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1514
Commentariolus
Copernicus began to circulate his theory of heliocentrism to his trusted friends in the form of a document titled Commentariolus. His theory was based off of an observation from which he made a hypothesis that could be tested/falsified. Therefore, in terms of philosophy, his theory was real science versus pseudoscience. -
1532
Theory Completed
By this time, Copernicus had already gathered all of his thoughts, observations, and mathematical evidence to complete his theory. Again, reminiscent of a real science theory. -
1539
Copernicus and Rheticus
Georg Joachim Rheticus, a mathematician, helped Copernicus fine tune his mathematical calculations on planetary movement and believed in his theory of heliocentrism very deeply. Rheticus encouraged Copernicus to publish his theory. -
1543
De revolutionibus orbium coelestium
Nicolaus Copernicus published his book De revolutionibus orbium coelestium (On the Revolutions of the Heavenly Spheres) just before his death in 1543 (McClellan and Dorn 209). Within his book, he published the theory of heliocentrism, or a sun-centered cosmos, versus the widely held belief of geo-centrism, or an earth-centered cosmos, which was held true because it followed scripture from the Bible. In a philosophical sense, his theory served to highlight the need for objectivity within science.
