Historic Humanist Series

Born February 19, 1473, in Poland, Copernicus is rated #24 in Michael H. Hart's book The 100 Most Influential Persons in History. Copernicus was a lawyer by profession; astronomy was his hobby. His hobby led him to the heliocentric hypothesis of the Greek philosopher Aristarchus of Samos (third century BCE) and he spent several years taking observations and making calculations to prove Aristarchus' hypothesis that the earth and other planets revolved around the sun. Copernicus' book, On The Revolution of the Celestial Spheres, transformed the 1700- year-old hypothesis into a useful scientific theory, which inspired future scientists Galileo, Kepler and Newton. Scientific reasoning, popularized by Copernicus, is the basis of our humanist philosophy.

--Flo Wineriter