On the rotation of the celestial spheres. Publication of Copernicus's book "On the rotation of the celestial spheres" Copernicus's work on the rotation of the celestial spheres

Figuratively speaking, we can say that before Copernicus, people were fenced off from space by a blank wall. Copernicus made a wide gate in this wall through which the human mind rushed into the abyss of the Universe.
Before the publication of his main work, “On the Rotations of the Celestial Spheres,” Copernicus compiled a brief handwritten summary of the heliocentric system of the world called “Commentariolus,” i.e. The Small Commentary, and in printed form, the foundations of Copernicus' theory were first published in 1540 by Copernicus's student Rheticus in a pamphlet entitled The First Narrative. All these works were written in Latin.
This is the first time that Copernicus' work has been published in Russian in its entirety. Translations of the “Small Commentary” and “First Narrative” are also published along with it.

ContentsFrom the editors (5).
ABOUT THE ROTATIONS OF THE HEAVENLY SPHERES
To the Most Holy Sovereign, Pontifex Maximus Paul III, preface by Nicolaus Copernicus to books on rotations (11).
Book one
Introduction (16).
Chapter I. About the fact that the world is spherical (18).
Chapter II. That the Earth is also spherical (18).
Chapter III. About how the earth and water form a single ball (19).
Chapter IV. That the motion of celestial bodies is eternal, uniform and circular or composed of circular motions (20).
Chapter V. About whether circular motion is characteristic of the Earth, and about the place of the Earth (22).
Chapter VI. On the immeasurability of the sky compared to the size of the Earth (23).
Chapter VII. Why did the ancients believe that the Earth is motionless in the middle of the world and is, as it were, its center (25).
Chapter VIII. Refutation of the above arguments and their inconsistency (26).
Chapter IX. About whether several movements can be attributed to the Earth, and about the center of the world (30).
Chapter X. On the order of celestial orbits (30).
Chapter XI. Proof of the triple motion of the Earth (36).
Chapter XII. On straight lines subtended by arcs (41).
Chapter XIII. On the sides and angles of plane rectilinear triangles (57).
Chapter XIV. On spherical triangles (60).
Book two
Chapter 1. About circles and their names (72).
Chapter II. About the inclination of the zodiac, the distance of the tropics and how they are determined (73).
Chapter III. About the arcs and angles between the intersecting circles - the equinox, the zodiac and the meridian, by which declination and right ascension are determined, and about their calculation (75).
Chapter IV. About how one can find the declination and right ascension of any luminary located outside the circle and passing along the midline of the zodiac, if the latitude and longitude of the luminary are known, as well as with what degree of the zodiac this luminary divides the sky in half (82).
Chapter V. About sections of the horizon (83).
Chapter VI. About what are the differences between midday shadows (84).
Chapter VII. About how the mutual relationship between the magnitude of the longest day, the latitude of the place of sunrise and the inclination of the sphere is determined, as well as about other differences between days (85).
Chapter VIII. About the hours and divisions of day and night (94).
Chapter IX. About the oblique ascension of the degrees of the zodiac and how for each ascending degree the one that divides the sky in half is determined (94).
Chapter X. On the angle of intersection of the zodiac with the horizon (96).
Tables of the ascensions of signs and angles made by the zodiac with the horizon (98).
Chapter XI. About the use of these tables (102).
Chapter XII. About the angles and arcs drawn through the poles of the horizon to the same circle of the zodiac (102).
Chapter XIII. About the rising and setting of stars (103).
Chapter XIV. On the determination of the places of stars and the tabular description of the fixed stars (105).
Catalog of zodiac signs and stars (110).
Book three
Chapter I. On the anticipation of the equinoxes and solstices (158).
Chapter II. History of observations proving the unevenness of the anticipation of equinoxes and solstices (160).
Chapter III. Assumptions that can explain the change in the equinoxes and the inclination of the zodiac to the equinoctial circle (162).
Chapter IV. About how oscillatory, or librational, motion is composed of circular ones (165).
Chapter V. Proof of the unevenness of the movements preceding the equinoxes and changing the inclination (166).
Chapter VI. On the uniform movements of the anticipation of the equinoxes and the inclination of the zodiac (168).
Chapter VII. About what is the greatest difference between the average and visible anticipation of the equinoxes (176).
Chapter VIII. On the particular values of the differences of the indicated movements and the compilation of their tables (178).
Chapter IX. On clarification and correction of everything stated regarding the anticipation of the equinoxes (181).
Chapter X. About what is the greatest value of the difference between the angle in the section of the equinoctial circle and the zodiac (182).
Chapter XI. On the establishment of the epochs of mean movements of the equinoxes and anomalies (183).
Chapter XII. On the calculation of the anticipation of the vernal equinox and the inclination of the zodiacal circle (185).
Chapter XIII. On the size and differences of the solar year (187).
Chapter XIV. On uniform and average motions in revolutions of the Earth's center (191).
Chapter XV. Preliminary theorems for determining the inequality of the apparent motion of the Sun (199).
Chapter XVI. On the apparent inequality of the Sun (204).
Chapter XVII. Definition of the first, or annual, solar inequality with its special meanings (207).
Chapter XVIII. On the refinement of uniform motion along longitude (208).
Chapter XIX. On establishing the starting points for the uniform motion of the Sun (210).
Chapter XX. About the second and double inequality, which results from changes in the apses of the Sun (211).
Chapter XXI. About what is the value of the second difference of the solar inequality (214).
Chapter XXII. About how the average motion of the solar apogee is determined along with the uneven one (216).
Chapter XXIII. On correcting the solar anomaly and establishing its starting points (216).
Chapter XXIV. Compiling a table of inequalities of average and apparent motion (217).
Chapter XXV. On calculating the apparent position of the Sun (220).
Chapter XXVI. About????????????, that is, about the differences in natural days (221).
Book Four
Chapter I. Assumptions about the circles of the moon according to the opinion of the ancients (225).
Chapter II. On the shortcomings of the above assumptions (227).
Chapter III. Another opinion about the movement of the Moon (229).
Chapter IV. On the rotations of the Moon and its special movements (231).
Chapter V. Explanation of the first inequality in the movement of the Moon, which occurs during new and full moons (240).
Chapter VI. Verification of what has been stated regarding the mean movements of the Moon in longitude, as well as anomalies (247).
Chapter VII. About the starting points for lunar longitude and anomaly (247).
Chapter VIII. About the second inequality of the Moon and what relation the first epicycle has to the second (248).
Chapter IX. About the last inequality with which the Moon appears to move unevenly from the upper apse of the epicycle (250).
Chapter X. How the apparent motion of the Moon is determined by means of given uniform motions (251).
Chapter XI. Compilation of prostapheresis tables, or lunar equations (253).
Chapter XII. On the calculation of lunar motion (257).
Chapter XIII. About how the movement of the latitude of the Moon is studied and determined (258).
Chapter XIV. About the epochs of the anomaly of the Moon's motion along latitude (260).
Chapter XV. The device of the parallactic instrument (262).
Chapter XVI. About how the parallactic displacements of the Moon are determined (263).
Chapter XVII. Determination of the distance of the Moon from the Earth and how it is expressed in parts, if the distance from the center of the Earth to the surface is taken as one part (265).
Chapter XVIII. On the diameter of the Moon and the earth's shadow at the place where the Moon passes (267).
Chapter XIX. About how the distances of the Sun and Moon from the Earth, their diameters and shadows at the place of passage of the Moon, as well as the axis of the shadow are simultaneously determined (268).
Chapter XX. About the size of the three mentioned luminaries - the Sun, the Moon and the Earth - and about their relationships (271).
Chapter XXI. About the apparent diameter of the Sun and its parallactic displacements (271).
Chapter XXII. On the unevenness of the apparent diameter of the Moon and its parallactic displacements (272).
Chapter XXIII. On the extent of change in the earth's shadow (273).
Chapter XXIV. Compiling a table of various values of the parallactic displacements of the Sun and Moon for a circle passing through the poles of the horizon (274).
Chapter XXV. On calculating the parallax of the Sun and Moon (280).
Chapter XXVI. About how parallaxes differ in longitude and latitude (281).
Chapter XXVII. Confirmation of what has been stated regarding lunar parallaxes (283).
Chapter XXVIII. About average conjunctions and oppositions of the Moon and the Sun (284).
Chapter XXIX. On the study of true conjunctions and oppositions of the Sun and Moon (287).
Chapter XXX. About how ecliptic conjunctions or oppositions of the Sun and Moon differ from others (288).
Chapter XXXI. About what the magnitude of the eclipse of the Sun or Moon will be (289).
Chapter XXXII. To predict the duration of an eclipse (290).
Book five
Chapter I. On the revolutions and mean motions of the planets (293).
Chapter II. Explanation of the mean and apparent motions of the planets according to the opinion of the ancients (306).
Chapter III. General explanation of apparent irregularity due to the motion of the Earth (307).
Chapter IV. About how the proper motions of the planets can appear uneven (309).
Chapter V. Explanation of the motion of Saturn (312).
Chapter VI. About the three other recently observed acronychial positions of Saturn (316).
Chapter VII. On checking the motion of Saturn (321).
Eyes VIII. On establishing the initial positions of Saturn (322).
Chapter IX. About the parallactic revolutions of Saturn, resulting from the annual motion of the Earth in its orbit, and about its distance from the Sun (322).
Chapter X. Determination of the motion of Jupiter (324).
Chapter XI. About three other recently observed acronichic positions of Jupiter (327).
Chapter XII. Confirmation of calculations of the mean motion of Jupiter (332).
Chapter XIII Establishment of the starting points of the movement of Jupiter (332).
Chapter XIV. On the determination of the parallactic movements of Jupiter and its height in relation to the earth's orbit (333).
Chapter XV. About the planet Mars (335).
Chapter XVI. About three other recently observed oppositions of the planet Mars (338).
Chapter XVII. Confirmation of the calculation of the movement of Mars (341).
Chapter XVIII. Establishing starting points for Mars (341).
Chapter XIX. About the magnitude of the orbit of Mars, expressed in parts, one of which is the “radius” of the annual orbit of the Earth (342).
Chapter XX. About the planet Venus (344).
Chapter XXI. About what is the ratio of the diameters of the orbits of Venus and Earth (346).
Chapter XXII. On the dual movement of Venus (347).
Chapter XXIII. On the study of the movement of Venus (348).
Chapter XXIV. About the starting points of the Venus anomaly (352).
Chapter XXV. About Mercury (352).
Chapter XXVI. On the position of the upper and lower apses of Mercury (355).
Chapter XXVII. About what is the eccentricity of Mercury and what is the proportionality of its orbits (356).
Chapter XXVIII. For what reason the deflections of Mercury near the hexagonal aspects seem greater than those obtained at perigee (359).
Chapter XXIX. Study of the mean motion of Mercury (360).
Chapter XXX. About recent observations of the motion of Mercury (362).
Chapter XXXI. On establishing the starting points for Mercury (368).
Chapter XXXII. About some other representation of approaching and moving away (368).
Chapter XXXIII. About the tables of prostapheresis of the five planets (370).
Chapter XXXIV. About how the positions of the five planets in longitude are calculated (381).
Chapter XXXV. On the stationary and retrograde movements of the five wandering luminaries (382).
Chapter XXXVI. About how times, places and arcs of retrograde movements are determined (385).
Book six
Chapter I. General information about the movements of the five planets in latitude (388).
Chapter II. Suggestions about the circles in which these planets move in latitude (390).
Chapter III. About the inclination of the orbits of Saturn, Jupiter and Mars (395).
Chapter IV. On the calculation of the latitudes of these three luminaries in other positions and in general (397).
Chapter V. About the latitudes of Venus and Mercury (398).
Chapter VI. About the second deviation of Venus and Mercury in latitude due to the inclination of their orbits at apogee and perigee (401).
Chapter VII. About what the liquation angles are for each planet - Venus and Mercury (403).
Chapter VIII. About the third type of latitude of Venus and Mercury, which is called deviation (406).
Chapter IX. On calculating the latitudes of the five planets (415).
SMALL COMMENT. THE MESSAGE OF COPERNICUS AGAINST WERNER. UPSAL RECORDING
Nicolaus Copernicus has a short commentary on the hypotheses he established about the celestial movements (419).
On the order of the spheres (420).
On the visible movements of the Sun (421).
That the uniformity of motion should be determined in relation not to the equinoxes, but to the fixed stars (422).
About the moon (423).
About the three upper planets - Saturn, Jupiter and Mars (424).
About Venus (427).
About Mercury (429).
Epistle of Copernicus against Werner (431).
Uppsala record (438).
Notes (458).
APPLICATIONS
From the translator (469).
A.A. Mikhailov. Nicolaus Copernicus. Biographical sketch (471).
George Joachim Rheticus on the books of rotations of Nicolaus Copernicus, first narrative to John Schoener (488).
On the motion of the fixed stars (489).
General considerations regarding the year counted from the equinox (491).
On the change in the inclination of the ecliptic (493).
On the eccentricity and motion of the apogee of the Sun (494).
That, according to the movement of the eccentric, world monarchies are replaced (495).
Special consideration of the size of the year counted from the equinoxes (498).
General considerations about the movements of the Moon together with new hypotheses of Mr. Mentor (502).
The main reasons why one should deviate from the hypotheses of ancient astronomers (505).
Proceed to listing new hypotheses of all astronomy (508).
Location of the Universe (509).
About what movements correspond to the Great Circle and those associated with it. Three movements of the Earth - daily, annual and declination (513).
About librations (517).
The second part of hypotheses about the movements of the five planets (522).
Hypotheses about the motion of five planets in longitude (526).
On the manner in which the planets appear to deviate from the ecliptic (533).
Praise of Prussia (540).

From the words of Copernicus we can conclude that already in 1506-1508 he developed that harmonious system of views on movement in the solar system, which constitutes, as they now say, the heliocentric system of the world.

But as a true scientist, Nicolaus Copernicus could not limit himself to expressing hypotheses, but devoted many years of his life to obtaining the clearest and most convincing evidence of his statements. Using the achievements of mathematics and astronomy of his time, he gave his revolutionary views on the kinematics of the Solar system the character of a strictly substantiated, convincing theory. It should be noted that at the time of Copernicus, astronomy did not yet have methods that could directly prove the rotation of the Earth around the Sun (such a method appeared almost two hundred years later).

Reflecting on the Ptolemaic system of the world, Copernicus was amazed at its complexity and artificiality, and, studying the works of ancient philosophers, especially Niketas of Syracuse and Philolaus, he came to the conclusion that not the Earth, but the Sun should be the fixed center of the Universe.

Based on this position, Copernicus very simply explained all the apparent confusion of the movements of the planets, but, not yet knowing the true paths of the planets and considering them to be circles, he was still forced to preserve the epicycles and deferents of the ancients to explain the unevenness of movements.

The main and almost only work of Copernicus, the fruit of more than 40 years of his work, is De revolutionibus orbium coelestium("On the circulation of the celestial spheres"). The work was published in Nuremberg in 1543; it is divided into 6 parts (books) and was printed under the supervision of Copernicus’s best student, Rheticus.

In the preface to the book, Copernicus writes: “Considering how absurd this teaching must seem, I for a long time did not dare to publish my book and thought whether it would not be better to follow the example of the Pythagoreans and others, who transmitted their teaching only to friends, spreading it only through tradition ".

In structure, Copernicus's main work almost repeats the Almagest in a somewhat abbreviated form (6 books instead of 13).

The first part talks about the spherical shape of the world and the Earth, and instead of the position about the immobility of the Earth, another axiom is placed - the Earth and other planets rotate around an axis and revolve around the Sun. This concept is argued in detail, and the “opinion of the ancients” is convincingly refuted. From a heliocentric position, he easily explains the reciprocal motion of the planets.

The second part provides information on spherical trigonometry and rules for calculating the apparent positions of stars, planets and the Sun in the firmament.

The third talks about the annual movement of the Earth and precession (precession of the equinoxes), and Copernicus correctly explains it by the displacement of the earth’s axis, which causes the line of intersection of the equator and the ecliptic to move.

In the fourth - about the Moon.

The fifth is about planets in general.

In the sixth - about the reasons for changes in the latitudes of the planets.

The book also contains a star catalog, an estimate of the sizes of the Sun and Moon, the distances to them and to the planets (close to the true ones), and the theory of eclipses.

The heliocentric system in the Copernican version can be formulated in seven statements:

· Orbits and celestial spheres do not have a common center.
· The center of the Earth is not the center of the universe, but only the center of mass and the orbit of the Moon.
· All planets move in orbits centered on the Sun, and therefore the Sun is the center of the world.
· The distance between the Earth and the Sun is very small compared to the distance between the Earth and the fixed stars.
· The diurnal movement of the Sun is imaginary, and is caused by the effect of the rotation of the Earth, which rotates once every 24 hours around its axis, which always remains parallel to itself.
· The Earth (together with the Moon, as well as other planets) revolves around the Sun, and therefore the movements that the Sun seems to make (the daily movement, as well as the annual movement when the Sun moves through the Zodiac) are nothing more than the effect of movement Earth.
· This motion of the Earth and other planets explains their positions and the specific characteristics of planetary motion.

These statements were completely contrary to the prevailing geocentric system at that time. Although, from a modern point of view, the Copernican model is not radical enough. All the orbits in it are circular, the movement along them is uniform, so the epicycles had to be retained - although there were fewer of them than in Ptolemy. The mechanism of rotation of the planets is also left the same - the rotation of the spheres to which the planets are attached. But then the Earth’s axis must rotate during its annual rotation, describing a cone; to explain the change of seasons, Copernicus had to introduce a third (reverse) rotation of the Earth around an axis perpendicular to the ecliptic, which he also used to explain the reason for the anticipation of the equinoxes.

Copernicus placed the sphere of fixed stars on the border of the world. Strictly speaking, Copernicus’s model was not even heliocentric, since he did not place the Sun at the center of the planetary spheres.

The real motion of the planets, especially Mars, is not circular or uniform, and contrived epicycles are unable to reconcile the model with observations for a long time. Because of this, Copernicus' tables, initially more accurate than Ptolemy's, soon diverged significantly from observations, which greatly puzzled and cooled the enthusiastic supporters of the new system. Exact heliocentric ( Rudolfovs) tables were published later by Johannes Kepler, who discovered the true shape of the planets’ orbits (ellipse), and also recognized and mathematically expressed the unevenness of their motion.

Yet Copernicus's model of the world was a colossal step forward and a crushing blow to archaic authorities. The reduction of the Earth to the level of an ordinary planet definitely prepared (contrary to Aristotle) the Newtonian combination of earthly and heavenly natural laws.

His book contains theorems from planimetry and trigonometry (including spherical), necessary for the author to construct a theory of planetary motion based on the heliocentric system.

Nicolaus Copernicus very beautifully and convincingly proves that the Earth is spherical, citing both the arguments of ancient scientists and his own. Only in the case of a convex earth, when moving along any meridian from north to south, the stars located in the southern part of the sky rise above the horizon, and the stars located in the northern part of the sky descend towards the horizon or completely disappear below the horizon. But, as Copernicus quite correctly notes, only in the case of a spherical Earth, movements at the same distance along different meridians correspond to the same changes in the heights of celestial bodies above the horizon.

All the works of Nicolaus Copernicus are based on a single principle, free from the prejudices of geocentrism and which amazed the scientists of that time. This is the principle of relativity of mechanical movements, according to which all movement is relative. The concept of motion has no meaning if the reference system (coordinate system) in which it is considered is not chosen.

Copernicus’s original considerations regarding the size of the visible part of the universe are also interesting: “The sky is immeasurably large in comparison with the Earth and represents an infinitely large value; according to the assessment of our feelings, the Earth in relation to it is like a point to a body, and in size as finite to infinite.” From this it is clear that Copernicus held the correct views on the size of the Universe, although he explained the origin of the world and its development by the activity of divine forces.

Copernicus's theory reveals that only the heliocentric system of the world provides a simple explanation for the fact why the magnitude of the forward and backward motion of Saturn relative to the stars is less than that of Jupiter, and that of Jupiter is less than that of Mars, but the number of changes of direct motion per revolution is Saturn's retrogrades are larger than those of Jupiter, and Jupiter's are larger than those of Mars. If the Sun and Moon always move in the same direction among the stars from west to east, then the planets sometimes move in the opposite direction.

Copernicus gave an absolutely correct explanation for this interesting and mysterious phenomenon. Everything is explained by the fact that the Earth, in its movement around the Sun, catches up and overtakes the outer planets Mars, Jupiter, Saturn (and the later discovered Uranus, Neptune and Pluto), and itself, in turn, also becomes overtaken by the inner planets, Venus and Mercury, for that reason that they all have different angular velocities relative to the Sun.

Concluding the description of the work of Copernicus, I would like to emphasize once again the main natural scientific significance of Copernicus’ great work “On the Rotations of the Celestial Spheres”, which lies in the fact that its author, having abandoned the geocentric principle and adopted a heliocentric view of the structure of the solar system, discovered and learned the truth of the real world ,

From the editor (5).
ABOUT THE ROTATIONS OF THE HEAVENLY SPHERES
To the Most Holy Sovereign, Pontifex Maximus Paul III, preface by Nicolaus Copernicus to books on rotations (11).
Book one
Introduction (16).
Chapter I. About the fact that the world is spherical (18).
Chapter II. That the Earth is also spherical (18).
Chapter III. About how the earth and water form a single ball (19).
Chapter IV. That the motion of celestial bodies is eternal, uniform and circular or composed of circular motions (20).
Chapter V. About whether circular motion is characteristic of the Earth, and about the place of the Earth (22).
Chapter VI. On the immeasurability of the sky compared to the size of the Earth (23).
Chapter VII. Why did the ancients believe that the Earth is motionless in the middle of the world and is, as it were, its center (25).
Chapter VIII. Refutation of the above arguments and their inconsistency (26).
Chapter IX. About whether several movements can be attributed to the Earth, and about the center of the world (30).
Chapter X. On the order of celestial orbits (30).
Chapter XI. Proof of the triple motion of the Earth (36).
Chapter XII. On straight lines subtended by arcs (41).
Chapter XIII. On the sides and angles of plane rectilinear triangles (57).
Chapter XIV. On spherical triangles (60).
Book two
Chapter 1. About circles and their names (72).
Chapter II. About the inclination of the zodiac, the distance of the tropics and how they are determined (73).
Chapter III. About the arcs and angles between the intersecting circles - the equinox, the zodiac and the meridian, by which declination and right ascension are determined, and about their calculation (75).
Chapter IV. About how one can find the declination and right ascension of any luminary located outside the circle and passing along the midline of the zodiac, if the latitude and longitude of the luminary are known, as well as with what degree of the zodiac this luminary divides the sky in half (82).
Chapter V. About sections of the horizon (83).
Chapter VI. About what are the differences between midday shadows (84).
Chapter VII. About how the mutual relationship between the magnitude of the longest day, the latitude of the place of sunrise and the inclination of the sphere is determined, as well as about other differences between days (85).
Chapter VIII. About the hours and divisions of day and night (94).
Chapter IX. About the oblique ascension of the degrees of the zodiac and how for each ascending degree the one that divides the sky in half is determined (94).
Chapter X. On the angle of intersection of the zodiac with the horizon (96).
Tables of the ascensions of signs and angles made by the zodiac with the horizon (98).
Chapter XI. About the use of these tables (102).
Chapter XII. About the angles and arcs drawn through the poles of the horizon to the same circle of the zodiac (102).
Chapter XIII. About the rising and setting of stars (103).
Chapter XIV. On the determination of the places of stars and the tabular description of the fixed stars (105).
Catalog of zodiac signs and stars (110).
Book three
Chapter I. On the anticipation of the equinoxes and solstices (158).
Chapter II. History of observations proving the unevenness of the anticipation of equinoxes and solstices (160).
Chapter III. Assumptions that can explain the change in the equinoxes and the inclination of the zodiac to the equinoctial circle (162).
Chapter IV. About how oscillatory, or librational, motion is composed of circular ones (165).
Chapter V. Proof of the unevenness of the movements preceding the equinoxes and changing the inclination (166).
Chapter VI. On the uniform movements of the anticipation of the equinoxes and the inclination of the zodiac (168).
Chapter VII. About what is the greatest difference between the average and visible anticipation of the equinoxes (176).
Chapter VIII. On the particular values of the differences of the indicated movements and the compilation of their tables (178).
Chapter IX. On clarification and correction of everything stated regarding the anticipation of the equinoxes (181).
Chapter X. About what is the greatest value of the difference between the angle in the section of the equinoctial circle and the zodiac (182).
Chapter XI. On the establishment of the epochs of mean movements of the equinoxes and anomalies (183).
Chapter XII. On the calculation of the anticipation of the vernal equinox and the inclination of the zodiacal circle (185).
Chapter XIII. On the size and differences of the solar year (187).
Chapter XIV. On uniform and average motions in revolutions of the Earth's center (191).
Chapter XV. Preliminary theorems for determining the inequality of the apparent motion of the Sun (199).
Chapter XVI. On the apparent inequality of the Sun (204).
Chapter XVII. Definition of the first, or annual, solar inequality with its special meanings (207).
Chapter XVIII. On the refinement of uniform motion along longitude (208).
Chapter XIX. On establishing the starting points for the uniform motion of the Sun (210).
Chapter XX. About the second and double inequality, which results from changes in the apses of the Sun (211).
Chapter XXI. About what is the value of the second difference of the solar inequality (214).
Chapter XXII. About how the average motion of the solar apogee is determined along with the uneven one (216).
Chapter XXIII. On correcting the solar anomaly and establishing its starting points (216).
Chapter XXIV. Compiling a table of inequalities of average and apparent motion (217).
Chapter XXV. On calculating the apparent position of the Sun (220).
Chapter XXVI. Oh, that is, about the differences in natural days (221).
Book Four
Chapter I. Assumptions about the circles of the moon according to the opinion of the ancients (225).
Chapter II. On the shortcomings of the above assumptions (227).
Chapter III. Another opinion about the movement of the Moon (229).
Chapter IV. On the rotations of the Moon and its special movements (231).
Chapter V. Explanation of the first inequality in the movement of the Moon, which occurs during new and full moons (240).
Chapter VI. Verification of what has been stated regarding the mean movements of the Moon in longitude, as well as anomalies (247).
Chapter VII. About the starting points for lunar longitude and anomaly (247).
Chapter VIII. About the second inequality of the Moon and what relation the first epicycle has to the second (248).
Chapter IX. About the last inequality with which the Moon appears to move unevenly from the upper apse of the epicycle (250).
Chapter X. How the apparent motion of the Moon is determined by means of given uniform motions (251).
Chapter XI. Compilation of prostapheresis tables, or lunar equations (253).
Chapter XII. On the calculation of lunar motion (257).
Chapter XIII. About how the movement of the latitude of the Moon is studied and determined (258).
Chapter XIV. About the epochs of the anomaly of the Moon's motion along latitude (260).
Chapter XV. The device of the parallactic instrument (262).
Chapter XVI. About how the parallactic displacements of the Moon are determined (263).
Chapter XVII. Determination of the distance of the Moon from the Earth and how it is expressed in parts, if the distance from the center of the Earth to the surface is taken as one part (265).
Chapter XVIII. On the diameter of the Moon and the earth's shadow at the place where the Moon passes (267).
Chapter XIX. About how the distances of the Sun and Moon from the Earth, their diameters and shadows at the place of passage of the Moon, as well as the axis of the shadow are simultaneously determined (268).
Chapter XX. About the size of the three mentioned luminaries - the Sun, the Moon and the Earth - and about their relationships (271).
Chapter XXI. About the apparent diameter of the Sun and its parallactic displacements (271).
Chapter XXII. On the unevenness of the apparent diameter of the Moon and its parallactic displacements (272).
Chapter XXIII. On the extent of change in the earth's shadow (273).
Chapter XXIV. Compiling a table of various values of the parallactic displacements of the Sun and Moon for a circle passing through the poles of the horizon (274).
Chapter XXV. On calculating the parallax of the Sun and Moon (280).
Chapter XXVI. About how parallaxes differ in longitude and latitude (281).
Chapter XXVII. Confirmation of what has been stated regarding lunar parallaxes (283).
Chapter XXVIII. About average conjunctions and oppositions of the Moon and the Sun (284).
Chapter XXIX. On the study of true conjunctions and oppositions of the Sun and Moon (287).
Chapter XXX. About how ecliptic conjunctions or oppositions of the Sun and Moon differ from others (288).
Chapter XXXI. About what the magnitude of the eclipse of the Sun or Moon will be (289).
Chapter XXXII. To predict the duration of an eclipse (290).
Book five
Chapter I. On the revolutions and mean motions of the planets (293).
Chapter II. Explanation of the mean and apparent motions of the planets according to the opinion of the ancients (306).
Chapter III. General explanation of apparent irregularity due to the motion of the Earth (307).
Chapter IV. About how the proper motions of the planets can appear uneven (309).
Chapter V. Explanation of the motion of Saturn (312).
Chapter VI. About the three other recently observed acronychial positions of Saturn (316).
Chapter VII. On checking the motion of Saturn (321).
Eyes VIII. On establishing the initial positions of Saturn (322).
Chapter IX. About the parallactic revolutions of Saturn, resulting from the annual motion of the Earth in its orbit, and about its distance from the Sun (322).
Chapter X. Determination of the motion of Jupiter (324).
Chapter XI. About three other recently observed acronichic positions of Jupiter (327).
Chapter XII. Confirmation of calculations of the mean motion of Jupiter (332).
Chapter XIII Establishment of the starting points of the movement of Jupiter (332).
Chapter XIV. On the determination of the parallactic movements of Jupiter and its height in relation to the earth's orbit (333).
Chapter XV. About the planet Mars (335).
Chapter XVI. About three other recently observed oppositions of the planet Mars (338).
Chapter XVII. Confirmation of the calculation of the movement of Mars (341).
Chapter XVIII. Establishing starting points for Mars (341).
Chapter XIX. About the magnitude of the orbit of Mars, expressed in parts, one of which is the “radius” of the annual orbit of the Earth (342).
Chapter XX. About the planet Venus (344).
Chapter XXI. About what is the ratio of the diameters of the orbits of Venus and Earth (346).
Chapter XXII. On the dual movement of Venus (347).
Chapter XXIII. On the study of the movement of Venus (348).
Chapter XXIV. About the starting points of the Venus anomaly (352).
Chapter XXV. About Mercury (352).
Chapter XXVI. On the position of the upper and lower apses of Mercury (355).
Chapter XXVII. About what is the eccentricity of Mercury and what is the proportionality of its orbits (356).
Chapter XXVIII. For what reason the deflections of Mercury near the hexagonal aspects seem greater than those obtained at perigee (359).
Chapter XXIX. Study of the mean motion of Mercury (360).
Chapter XXX. About recent observations of the motion of Mercury (362).
Chapter XXXI. On establishing the starting points for Mercury (368).
Chapter XXXII. About some other representation of approaching and moving away (368).
Chapter XXXIII. About the tables of prostapheresis of the five planets (370).
Chapter XXXIV. About how the positions of the five planets in longitude are calculated (381).
Chapter XXXV. On the stationary and retrograde movements of the five wandering luminaries (382).
Chapter XXXVI. About how times, places and arcs of retrograde movements are determined (385).
Book six
Chapter I. General information about the movements of the five planets in latitude (388).
Chapter II. Suggestions about the circles in which these planets move in latitude (390).
Chapter III. About the inclination of the orbits of Saturn, Jupiter and Mars (395).
Chapter IV. On the calculation of the latitudes of these three luminaries in other positions and in general (397).
Chapter V. About the latitudes of Venus and Mercury (398).
Chapter VI. About the second deviation of Venus and Mercury in latitude due to the inclination of their orbits at apogee and perigee (401).
Chapter VII. About what the liquation angles are for each planet - Venus and Mercury (403).
Chapter VIII. About the third type of latitude of Venus and Mercury, which is called deviation (406).
Chapter IX. On calculating the latitudes of the five planets (415).
SMALL COMMENT. THE MESSAGE OF COPERNICUS AGAINST WERNER. UPSAL RECORDING
Nicolaus Copernicus has a short commentary on the hypotheses he established about the celestial movements (419).
On the order of the spheres (420).
On the visible movements of the Sun (421).
That the uniformity of motion should be determined in relation not to the equinoxes, but to the fixed stars (422).
About the moon (423).
About the three upper planets - Saturn, Jupiter and Mars (424).
About Venus (427).
About Mercury (429).
Epistle of Copernicus against Werner (431).
Uppsala record (438).
Notes (458).
APPLICATIONS
From the translator (469).
A.A. Mikhailov. Nicolaus Copernicus. Biographical sketch (471).
George Joachim Rheticus on the books of rotations of Nicolaus Copernicus, first narrative to John Schoener (488).
On the motion of the fixed stars (489).
General considerations regarding the year counted from the equinox (491).
On the change in the inclination of the ecliptic (493).
On the eccentricity and motion of the apogee of the Sun (494).
That, according to the movement of the eccentric, world monarchies are replaced (495).
Special consideration of the size of the year counted from the equinoxes (498).
General considerations about the movements of the Moon together with new hypotheses of Mr. Mentor (502).
The main reasons why one should deviate from the hypotheses of ancient astronomers (505).
Proceed to listing new hypotheses of all astronomy (508).
Location of the Universe (509).
About what movements correspond to the Great Circle and those associated with it. Three movements of the Earth - daily, annual and declination (513).
About librations (517).
The second part of hypotheses about the movements of the five planets (522).
Hypotheses about the motion of five planets in longitude (526).
On the manner in which the planets appear to deviate from the ecliptic (533).
Praise of Prussia (540).
Comments
On the rotations of the celestial spheres (552).
Book one (554).
Book two (569).
Book Three (581).
Book Four (599).
Book five (608).
Book six (630).
Small commentary (637).
Epistle against Werner (642).
Rhetic. First narrative (644).

The work “De Revolutionibus Orbium Coelestium” (“On the Revolutions of the Celestial Spheres”) consists of six books, and in the modern edition these books have the following content:
- the first book in chapters 1-11 criticizes the fundamental principles of the geocentric system of Ptolemy, substantiates the sphericity of the Earth, the infinite distance of the heavenly vault and describes the heliocentric system, introducing three types of movement of the Earth - daily rotation, annual revolution around the Sun and annual declination movement of the Earth's rotation axis, called keep the direction of this axis fixed; Chapters 12-14 contain geometric theorems of planimetry, plane and spherical trigonometry
- the second book also consists of 14 chapters and is devoted to spherical astronomy, here the main circles and points on the celestial sphere are defined - the equator, meridian, ecliptic, horizon, etc. It explains visible phenomena associated with the daily and annual movement of the Earth. The second book is accompanied by a catalog of 1025 stars, indicating their apparent magnitudes, as well as longitude and latitude with an accuracy of 5"
- the third book explains the apparent movement of the Sun and the precession of the Earth's axis, which is indicated at 50.20 "/year. To describe the annual movement of the Earth around the Sun, the theory of the eccentric (deferent with an epicycle) was introduced, and the center of the Earth's orbit revolves with a period of 3434 years around a certain point, which in turn revolves around the center of the Sun every 50,000 years, which made it possible to indicate the length of the tropical year with an accuracy of 29 seconds
- in the fourth book, in chapters 1-17, an epicyclic theory of the motion of the Moon is constructed, which in terms of the accuracy of angular motion is comparable to the eccentric-equant theory of Ptolemy in its modern edition, but superior to the latter in terms of the parameters of the Moon’s orbit. Chapters 18-22 outline the theory of lunar and solar eclipses
- the fifth book in 36 chapters sets out the theory of the apparent motion of the planets (Saturn, Jupiter, Mars, Venus and Mercury) in longitude, which is composed of two movements - the Earth around the Sun, called parallactic motion, and the proper motion of the planets around the Sun, which is described by the theory eccentric with epicycle. The theory constructed explains the apparent retrograde motion of the planets, which is why the planets are called wandering luminaries. The fifth book indicates with enormous actual accuracy (0.001%) the angular parameters of the heliocentric motion of Jupiter, Saturn and Mars
- in the sixth book, in 9 chapters, the theory of the apparent latitudinal motion of the planets is presented, based on the idea of uniform fluctuations in the inclination of the eccentric of the planets to the ecliptic. Here are the inclinations of the orbits of the outer planets to the ecliptic, which in relation to Jupiter and Saturn are less accurate than in the theory of Ptolemy in its modern edition

Astronomical science originated in ancient times. The study of the starry sky was driven by practical needs: the need to measure time and create a calendar system, as well as navigate the earth’s surface, especially when sailing. In this regard, the positions of the brighter “fixed” stars on the celestial sphere were determined, and the daily rotation of the starry sky was studied , seven moving luminaries were found, called planets, to which the Sun and the Moon were classified, the apparent motion of the planets was studied, and geometric theories were created that represented these motions with sufficient accuracy for that time.

In its most complete and complete form, the ancient astronomical theory was expounded by the Greek scientist Ptolemy in the middle of the 2nd century. n. e. in a work known under the Arabic title "Almagest". For one and a half thousand years, the Almagest was a systematic summary of astronomical knowledge accumulated over many previous centuries. This summary was based on the seemingly obvious position that the center of the Universe is the Earth, around which the planets move and the entire firmament with the stars attached to it rotates, which is why the corresponding system was called geocentric. The irregularities in the observed movements of the planets were represented by the addition of several uniform circular movements in the so-called epicycles.
As a formal geometric scheme, the geocentric theory described only the external features of the visible movements of the celestial bodies, without revealing the actual structure of either the planetary, much less the stellar system. This explains the stagnation that dominated astronomy along with all natural science in the Middle Ages. Astronomical science had reached a dead end, from which a way out could only be found by revealing the true structure of the solar system. This solution was given by Copernicus in his immortal work, published in the year of his death - 1543. Copernicus explained the apparent daily movement of the firmament by the rotation of the Earth around its axis in the opposite direction and the apparent annual movement of the Sun across the starry sky by the movement of the Earth around the Sun along with all the other planets , except for the Moon, which turned out to be a satellite of the Earth. This revealed the true structure of the solar planetary system and determined the position of the Earth in the Universe.

Observing the movement of celestial bodies, N. Copernicus came to the conclusion that Ptolemy’s theory was incorrect. After thirty years of hard work, long observations and complex mathematical calculations, he convincingly proved that the Earth is only one of the planets and that all planets revolve around the Sun. True, Copernicus still believed that the stars are motionless and are located on the surface of a huge sphere, at a great distance from the Earth. This was due to the fact that at that time there were no such powerful telescopes with which one could observe the sky and stars.

In 1510, he moved to Frauenburg, a small town on the banks of the Vistula, where he spent the rest of his life, being a canon of the Catholic Church and devoting his leisure time to astronomy and free treatment of the sick; Moreover, when it was necessary, Nicolaus Copernicus devoted his energy to practical work: according to his project, a new coinage system was introduced in Poland, and in the city of Frauenburg he built a hydraulic machine that supplied all houses with water.

From this time on, space exploration begins at an ever-accelerating pace. If Copernicus could not yet abandon eccentric circles and epicycles to explain the small remaining irregularities in the motion of the planets, then Kepler explained them by discovering three laws of planetary motions. Newton, in turn, showed that these laws are a consequence of a more general principle - universal gravitation, laying the foundation for a new science - celestial mechanics, which was fully developed in the works of a number of major mathematicians of the 18th and 19th centuries. From here comes a continuous series of works and research, culminating in our time with the creation of artificial celestial bodies and the implementation of space flights.

On December 1, 1514, a council of the Catholic Church was held in Rome, to which Copernicus’s friend Bernard Sculteti went from Warmia. The issue of the urgent calendar reform was discussed at the council. Since the adoption of the Julian calendar by the Church, the actual time of the vernal equinox has moved away from the calendar date by as much as ten days. Therefore, this was not the first commission on calendar reform that was created, which asked the “emperor, kings and universities” to send their thoughts on this matter. It was probably on Skulteti's recommendation that Copernicus was included in the list of experts. Since that time, perhaps at the request of the commission, the scientist began making observations to clarify the length of the year. The value he found became the basis for the calendar reform of 1582. The length of the year determined by Nicolaus Copernicus was 365 days 5 hours 49 minutes 16 s and exceeded the true one by only 28 s. Meanwhile, the situation in Warmia was heating up. Increasingly, there were raids by armed gangs from the Order of Prussia. Negotiations and complaints to Rome yielded nothing. In the autumn of 1519, when Copernicus returned to Frombork, Polish troops entered the territory of the order. A war began that lasted a year and a half and again ended in his defeat. In January 1520, Copernicus had to defend the cathedral, behind whose walls the inhabitants of Frombork, burned by the crusaders, were fleeing, and in February 1521, take command of the garrison of the besieged Olyityn castle. During these dramatic events, Copernicus showed courage and extraordinary organizational talent. Meanwhile, important changes took place in the life of Europe and the order. In October 1517, Martin Luther, a professor of theology at the University of Wittenberg, spoke out against the official dogmas of Catholicism. Thus began the Reformation. Many German rulers accepted Lutheranism and became the heads of the new Church in their dominions. In 1525, this was also done by the Grand Master of the Teutonic Order Albrecht, who resigned his rank and henceforth became the Duke of a secular Lutheran state, taking the oath of allegiance to the Polish king.

The results of the work were summarized by Copernicus. in the essay “On the Revolutions of the Heavenly Spheres,” published in 1543, shortly before his death. With the advent of this work, “... the liberation of natural science from theology begins its reckoning...” (Engels F., Dialectics of Nature, 1969, p. 8). K. developed new philosophical ideas only to the extent that this was necessary for the immediate practical needs of astronomy. He retained the idea of a finite Universe, limited by the sphere of fixed stars, although this was no longer necessary (the existence and finite dimensions of the sphere of fixed stars were only an inevitable consequence of the idea of the immobility of the Earth). K. strove first of all to ensure that his work was as complete a guide to solving all astronomical problems as Ptolemy’s “Great Mathematical Construction” was. Therefore, he focused on improving Ptolemy's mathematical theories. K.'s contribution to the development of trigonometry, both plane and spherical, is important; Chapters of K.'s work devoted to trigonometry were published separately in 1542 by his only student G. I. Reticus.

Many of his friends suggested that Copernicus publish his work. But the greatest influence on him was made by his enthusiastic admirer Rheticus, who came to Copernicus in Frombork to familiarize himself in detail with Copernicus’s work. It was decided that Rheticus would supervise the process of printing the great astronomical work. Unfortunately, Rheticus handed the manuscript for printing to K. Osilander, a Lutheran preacher, who added his own not entirely successful preface. It said that all the main ideas of the Copernican work “On the Rotations of the Celestial Spheres” are only hypotheses and methods convenient for making calculations. The scientist found another way out - he sent a dedication of the book to Nuremberg - to the head of the Catholic Church, Pope Paul III.

To the Most Holy Sovereign, Pontifex Maximus Paul III. Preface by Nicolaus Copernicus to the books “On Rotations”.
I understand quite well, Holy Father, that as soon as some people learn that in these books written about the rotation of the world's spheres, I gave the globe some movements, they will immediately shout and revile me and also their opinions. I don’t like my works so much that I don’t pay attention to other people’s judgments about them. But I know that the thoughts of a human philosopher are far from the reasonings of the crowd, since he is engaged in seeking truth in all matters to the extent that God allows the human mind.
I also believe that we must avoid opinions that are alien to the truth. Alone with myself, I pondered for a long time how absurd my hypothesis would seem to those who, based on the judgment of many centuries, consider it firmly established that the Earth is motionless in the middle of the sky, being, as it were, its center. Therefore, I hesitated for a long time in my soul whether my works, written to prove the movement of the Earth, should be published, and whether it would not be better to follow the example of the Pythagoreans and some others, who transmitted the secrets of philosophy not in writing, but from hand to hand, and only to relatives and friends .
It seems to me that they, of course, did this not out of some kind of jealousy for the teachings being communicated, as some believe, but so that the most excellent research, obtained through the great labor of great people, would not be subject to the contempt of those who are too lazy to do something well. sciences, if they do not bring them profit. When I weighed all this in my mind, the fear of contempt for the novelty and meaninglessness of my opinions almost prompted me from continuing the planned work. But I, who had hesitated for a long time and even showed reluctance, was carried away by my friends. They said that the more senseless my teaching about the movement of the Earth seems to many at the present time, the more amazing it will seem and will deserve gratitude after the publication of my works, when the darkness will be dispelled by the clearest evidence. Prompted by these advisors and the aforementioned hope, I finally allowed my friends to publish the work they had been asking me for a long time...
The work was dedicated to Pope Paul III and consisted of six books. The first gives the concept of the three movements of the Earth and the new order of distribution of planets in the solar system. The second book sets out the so-called “spherical astronomy” and contains a catalog of fixed stars, which differs from Ptolemy’s catalog in the secular changes in celestial longitudes. The third book explains precession and gives a new theory of annual motion. The fourth book sets out the theory of the movement of the Moon. The last two books contain a theory of planetary motion based on the centrality of the Sun in the solar system, and also show how the relative distances of the planets from the Earth and from the Sun can be determined.
Fate treated N. Copernicus favorably: he personally did not have to suffer for the beliefs he expressed; During his lifetime, that hostile attitude of the church towards the heliocentric system of the world, which emerged soon after 1543, had not yet manifested itself.

Decree banning the theory of N. Copernicus

“It has come to the attention of the congregation that the false, contrary to Divine Scripture, Pythagorean doctrine of the movement of the Earth and the immobility of the Sun, which was taught by Nicolaus Copernicus in his book De revolutionibus orbium coelestium and Didacus Astunica in his commentaries on the book of Job, is beginning to spread and is accepted by many, as can be seen from a letter of a Carmelite, published under the title “Letter of Brother Paul Antonius Foscarini on the opinion of the Pythagoreans and Copernicus regarding the rotation of the Earth and the immobility of the Sun,” in which the said priest tries to prove that this doctrine of the immobility of the Sun in the center of the world and the rotation of the Earth is in agreement with the truth and does not contradict Holy Scripture. Therefore, in order that this opinion should no longer spread to the great detriment of Catholic truth, the congregation decided that the called De revolutionibus of Nicolaus Copernicus and the Didacus on Job should be withdrawn from circulation until they are corrected, and the book of Father Foscarini should be absolutely prohibited and condemned, as and all the books which preach the same doctrine and which the congregation prohibits, condemns and does not allow, in witness of which this decree is signed by the hand and certified by the seal of the most illustrious and most venerable Cardinal S. Cecil, Bishop of Alba, March 5, 1616.”
Signed by Madeleine Ironhead, Secretary of the Dominican Brothers

Basic axioms of the Copernican system

The axioms of Copernicus's heliocentric theory are set out in the book “Commentariolus” (“Small Commentary,” allegedly 1515-1530), discovered in 1877 in the Vienna Court Library. These basic statements are:
- there is no one common center for all celestial orbits or spheres
- the center of the Earth is not the center of the World, but only the center of the lunar orbit
- all spheres move around the Sun, so that the center of the World is located near it
- the distance between the Sun and the Earth is much less than the height of the firmament (the distance from the Sun to the fixed stars) and their ratio is less than the ratio of the radius of the Earth to its distance to the Sun
- all movements of the firmament do not belong to itself, but are visible consequences of the daily movement of the Earth
- the apparent movement of the Sun comes from the movement of the Earth around the Sun
- apparent direct and retrograde movements of the planets are observed due to the movement of the Earth and planets around the Sun

The philosophical significance of the heliocentric system was that the Earth, previously considered the center of the world, was relegated to the position of one of the planets. A new idea arose - about the unity of the world, that “heaven” and “earth” are subject to the same laws. The revolutionary nature of K.'s views was understood by the Catholic Church only after G. Galileo and others developed the philosophical consequences of his teachings. In 1616, by decree of the Inquisition, K.’s book was included “pending correction” in the “Index of Prohibited Books” and remained banned until 1828.
This is the first time that Copernicus' work has been published in Russian in its entirety. Translations of the “Small Commentary” and “First Narrative” are also published along with it. The translation, with comparison between various Latin editions and with the manuscript of Copernicus himself, was carried out by Professor I. N. Veselovsky, who compiled most of the notes. The translation was reviewed by the famous Latinist Prof. F. A. Petrovsky, and general editing was carried out by corresponding member of the USSR Academy of Sciences A. A. Mikhailov.

Publisher: "Nauka"
Year: 1964
Pages: 653
Format: PDF
Size: 56.1 MB
.

BOOK “ON THE ROTATIONS OF THE HEAVENLY SPHERES”

Simultaneously with conducting observations, partially using them, Copernicus worked on his main work, which, according to his plan, was supposed to replace Ptolemy's Almagest. Copernicus apparently worked on this work for 17 years, from 1515 to 1532. The entire work was initially divided into eight books, then the author reduced their number to seven, and in preparation for printing the final number of books was determined - six.

To understand the role of Copernicus in the development of astronomy and the formation of a new worldview, it is important to pay attention to how the new theory of the structure of the world was commented on even before its publication in print. Undoubtedly, it was impossible to hide the fact that in Poland, in Frombork, located far from the capital of the state, a canon of the Warmian Chapter created a new theory of the structure of the world, which refuted the scientific views that existed at that time.

Around 1533, news of this theory reached

Rome and interested the then Pope Clement VII. And on November 1, 1536, Cardinal Nicholas Schoenberg sent a letter to Copernicus in which he expressed his respect and admiration for his theory. He also asked the great astronomer to have his work copied at his expense and sent to Rome. However, Copernicus was in no hurry to publish his work. And only when in 1539 a young mathematician from Wittenberg, Joachim von Lauchen, nicknamed Raetik (from the name of the ancient Roman province of Raetia - now part of Austria, where Ratik was from), arrived to him, he decided to prepare his work for publication. But even before his work was published, Ratik, who for two years studied his new theory of the universe with Copernicus in Frombork, published in Gdansk in 1540 a description of Copernicus’s work, known as the First Narrative (Narratio Prima). This was the first extensive scientific information about Copernicus's theory to be printed, including a listing of the contents of a number of books On the rotations of the celestial spheres with justification for why the old geocentric system of the world should be discarded.

In 1541, Ratik left Frombork, taking with him a copy of Copernicus's work intended for printing. Petrey's printing house in Nuremberg undertook to print the book. The care of the manuscript submitted for publication, or, in today's terms, its editing, was entrusted to the astronomer Johann Schöner, as well as the Protestant theologian Andreas Ossiander. In 1542, Copernicus sent a letter dedicating his work to Pope Paul III as an introduction to the book. It was, however, printed at the beginning of the book, but Ossiander, having arbitrarily excluded from the text the original introduction of Copernicus in the first section, provided the book with his own (anonymous) preface, in which, weakening Copernicus’s argumentation, he presented his theory as a formal hypothesis intended only to facilitate calculations planetary movements. Copernicus's work, published in 1543, was called Six books on the rotations of the celestial spheres (De revolutionibus orbium coelestium libri VI). What was the original title given by Copernicus is unknown to us, for the manuscript, discovered in the 19th century in the Nostic Library near Prague, did not have a title page. Despite the desire of the publishers to weaken the strength of Copernicus’s argument, his work was duly appreciated by scientists. It should be It should be noted that reading Copernicus's book, like reading Ptolemy's Almagest, required serious mathematical preparation. Copernicus understood this very well and wrote that he intended his work for mathematicians.

Scientific work only has lasting significance when it becomes a stimulus leading to the search for new ways of developing human thought. This is exactly what happened with the work of Copernicus, especially if we talk about the scientist’s views on the structure of the world contained in it.

Copernicus was well aware of the enormous significance of the theory of the heliocentric structure of the world, what a revolution it would produce in minds. This is evidenced by his words addressed to Pope Paul III in the dedication printed as a preface to the book: “I can easily imagine, Holy Father, that there will be people who, having learned that in these books of mine I attribute to the rotations of the spheres of the world certain movements around the globe will immediately begin to shout demanding condemnation of me and my beliefs.” Further, however, Copernicus defines the tasks of a scientist in a completely modern way: “... The thoughts of a scientist are not subject to the judgment of the crowd, for his duty is to search for truth, as far as God allows the human mind.” These words contain the credo of Copernicus, the scientist, the credo of all true researchers and true science, which rejects authority and strives to reveal the objective laws governing the world.

Diagram of the heliocentric system of the world from the manuscript “On the Rotations of the Celestial Spheres” by N. Copernicus

Copernicus then explains why he waited so long to announce his theory: “I have long reflected on the fact that people who for centuries have considered it firmly established that the Earth rests motionless in the middle of the sky, being its center, inevitably recognize my statements about the movement of the Earth as meaningless ; I hesitated for a long time whether I should publish my research, written to prove this movement, or follow the example of the Pythagoreans and other scientists who used to convey the secrets of their science not in writing, but orally, to their closest friends and associates...”

However, Copernicus’s friends spoke out in favor of publishing his work, believing, as he himself notes, that “no matter how senseless my teaching about the movement of the Earth may seem to many, they will be delighted and full of gratitude when they are convinced that, thanks to my research, the darkness of the apparent contradictions." This phrase is of great importance, as it testifies to the author’s purely scientific approach to the problems under consideration, alien to many writers of the Copernican era. This position is reflected even more clearly in the further part of the preface, where Copernicus explains that he was persuaded to create a new theory by the contradictions in the views of supporters of the geocentric system of the structure of the world, who introduced a number of mutually unrelated assumptions to explain the observed movements of the planets. The clear logical mind of Copernicus could not come to terms with this, because, in his opinion, a scientific work only has value if it is unified from the point of view of methodology. Copernicus expressed this very successfully in the following words, criticizing the supporters of the old views: “Thus, the same thing happened with them, as if someone had collected from various places arms, legs, head and other members, drawn although perfectly, but not on the scale of the same body; in view of the complete inconsistency with each other, of course, they would rather form a monster than a man. So, it turns out that in the process of proof they either missed something necessary, or admitted something alien and in no way relevant to the case. This could not have happened if they had followed the true principles" ( Quotes from I. N. Veselovsky’s translation of Copernicus’s work “On the Rotations of the Celestial Spheres.” Moscow, ed. "Science", 1964.).

It is difficult to give a more clear formulation of the need for a logical approach to the problems of scientific research, the need to substantiate them on certain principles devoid of internal contradictions. These provisions, indicating a completely modern approach to solving the problems under study, formed the basis for all the scientific activities of the great scientist.

Title page of the second edition (Basel 1566) of Copernicus's work "On the Revolutions of the Celestial Spheres"

Further, in the preface addressed to the pope, Copernicus notes that before beginning to develop his theory of the universe, he studied all the thoughts expressed before him about the movement of the Earth. Speaking in the language of modern science, he familiarized himself with the literature of the problem. Now, as you know, any scientist does this. However, this method of work was not common in the time of Copernicus. In that era, many scientists did not go further than commenting on generally accepted authorities, and the fear of the possibility of inconsistency with the greatest authority of that time - the Bible - was an almost insurmountable barrier to scientific judgments, even if they were logically justified. Copernicus did not recognize such a barrier. His words in the preface addressed to the pope are worthy of admiration: “If there are any people who love to rave, who, being ignorant in all mathematical sciences, nevertheless undertake to judge on the basis of some passage of Holy Scripture, misunderstood and distorted for their purpose, they dare to condemn and persecute this work of mine, then I, without delaying at all, can neglect their judgment as frivolous. It is no secret that Lactantius, generally speaking a famous writer, but a minor mathematician, talked almost childishly about the shape of the Earth, ridiculing those who argued that the Earth is spherical. Therefore, scientists should not be surprised if one of these people ridicules us too.”

These dignified words belong to a 69-year-old man and were expressed by him a year before his death. These were the words of a scientist deeply convinced of the correctness of his theory, and the power of these words could not be shaken by the anonymous preface written by Ossiander, presenting the Copernican theory as just one of the possible and not necessarily reliable hypotheses.

Ossiander's unpublished introduction to Book 1 began with words that any modern astronomer who deeply loves his subject could say. It is well known how important a factor in successful scientific work is an emotional approach to the subject of research, and how important an incentive for a researcher is the satisfaction of aesthetic needs. Copernicus also experienced such a need, who began his work with the following words: “Among the many and varied pursuits of the sciences and arts that nourish human minds, I believe that first of all one should give and devote the highest effort to those that concern the most beautiful and most worthy of knowledge.” items. These are the sciences that study the divine rotations of the world, the movements of luminaries, their magnitudes, distances, rising and setting, as well as the causes of other celestial phenomena and, finally, explain the entire shape of the Universe. And what could be more beautiful than the vault of heaven containing everything beautiful! (...) Therefore, if we evaluate the merits of sciences depending on the matter with which they are concerned, the most outstanding will be that which some call astrology, others - astronomy, and many of the ancients - the completion of mathematics. It itself, which is undoubtedly the main chapter of the noble sciences and the most worthy occupation of a free man, rests on almost all mathematical sciences."

Astronomy amazed and captivated the mind of Copernicus with its beauty, as well as many researchers of subsequent generations. And this is also evidence of the universality of the genius of the great humanist, the great revolutionary of science.

The introduction from which we have quoted, removed by the publisher On the rotations of the celestial spheres and replaced by an anonymous preface written by Ossiander, was not included in the two subsequent editions (Basel, 1566 and Amsterdam, 1617). It was first published only in the Warsaw edition of J. Baranowski in 1854, based on the discovered handwritten text of Copernicus’s work.

Copernicus began the text of the first book with the assertion that the world is spherical and that the Earth is also spherical, and then proceeded to describe the movement of celestial bodies. He reduced these movements to uniform circulation in a circle, because, in his opinion, only this could be repeated invariably. Accepting the principle of uniform motion in a circle, Copernicus completely took the position of ancient and contemporary astronomers, for from the Aristotelian principle that states that celestial bodies should move ideally, i.e. in a circle, he could not free himself yet. Having formulated the basic principles of his theory, Copernicus began to present in detail the arguments confirming the correctness of the thesis about the movement of the Earth. As the main argument confirming the correctness of his theory, he pointed to the enormous size of the sky in comparison with the Earth. He wrote that although the Earth seems huge to a person “... reasoning shows quite clearly that the sky is immeasurably large in comparison with the Earth and is infinitely large; according to the assessment of our feelings, the Earth in relation to the sky is like a point to a body, and in size, as the finite is to the infinite. This reasoning obviously does not prove anything else, and, of course, it does not follow from here that the Earth should rest in the middle of the world. And it would be much more surprising if such a huge world rotated in twenty-four hours, and not the smallest part of it, which is the Earth." Next we find the statement: "...this reasoning only proves that the size of the sky in comparison with the Earth is not is finite. How far this immensity extends is in no way known. " With these words, Copernicus came close to the modern scientific concept of the infinity of the Universe.

Having refuted the arguments of Aristotle and Ptolemy against the rotation of the Earth around its axis, Copernicus moves on to evidence justifying the movement of the Earth around the Sun, in other words, he proves that the Earth is one of the planets. He writes: “Thus, since nothing prevents the mobility of the Earth, I think it is necessary to consider whether it cannot have several movements, so that it can be considered one of the planets.”

While studying the movements of the Earth, Copernicus came to the most important statement of his theory, which he developed in subsequent parts of his book, namely: “Consequently, if the Earth makes other movements, such as around the center, then these movements must necessarily be the same as those observed externally and on other planets; Among these movements we find the annual circulation. Therefore, if we transform this movement from solar to earthly and agree that the Sun is motionless, then the rising and setting of the signs of the zodiac and the fixed stars, when they become either morning or evening, will seem to us to occur in exactly the same way. In the same way, the positions, retrograde and direct movements of the planets will turn out to not belong to them, but originate from the movement of the Earth, which they borrow for their visible movements. Finally, the Sun itself will be considered to occupy the center of the world; In all this we are convinced by the reasonable order in which all the luminaries follow each other, and the harmony of the whole world, if only we want to look at the matter itself with both (as they say) eyes.”

Thus, Copernicus, having proven the incorrectness of the thesis about the motionless Earth, considered the center of the world, argued that such a center is the Sun - now the picture of the structure of the world became more harmonious. And this was a very significant argument for him, just as similar arguments were later significant for Johannes Kepler. Here, first of all, the influence of Plato’s philosophy with its canons of harmony was revealed in the words of Copernicus: “It is not in vain that some call the Sun the lamp of the world, others its mind, and still others its ruler. Hermes Trismegistos calls him the visible god, and Sophocles Electra calls him the all-seeing god. Of course, this is exactly how the Sun, as if sitting on a royal throne, rules the family of luminaries circling around it. Likewise, the Earth is not deprived of the service of the Moon, but, as Aristotle says in his book On Animals, the Moon has the greatest affinity with the Earth. At the same time, the Earth conceives from the Sun and becomes pregnant every year.”

Having presented a picture of the heliocentric structure of the world, Copernicus decisively declares: “Thus in this arrangement we find an amazing proportionality of the world and a certain harmonious connection between the movement and the size of the orbits, which cannot be discovered in any other way.”

Consequently, the teachings of Copernicus were not of a conjectural nature, as Ossiander tried to present in his anonymous preface. The great scientist considered the conclusions of his work to be objective truth, supported by convincing arguments. In the development of science, each era has its own arguments that are convincing to scientists. In the Renaissance, in the era of the cult of harmony inherited from ancient art and literature, one of the most serious arguments, even in a mathematical work, such as Copernicus’s work On the Rotations of the Celestial Spheres, could be the harmonic design of the world structure system. And the fact that Copernicus achieved a more perfect harmony in the system he developed than the supporters of the geocentric system of the universe was for him proof of the correctness and truth of his theory. After all, the strict logic of the arguments is still the greatest advantage of every scientific theory, representing, along with compliance with observed facts, the strongest argument in favor of its reliability. It was this logic of Copernicus that laid the foundation for the development of modern astronomy, and subsequently the creation of a materialistic concept of the structure of the world.

According to Copernicus’s plan, his work On Rotations was supposed to replace the Mathematical Construction of Ptolemy, that is, to present all of astronomy in a new heliocentric perspective, just as Ptolemy’s work contained the entire then understanding of astronomy from the point of view of geocentric theory. In his mathematical conclusions when presenting the problems of planetary motion, Copernicus, in principle, accepted the mathematical system of reasoning of Ptolemy with the only significant difference that he considered the movements of the planets from the moving Earth.

Mathematical reasoning forms the content of the remaining books of Copernicus' work (2 - 6). At the beginning of the 2nd book, Copernicus provides general information concerning phenomena on the celestial sphere and included in the astronomical part of the so-called spherical astronomy. The 3rd book contains important discussions about the path of the Earth around the Sun and the longitude of the year. An important achievement of Copernicus was the establishment of a connection between the phenomenon of precession, which consists in the slow movement of the equinox points on the ecliptic, with the movement of the Earth around the Sun, and not with the sphere of permanent stars, as was done before him. Book 4 presents the theory of the movement of the Moon. By introducing the double epicycle, Copernicus eliminated the Ptolemaic paradox, according to which the Moon in quadratures should have been twice closer to the Earth than during the full moon or new moon.

Important discussions about the motion of planets are covered in the 5th book, where Copernicus dealt with the motion of planets in ecliptic longitude. He revealed that the large epicycles of Ptolemy's theory of planetary motion are only a reflection of the Earth's movement in its orbit around the Sun. In his theory, they were no longer necessary. From the numerical magnitude of the arcs described by the planets in the sky by their reverse motion, Copernicus calculated the dimensions of the planetary paths in relation to the Earth’s orbit. This was one of Copernicus’s most important contributions to the knowledge of the size of the planetary system, because this kind of calculation was not possible in the geocentric theory, where it was not even possible to fully justify the accepted order of the planets. In Copernicus’ theory, they directly followed from observational data, based on the position that the Earth is one of the planets revolving around the Sun. The relative distances of the planets from the Sun, measured in radii of the Earth's orbit, coincide with our modern data.

The work is completed by the shortest 6th book, written last and partially expanded in 1540, where the movement of the planets is considered in ecliptic latitude. This is a book where Copernicus's contribution to astronomy was relatively small, mainly because, instead of drawing planetary paths through the Sun, as Kepler later did, Copernicus led them through the center of the Earth's orbit, which made his calculations more difficult, and from which he I never managed to get out. The 6th book ends with instructions on how to calculate the ecliptic latitude of the planets using the given tables.

These general remarks conclude the work On Rotations. There is no general summary here, as readers of this seminal work might expect. Problems that were not fully resolved by the author, or were not presented in the form he would like, were also not formulated. It is not known why this work lacks conclusions. True, we can partially consider the 1st book to be such a summary, which is presented in some detail in this work, and Copernicus gave a general description of his work in the preface addressed to Pope Paul III.

Copernicus intended to examine in detail the views of ancient astronomers, including Aristarchus, on the supposed movement of the Earth, but the pages of the manuscript with these historical excursions were crossed out, either by the hand of Raeticus, or by Copernicus himself. Some of the already quoted statements of Copernicus from the 1st book On the Rotations of the Celestial Spheres were the basis on which the scientific worldview of subsequent centuries grew. It was these most important provisions of the teachings of Copernicus that revolutionized views on the essence of the world. They dealt a serious blow to Aristotle's philosophical system, especially to his views on nature, based on the geocentric system of the universe, which, after the debunking of this system, inevitably had to give way to new views.

Copernicus was aware of some of the shortcomings in his book. Thus, already in the third book On the Rotations of the Celestial Spheres, he promised to clarify the question of whether “the center of the world is in the Sun or near the Sun.” However, Copernicus did not essentially give such an explanation, and from the data given in his work it followed that the centers of the paths of all the planets are located outside the Sun. However, he attributed the paths of the planets not to the Sun as the center of movement, but to the center of the earth's orbit, located from the center of the Sun at a distance of three diameters of the solar globe. But even so, the centers of the circles of these planetary orbits turned out to be quite far from the center of the earth’s orbit. So, for example, the center of Jupiter's path turned out to be close to the path of Mercury, and the center of Saturn's path was even outside the path of Venus. All this followed from the accepted principle that the planets rotate uniformly in circles; Copernicus gave this position as the basis for his mathematical reasoning.

Copernicus understood that new accurate observations of their positions could greatly help in eliminating difficulties in determining the motion of the planets. This can explain the particularly active observations of Copernicus after 1533, after writing his work On the Rotations of the Celestial Spheres. However, the observations made by Copernicus were sufficient only to test the theory regarding two planets - Earth and Mars, while the theory of the motion of the remaining planets was based on observations made by other, mainly ancient astronomers.

As he received new data based on observations, Copernicus introduced them into the manuscript of his book, correcting and supplementing it even after 1533. However, his advanced age and some troubles in his personal life, caused by the biased attitude of the Warmian bishop Jan Dantyszek towards him, prevented Copernicus from carrying out a whole series of observations and calculations, so Copernicus was unable to eliminate many of the shortcomings of his theory, which he was well aware of; He also failed to make more extensive observations of the movements of the planets. Several decades after the death of Copernicus, this was done by the Danish astronomer Tycho Brahe.

Faces of history

The substantiation of the heliocentric system of the world by the Polish scientist Nicolaus Copernicus is one of the turning points in the history of science and, accordingly, in the history of the development of mankind as a whole.

Copernicus was born in 1473 in the city of Toruń into the family of a merchant. For some time he studied at the University of Krakow, then studied science in Italy for ten years. Formally, his task was to study law and medicine, but most of all Nikolai was interested in mathematics and astronomy. This interest was strengthened by astronomical events that were rich in his years of study - three solar eclipses, a comet, a conjunction (apparent approach) of Jupiter and Saturn. At the same time, Europe was rocked by the news of Christopher Columbus's discovery of overseas lands.

In 1503, Copernicus returned to Poland, where he became a secretary and doctor for his uncle, Bishop Wachenrode. He often helped the sick and poor. It is known that Copernicus was one of the prominent financiers of his time. After Wachenrode's death, Nicolaus Copernicus settled in Frombork. For some time he ruled the diocese that was left without an owner. There is unconfirmed evidence that he also accepted the priesthood at one time.

But the main vocation of the Polish genius was astronomy. On the top floor of the Cathedral of the Assumption of the Virgin Mary in Frombork, where Nicholas served, he set up an office and regularly climbed to the top of the towers to observe the starry sky. Copernicus himself made goniometric astronomical instruments from wood. He managed to make a real revolution in astronomy, which is now commonly called Copernican. At that time, astronomy was dominated by a theory based on the principles set forth by Ptolemy and Aristotle. Moreover, if Aristotle’s geostatic theory was accepted as a physical theory, then Ptolemy’s theory, in which the Earth was also motionless, and the planets, the Sun and the Moon rotated around the Earth and simultaneously in their separate orbits (the theory of spheres), was considered a purely mathematical theory. With its help, it was easier to explain specific observed phenomena. This division of science was adopted in the Middle Ages. Scientists were assigned the role of auxiliary workers, who made it possible to calculate something specific, but the general idea of the picture of the world remained in the hands of religious philosophers.

Following Ptolemy gradually led astronomy to a dead end. The Julian calendar, based on his theory, gave an error of already 10 days. Thus, Copernicus observed the spring equinox on March 11. He believed that calendar reform was impossible without “reasonably good definitions of the length of the year, the month, and the movements of the Sun and Moon.” There were other phenomena that Ptolemy's supporters could not explain.

Nicolaus Copernicus drew attention to the similarity of the main epicycles of the planets (i.e., the main component of the trajectory of their movement) and tried to find an explanation for this. As a result, he abandoned the postulate of the immobility of the Earth. This allowed him to create a harmonious picture of the world, in which all or almost all observed phenomena received their explanation. Among them are the annual movement of the Sun along the ecliptic, the precession of the Earth's axis, the “attachment” of Mercury and Venus to the Sun, the extraordinary brightness of Mars during its oppositions and, finally, the loop-like movement of the planets.

What the mathematician and astronomer accomplished is well known to everyone. Planets, including the Earth, revolve around the Sun in their orbits, also rotating around their own axis. Copernicus determined which planets were closer to the star and which were further away; he quite accurately calculated the distances from them to the Sun. In the future, Kepler's laws, Galileo's mechanics, and the gravitation formulas derived by Newton confirmed the correctness of the heliocentric system.

Very important was the fact that Copernicus spoke out quite unequivocally against dividing astronomy into physical and mathematical parts. He wrote that science does not need guides, that scientific knowledge should be unified. This created an immediate danger for the church as the ruler of minds and was fully consistent with the spirit of the Renaissance.

In Europe, Copernicus' views became known even before the publication of his main work. He first expressed his thoughts in 1516 in a small brochure “Small Commentary”. For a long time he did not dare to dedicate the public to all the intricacies of his calculations. Copernicus well understood the revolutionary nature of the idea and was afraid of condemnation from the public and the church. However, his friends were able to persuade him. In 1543, his famous work was published: “On the Rotations of the Celestial Spheres.” Copernicus saw the first copy of the book the day before his death. The cunning Pole dedicated the book to Pope Paul III, for whom he wrote a special preface. “I do not want to hide from Your Holiness,” the scientist wrote, “that what prompted me to think about another method of calculating the world’s spheres was precisely the fact that mathematicians themselves do not have anything completely established regarding the study of these [celestial] movements... And most importantly, so they were unable to determine the shape of the world and the exact proportionality of its parts.”

The main work of Nicolaus Copernicus's life consisted of six books. It must be said that much of the credit for the further popularization of his theory belongs to Rheticus, Copernicus’s only student.

At first, the church reacted calmly to the heliocentric system - as just another hypothetical scheme that only makes it possible to more accurately calculate the movement of celestial bodies. But in 1616, the book of the Polish astronomer was included by the Inquisition in the index of prohibited books and remained banned until 1833. Protestants also took up arms against Copernicanism. Luther's supporters, and even the great reformer himself, argued that Copernicus was “an upstart who wants to be smarter than everyone else.” They referred to the Holy Scriptures and complained that the new system did not leave room for heaven and hell. But even they had to gradually reconsider their opinion. Now the majority of people on the planet have no doubt about the correctness of Copernicus’ theory. On the monument to the great scientist in Torun it is written: “He stopped the Sun and moved the Earth.”