コペルニクス（1473-1543年）は現代科学の誕生において、重要な役割を担った人物です。ポーランドに生を受けたコペルニクスは司祭でもありました。彼の唱えた地動説は当時、到底受け入れられるものではなく、世間に衝撃を与えました。天文学的、歴史的な観点からも紹介するユニークな本書は、政治的、宗教的にも転換期を迎えていた当時を伺い知ることができます。
  

• Owen Gingerich is the world authority on Copernicus
• Provides a stimulating view of Copernicus' life and work and a fresh perspective on the "Copernican" revolution
• Frames Copernicus in the political background of his time

 
Nicolaus Copernicus (1473-1543) is a pivotal figure in the birth of modern science, the astronomer who "stopped the sun and set the earth in motion." Born in Poland, educated at Cracow and then in Italy, he served all of his adult life as a church administrator. His vision of a sun-centered universe, shocking to many and unbelievable to most, turned out to be the essential blueprint for a physical understanding of celestial motions, thereby triggering what is commonly called "the Copernican revolution." A first edition of his world-changing treatise, De Revolutionibus Orbium Coelestium, has most recently been auctioned for more than $2 million.

In this book, leading historian of science Owen Gingerich sets Copernicus in the context of a rapidly changing world, where the recent invention of printing with moveable type not only made sources more readily available to him, but also fueled Martin's Luther's transformation of the religious landscape. In an era of geographical exploration and discovery, new ideas were replacing time-honored concepts about the extent of inhabited continents. Gingerich reveals Copernicus' heliocentric revolution as an aesthetic achievement not dictated by observational "proofs," but another new way of looking at the ancient cosmos.

Deftly combining astronomy and history, this Very Short Introduction offers a fascinating portray of the man who launched the modern vision of the universe. Out of Gingerich's engaging biography emerges the image of a scientist, intellectual, patriot, and reformer, who lived in an era when political as well as religious beliefs were shifting.