Nicolaus Copernicus

Nicolaus Copernicus Nicolaus Copernicus was a Renaissance-era polymath who formulated the heliocentric model of the solar system—placing the Sun at the center—in his major work De revolutionibus orbium coelestium, published in 1543, the year of his death. His work fundamentally altered humanity's understanding of the cosmos and triggered the Copernican Revolution, considered a major event in the history of Western thought and the starting point of modern astronomy.