We find then in this arrangement an admirable harmony of the world, and a dependable, harmonious interconnexion of the motion and the size of the pat… - Nicolaus Copernicus

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We find then in this arrangement an admirable harmony of the world, and a dependable, harmonious interconnexion of the motion and the size of the paths, such as otherwise cannot be discovered. For here the penetrating observer can note why the forward and the retrograde movement of Jupiter appears greater than that of Saturn, and smaller than that of Mars, and again greater with Venus than with Mercury; and why such retrogression appears oftener with Saturn than with Jupiter, less often with Mars and Venus than with Mercury. Moreover, why Saturn, Jupiter, and Mars, when they rise in the evening, appear greater than when they disappear and reappear [with the sun] . . . And all this results from the same cause, namely the motion of the earth.

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About Nicolaus Copernicus

Nicolaus Copernicus (19 February 1473 – 24 May 1543) was an early modern astronomer and mathematician; proponent of the heliocentric cosmic model. His book, De revolutionibus orbium coelestium [On the Revolutions of the Celestial Spheres], is often regarded as the starting point of modern astronomy and the defining epiphany that began the Scientific Revolution.

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Alternative Names: Niklas Koppernigk Mikołaj Kopernik Nikolaus Kopernikus Copernicus Kopernikus
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Nor do I doubt that skilled and scholarly mathematicians will agree with me if, what philosophy requires from the beginning, they will examine and judge, not casually but deeply, what I have gathered together in this book to prove these things. ...Mathematics is written for mathematicians, to whom these my labours, if I am not mistaken, will appear to contribute something. ...What... I may have achieved in this, I leave to the decision of your Holiness especially, and to all other learned mathematicians. ...If perchance there should be foolish speakers who, together with those ignorant of all mathematics, will take it upon themselves to decide concerning these things, and because of some place in the Scriptures wickedly distorted to their purpose, should dare to assail this my work, they are of no importance to me, to such an extent do I despise their judgment as rash.

To know that we know what we know, and to know that we do not know what we do not know, that is true knowledge.

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For I am not so enamored of my own opinions that I disregard what others may think of them. I am aware that a philosopher's ideas are not subject to the judgment of ordinary persons, because it is his endeavor to seek the truth in all things, to the extent permitted to human reason by God. Yet I hold that completely erroneous views should be shunned. Those who know that the consensus of many centuries has sanctioned the conception that the earth remains at rest in the middle of the heaven as its center would, I reflected, regard it as an insane pronouncement if I made the opposite assertion that the earth moves.

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