February 19, 1473: Birth of Nicolaus Copernicus

DATELINE FEBRUARY 19, 1473: Birth of   Nicolaus Copernicus,  a Renaissance mathematician and astronomer.

Best known for his treatise "On the Revolution of the Celestial Spheres," Copernicus asserted that the earth revolved around the sun -- contrary to the medieval belief that the earth was the center of the universe.
The theory was viewed with suspicion by the Church, and his treatise was not published until 1543, the year of his death.

Eventually the theory became the cornerstone for a future generation of scientists including Kepler and Galileo, but one of its ardent advocates, Italian cleric Giordano Bruno, was burned at the stake as a heretic in 1600.

The astronomer's processional transfer began at Olsztyn Castle in February, with extended stops at several northern Poland sites with which he had been connected along the way, and did not arrive at Frombork until the middle of last week.

The Polish astronomer Nicolaus Copernicus has been reburied in Poland in a lavish ceremony 467 years after his death.

During a Roman Catholic ritual, the remains were interred beneath the altar of Frombork Cathedral in northern Poland, where the astronomer had been the canon (head priest) and where he originally was buried in 1543. Copernicus died on 24 May 1543.

 Commemorating the 540th birth anniversary of Nicolaus Copernicus, Google has posted a doodle which features an animated heliocentric model formulated by the Polish astronomer

The doodle shows the sun placed at the centre of the universe and has the Moon revolving around earth. It also depicts the then known five other planets - Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn - revolving around the sun.  The second 'O' of the Google logo has been replaced with the sun, while the other letters of the word Google, written in Google's characteristic Catull font, appear in the backdrop. The doodle depicts the then known five other planets - Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn - revolving around the sun.