

The authority of Copernicus as a major mathematician and astronomer was so great that he received a special invitation from the chairman of the commission for the reform of the calendar, Paul of Middelburg, to express his opinion on the reform. Of course, the Vatican was interested in the reform of the calendar primarily to establish the dates of religious holidays, and not just to correctly explain the movements of the Sun and Moon.

In response to the request of the chairman of the commission, Copernicus replied that he considered the reform

premature, since for this it is first necessary to significantly refine the theories of the Sun and Moon regarding the stars. These considerations also undoubtedly indicate that already in 1514 (it was in this year that the question of reforming the calendar was raised) Copernicus was seriously considering the development of a heliocentric doctrine.

One of the greatest thinkers of mankind was buried in Frombork Cathedral without special honors. Only in 1581, i.e. 38 years after his death, a memorial plaque was installed on the wall of the cathedral opposite his grave.

THE IMMORTAL WORK OF NICHOLAS COPERNIK "ON THE ROTATIONS OF THE HEAVENLY SPHERES"

From the words of Copernicus, we can conclude that already in 1506-1508 he had

that harmonious system of views on the movement in the solar system was formed, which constitutes, as it is customary to say now, the heliocentric system of the world.

But as a true scientist, Nicolaus Copernicus could not confine himself to stating hypotheses, but devoted many years of his life to obtaining the clearest and most convincing evidence of his statements. Using the achievements of mathematics and astronomy of his time, he gave his revolutionary views on the kinematics of the solar system the character of a strictly substantiated, convincing theory. It should be noted that at the time of Copernicus, astronomy did not yet possess methods that allowed

directly prove the rotation of the earth around the sun.

In the doctrine, the entire heliocentric system of the world is presented only as a certain way of calculating the visible celestial bodies, which has the same right to exist as the geocentric system of the universe of Claudius Ptolemy. The point of view of Copernicus regarding the new system of the world he proposed was completely different. The Catholic Church did not immediately appreciate the power of the blow that the teachings of Copernicus inflicted on age-old, seemingly unshakable, religious dogmas. Only in 1616 the assembly

theologians - "the preparers of the court cases of the Holy Inquisition" decided to condemn the new teaching and to ban the creation of Copernicus, citing the fact that it contradicts "Holy Scripture". This decree said: “The teaching that the Sun is in the center of the world and is motionless, false and absurd, heretical and contrary to the Holy Scriptures. from a philosophical point of view, from a theological point of view, at least erroneous. Nicolaus Copernicus very beautifully and convincingly proves that the Earth has a spherical shape, citing both the arguments of ancient scientists and his own.

All the works of Nicolaus Copernicus are based on a single principle, free from the prejudices of geocentrism and striking scientists of that time. This is the principle of relativity of mechanical motions, according to which all motion is relative. The concept of motion does not make sense if the reference system (coordinate system) in which it is considered is not chosen.

The original considerations of Copernicus regarding the size of the visible part of the universe are also interesting:

"... The sky is immeasurably large in comparison with the Earth and represents an infinitely large value; according to our feelings, the Earth in relation to it is like a point to a body, and in size as finite to infinite." From this it can be seen that Copernicus held correct views on the dimensions of the universe, although he explained the origin of the world and its development by the activity of divine forces.

Concluding the characterization of the work of Copernicus, I would like to emphasize once again the main natural scientific significance of the great work of Copernicus "On the rotations of the celestial spheres", which consists in the fact that its author, having abandoned the geocentric principle and adopting a heliocentric view of the structure of the solar system, discovered and learned the truth of the real world .

Moved the Earth

Modern cosmonautics is a union of science and technology, the combined efforts of thousands of people who firmly believed in the limitlessness of the insights of the human mind. Over the course of many centuries, this beautiful faith was forged, defeating in fierce battles the belief in the incomprehensibility of the divine universe.

The significance of the contribution of great thinkers and scientists of past centuries to the development of natural science is reminiscent of high-relief portraits on one of the walls of the Introductory Hall of the Temple of Cosmonautics. Artists D. Shakhovskaya and I. Vasnetsova created images of people obsessed with a thirst for knowledge of the world. Nicolaus Copernicus, Giordano Bruno, Johannes Kepler, Galileo Galilei, Isaac Newton, Mikhail Lomonosov, Konstantin Tsiolkovsky, Albert Einstein - these are the names of the harbingers of the space age, whose genius mankind owes to the fact that the Earth became the shore of the Universe.

The gallery of portraits of the great ascetics of natural science is opened by the high relief of Nicolaus Copernicus.

The Polish astronomer was born 5 centuries ago in the city of Torun in the family of a wealthy merchant. Father died when Nikolai was 10 years old; the boy was raised by his maternal uncle, who later became the bishop of Warmia (province of Poland). The wealth and spiritual disposition of Luke Watchenrode - that was the name of the bishop - allowed Copernicus to receive an excellent education, first at home, at the University of Krakow, then at the universities of Italy.

Copernicus returned to Poland as a priest. So the uncle wished, and the nephew did not dare to disobey. Soon he was elected a canon of the Fromborg monastery.

As a canon, Nicolaus Copernicus had no right to engage in astronomy: this not only was not part of his duties, but also noticeably worsened relations with other monastic ranks, since a well-known principle operated among them: if you are not the same as us, then you are dangerous for us.

By nature, Copernicus was a modest and generally obedient person. But still, every evening he went up to his observatory to observe the stars and planets. It is possible to understand such a craving for the sky from the words of Copernicus himself. In the introduction to the first book of his brilliant work "On the rotations of the celestial spheres" we read: “Since the goal of all noble sciences is to distract a person from vices and direct his mind to the better, then astronomy can do most of all due to the incredibly great pleasure it presents to the mind”, where he exclaims: "What can be more beautiful than the vault of heaven, containing all that is beautiful!"

The "observatory" of Copernicus was located on the crest of the monastery fortress wall. From a small balcony, he followed the movement of the planets, measuring their height with the help of a wooden triangle connected by hinges - a triquetra. Comparing his results with the data of Ptolemy, Copernicus found a discrepancy between them. The courage of the Polish astronomer was that he believed his own results and questioned the authority of Ptolemy.

Processed by Ptolemy, the teaching of Aristotle that the Universe is finite, limited by the sphere of fixed stars and that the center of the Universe is the Earth, was accepted by Christian theologians as a true picture of the world. Not best place to God than the incomprehensibility that extends beyond the realm of the fixed stars. And if Jesus Christ came to Earth, then isn't this proof that the Earth is the center of the universe.

Christian monks carefully edited the books of Aristotle and Ptolemy, bringing them into line with the scriptures. They declared Aristotle the forerunner of Christ in matters of science. Ptolemy's astronomical tables made it possible, at the very least, to calculate the timing of the celebration of Easter, his atlas of stars helped sailors navigate far from the coast - what else is needed!

The regularity, seen by Copernicus in the observations he accumulated, boiled down to the fact that the Sun was called the center of the world. Contrary to "common sense", the real state of affairs, according to Copernicus's calculations, required placing in the space remaining between the convex orbit of Venus and the concave Mars, and around the same center (the Sun. - B. B.) - the sphere or orbit of the Earth with its satellite Moon and with all that is contained under the moon.

On carnival in Elbląg, as in all other Polish cities, a carnival procession was organized. Crowds of tipsy artisans and peasants who had gathered on the occasion of the holiday moved along the narrow streets. From everywhere came the sound of drums and howling of trumpets; on the squares, buffoons played buffoonish interludes, the heroes of which often turned out to be persons of the clergy.

In the spring of 1531, during Shrovetide, a 50-year-old canon of the Frombork Monastery, who was making a trip with an audit of the monastery's possessions, arrived in Elbląg. On the porch of the church of St. Nicholas, a farce was played out, about which the whole city immediately spoke. chief actor Comedy was a rogue astrologer named Copernicus. In the buffoon's verses, the buffoon sang how "the earth is spinning, spinning, spinning like a top." The whole crowd gathered in front of the porch began to play along with him. Intoxicated spectators drove stakes into the ground and grabbed them with such diligence, as if they really could break loose and fly away from the furiously rotating earth.

The performance ended with a chorus of buffoons, who gave praise to the Lord God for having created the earth immovable despite the whims of Copernicus, "crazy from the books he read."

The canon was not offended. He had long been prepared for the worst. Is it possible to compare the foolishness of buffoons with what can be written down in the judgment of the Inquisition!

But, returning to Frombork, to his monastery, Copernicus became even more determined to do the same as the wise Pythagoreans did many centuries ago. His work, which took more than 30 years of his life, he will not give to publishers. He will pass it from hand to hand to the faithful disciple.

However, the years passed, and such a student still did not appear. This is what really worried the aging astronomer...

And yet, Copernicus waited for a student! .. In the spring of 1539, a professor of mathematics from the German university city of Wittenberg, a determined young man, called himself Joachim Rethik, came to the old sick canon. He declared that he had come with the firm intention of studying the Copernican system, about which he had heard the most controversial opinions in Germany.

Retik not only thoroughly studied the works of the Polish astronomer, having lived for this 2 years in Fromborg, but he himself wrote the book “The First Narrative”, where he outlined the heliocentric system of his teacher in a popular form. Published in Germany, this book did much to prepare European public opinion for the acceptance of Copernicanism. Retik also managed to persuade the teacher to give to print the work of a lifetime - the book "On the rotations of the celestial spheres", which was published in May 1543 (albeit with an annoying preface inserted by an excessively cautious monk who watched the publication of the book). The legend says that Copernicus died holding in his hands a copy of his book, which he had just received and made his name immortal. On the monument erected to Nicolaus Copernicus in the Polish city of Torun, there is an inscription: "To the one who stopped the Sun and moved the Earth."

Blazing Prophet

Giordano Bruno was a teacher of philosophy by profession. He made outstanding astronomical discoveries, brilliantly owning logic.

Bruno was born in 1548 in a small village on the outskirts of the Italian city of Nola, in the family of a poor Neapolitan officer. At the age of 15, Filippo (as the parents called the boy) was accepted as a novice in one of the oldest Catholic monasteries of San Domenico Maggiore. According to the existing rule, he parted with his secular name and began to be called "Brother Giordano."

The monastery belonged to the most powerful Catholic order of that time, founded by the religious fanatic Guzman Domenico. The Order of the Dominicans was instructed to be in charge of the Inquisition; its monks called themselves "dogs of God" and depicted on the banners of dogs tearing the bodies of heretics to pieces.

In the XIII century, the greatest scholastic of the Middle Ages Thomas Aquinas lived in this monastery. Having created a multi-volume "Code of Theology", he developed a methodology by which theology was taught in all universities of Europe for several centuries. Aquinas declared philosophy to be the servant of theology. 5 of his postulates, which proved the existence of God, were known more than the postulates of Euclidean geometry.

It was Thomas Aquinas who introduced Aristotle to the rank of Christ's predecessor in the affairs of nature. Aquinas owns the thesis, planted by churchmen in all branches of science: “Everything you need to know about the structure of the world is in the Bible and Aristotle. Therefore, there is no need to study nature.”.

"Brother Giordano" devoted his whole life to the destruction of the Code of Theology. Sitting for long hours in the monastery library, the young novice studied not only theological treatises. The Inquisition had not yet bothered to carefully read the book of Copernicus “On the Rotations of the Celestial Spheres”, published 5 years before his birth, and therefore did not include it in the list of banned books. Bruno's acquaintance with the work of a brilliant Polish astronomer turned the young monk into a convinced atheist and an ardent supporter of the Copernican system. Thus, he brought upon himself a lifelong curse. He had to flee from the monastery, because the office was already preparing an order for the arrest of Giordano and the transfer to the court of the Holy Office, that is, the Inquisition, for freethinking and blasphemy.

Years of wandering around the countries of Europe began. The French king Henry III took lessons from Giordano in logic and learned the art of memorization; The Austrian King Rudolf, the English Lord Sydney, the Duke of Brunswick Julius, the French poet Ronsard were amazed at the knowledge of the young Nolan. However, in none of the universities of Europe, despite high patronage, Bruno could not stay for a long time: at the University of Geneva, Calvinist professors dominated, at the Sorbonne - admirers of Aquinas, in Marburg - Lutherans, in Prague - Protestants. And Giordano Bruno publicly declared himself an enemy of all faith and preached the doctrine of Copernicus supplemented and developed by him.

Bruno was convinced that the goal of philosophy is the knowledge of nature in its unity. A true philosopher is one who relies on his own mind and feelings, and not on the dogmas of the church, and nothing can elevate the human soul so much as the process of knowing and contemplating the truth achieved by thought.

Irony was his main weapon in the fight against the scholastics. Ridiculing professors who studied nature without taking their eyes off the pages of the Bible, he wrote: “Ignorance is the best science. It is given without difficulty and does not sadden the soul..

In Rome, they remembered the escape of Giordano from the monastery and knew the deeds of his maturity - sonnets, comedies, philosophical treatises, in which he asserted his Nolan philosophy of the dawn and maliciously ridiculed the church scholastics, who excelled in commenting scripture. If Bruno had been in Italy, the first person he met would have informed the Holy Office about him - his name had long been included in the list of especially dangerous heretics.

But Giordano could no longer live without Italy. He did not hesitate to agree to the invitation of a certain Giovanni Mocenigo, a wealthy citizen of the Venetian Republic, who called Bruno as a teacher, promising a decent salary and housing.

"Well, the inquisitors are not as strong in Venice as they are in other areas!"- the Nolan consoled himself and hurried, as if on wings, under native sky Apennine.

This Mocenigo was the offspring of a noble family, but even this circumstance did not help him make a career. He did not seek knowledge from Bruno, but witchcraft secrets with which he could entangle and force people. At first, the teacher tried to explain to the owner of the house that only the ignorant could believe in witchcraft. But he insisted. When, having lost patience, Giordano tried to free himself from Mocenigo, he put him under house arrest and hurried with a denunciation to the inquisitors.

The trap closed. The Venetians transferred the defiler of church foundations to Rome, but they already knew how to deal with the fugitive "brother Giordano" ...

Since May 1592, the friends and acquaintances of the Nolan knew nothing more about his fate. He ceased to exist for the world.

However, Bruno was alive. For 8 years, Catholic jurists mocked him, trying to force him to repentance. Everything was in vain!

The contribution made by Bruno to the development of natural science is invaluable. Thinking speculatively, he came to the conclusion that the stars are suns located at colossal distances from the Earth. He believed that the stars could have their own planetary systems, and all these distant worlds were made up of the same elements as the Earth. Bruno was the first to suggest that our Sun is just an ordinary star and that it rotates around its own axis. He was sure that other planets could be inhabited, for example, those that revolve around other suns, that is, stars. World space, according to Bruno, is infinite - such a statement destroyed the sphere of fixed stars, which even Copernicus could not refuse. Finally, Giordano of Nola, with a brilliant insight, pointed out the possibility of the existence of the then unknown planets of the solar system with orbits lying beyond the orbit of Saturn.

All these statements of Bruno were painstakingly extracted from his books by Cardinal Bellarmine and brought against him as an accusation of flagrant heresy. The Inquisition put him before a choice: either refuse to consider his discoveries true and stay alive, or - a fire.

But that is not why Giordano so greedily made his way to the truth in order to renounce it. He chose the fire.

In the afternoon, the crowd of thousands began to disperse. The fire was dying down, from a large pile of brushwood with a high pillar in the middle, to which the heretic was tied and the books written by him were dumped, there were only smoldering smuts in the ashes.

By evening, monks in long mantles came to the Square of Flowers. For a few scudos, promised by the papal curia, they stirred up the ashes with shovels, tossing them up. The wind picked up the ashes and carried them up, to the porticos of the eternal city sanctified by millennia, to the dome of St. Peter's Church and even higher - to the clear spring sky of Italy.

Another atheist was finished. A new 17th century began. Pope Clement VIII, with whose consent and blessing Giordano Bruno Nolan was burned on February 17, 1600, prayed to Jesus that the Savior would appreciate the duty performed by the vicar of God on earth and save him from a painful vision: a heretic choking in smoke with anger turns away from the stretched on a long pole crucifixion. This vision prevented the Pope from experiencing complete satisfaction ...

court astrologer

The mathematics teacher was frail; under the thin pale skin of the face, blue streaks appeared, myopic eyes narrowed defenselessly; there were holes on the elbows of the velvet camisole... More recently, Johannes Kepler listened to lectures at the University of Tübingen, living on a meager stipend paid to him native city Weil. However, every month the scholarship became smaller and smaller, which is why Kepler had to become a mathematics teacher in high school without finishing the university course.

The children of burghers, merchants and wealthy artisans who studied at school were not fond of mathematics. Often the Kepler class was half empty. However, he would not be upset if the students did not come to the lessons at all. They prevented him from thinking.

Once, while showing how to solve the problem of calculating the radii of circles, one of which is inscribed in a triangle, and the other describes it, the teacher suddenly fell silent, put a piece of chalk on the table and went to the window with a shocked look...

The students looked at each other, shrugged their fists. Kepler, stooping, stood near the window and talked to himself in an undertone. Then he rushed to the board and began to calculate something.

The lesson ended a long time ago, the children left, and the teacher divided everything, multiplied, added huge numbers on the board, not noticing anything ...

The whole summer of 1595, the 24-year-old mathematician spent on calculations. And the following year, at his own expense, he published a thin little book called "Cosmographic Mystery". In it, Kepler excitedly told readers that he had unraveled the secret of divine harmony contained in the heavenly spheres. The whole secret, he argued, is that between the spheres in which the orbits of the planets lie, you can put regular polyhedra: tetrahedron, cube, octahedron, dodecahedron and icosahedron. The radii of the spheres inscribed and describing these bodies will be related to each other, as the distances from the Sun to each of the 5 planets of the solar system are related. In the same place, Kepler cited the relative radii calculated by him. Indeed, they were close to those given by Copernicus.

In The Cosmographic Mystery, the author spoke as a supporter of the Pythagorean school - like Pythagoras and his students, he believed that numbers rule the universe. The picture of the solar system built on the basis of numbers was compact, elegant, but not true. Kepler himself soon became convinced of this, making observations of the planets and not finding them where they should have been located according to his "cosmographic" theory.

Nevertheless, this first book played a big role in the life of Johannes Kepler. First, he proved to be an excellent mathematician and attracted the attention of the famous Danish astronomer Tycho Brahe. Secondly, the author of The Cosmographic Mystery stood unshakably on the positions of Copernicanism and thus aroused deep sympathy among Galileo Galilei. A friendly correspondence began between them.

Early in 1600, Kepler received a letter from Prague in which Tycho Brahe invited the young mathematician to collaborate with him. From the point of view of an astronomer, Brahe possessed colossal treasures: the results of 30 years of observations of the movement of the planets. These observations cast doubt on Ptolemy's tables, but Brahe did not believe Copernicus either. He created his own system of the world - a cross between Copernican and Ptolemaic cosmology. Not daring to "move" the Earth, he left it in the center of the world, forcing the Sun, surrounded by other planets, to revolve around. But I couldn't go any further.

Kepler moved to Prague in the very days when in Rome, on the Square of Flowers, they were already bringing brushwood for a fire, on which Giordano Bruno was to be burned for his adherence to Copernicanism. The young mathematician chose not to think about Copernicus under Braga and agreed to conduct observations in accordance with the geoheliocentric system of the "prince" of astronomers.

In the spring of 1600, Brahe instructed his assistant to observe Mars. The apparent motion of this planet seemed "mysteriously" confusing to astronomers. The famous Roman scientist Pliny even argued that unraveling the mystery of the movement of Mars is beyond the power of mortals. Kepler, having taken up observations, hoped to complete the work entrusted to him in a week and a half. However, the very first measurements of the coordinates of Mars excited him: the planet stubbornly did not want to be where it should have been according to the tables of Ptolemy and Brahe.

Not 8 days, but 8 years Kepler spent trying to "tame" the mysterious red planet.

Cooperation with Brahe was short-lived. The famous Dane, the founder of the most advanced Uraniborg observatory at that time (Urania is the goddess of astronomy), soon died, having bequeathed his treasures to Kepler, namely: the results of 30 years of observations of heavenly bodies.

Using Brahe's data and doing an incredible amount of calculations, Kepler revealed the secret of the movement of Mars, and also explained the oddities that worried astronomers in the movement of other planets. In 1609, Kepler's book "New Astronomy" was published, in which the author summarized the results of his calculations and concluded that the planets move around the Sun not in circular, but in elliptical orbits.

14 years separated the "New Astronomy" from the time of the appearance of the "Cosmographic Mystery", in which Kepler made the first, unsuccessful attempt to understand the laws of planetary motion. How courageous a person must be who decides not to retreat from such a task! “Today, when this scientific act has already been accomplished, no one can fully appreciate how much ingenuity, how much hard work and patience it took to discover these laws and express them so accurately” Albert Einstein wrote about Kepler.

Kepler's contemporaries did not yet know differential and integral calculus. Even logarithmic tables did not exist at that time. In order to appreciate how much work his discoveries cost the German astronomer, one must remember that Johannes Kepler was engaged in mathematical calculations for almost his entire life, 16 hours a day. “After countless attempts, Kepler came to the following conclusion: the orbit of each of the planets is an ellipse, in one of the focuses of which is the Sun. He also found the law according to which the speed changes during one year: the segment Sun - planet describes equal areas in equal intervals of time. Finally, he found that the squares of the revolution times are related as the cubes of the axes of ellipses. It took Kepler his whole life to solve these problems.”(A. Einstein).

The grandiose scientific feat of this man was the compilation of the so-called Rudolphin tables, with the help of which it was possible to predict for a long time the movement of any of the planets, the phases of the moon, as well as eclipses of the moon and the sun. Kepler's tables became a new astronomical encyclopedia, finally replacing Claudius Ptolemy's Almagest, which had dominated for 15 centuries.

These tables were impatiently awaited by astronomers and navigators all over the world, but they might not have appeared, because the Thirty Years' War was already raging in Germany at the time of their printing. During the siege of Linz, where the Kepler family lived, the printing house burned down, and with it a set of tables and part of the printed edition. Only miraculously survived the original. In order to print this book, which contained almost 600 pages of text, of which half were columns of results calculated over a quarter of a century, the entire Kepler family had to move to the small town of Ulm, where it was relatively quieter.

Kepler made a significant contribution not only to the development of ideas about the universe. He significantly advanced optics and the theory of vision, paved the way for the emergence of differential and integral calculus, did a lot in the field of geometry and resolutely rationalized the technique of calculations, developing the theory of logarithms.

Kepler is the discoverer of the fantastic genre in literature. Throughout his life, he worked on a science fiction story called Lunar Astronomy. “I foresee a ship or sails adapted to the celestial winds, and there will be people who are not afraid of even the emptiness of interplanetary space ...” he wrote in this book. With amazing vigilance, Kepler predicted many details of the flight to the Moon: the effect of overloads during separation from the Earth, space cold, the need for oxygen for breathing, the features of landing on the Moon.

Kepler died in 1630 at the age of 59. Above the remains of the great mathematician and astronomer, not even a simple gravestone remained. But Kepler's name is not forgotten. The laws he discovered remain unshakable today, and one of the most large craters on the Moon is named after Kepler.