The portrait of Nicolaus Copernicus

You are in front of a portrait of Nicolaus Copernicus, who was born in Toruń in 1473. This is where he spent his early years until he left for Kraków, where he studied at the Kraków Academy from 1491 to 1495, together with his older brother, Andrew. In 1496, he left with him for further studies in Italy. There, he studied law and medicine for seven years at the universities of Bologna, Padua and Ferrara. In 1503, he obtained a doctorate in canon law from the University of Ferrara. From 1503 to about 1510, he stayed in Lidzbark Warmiński, where he was secretary and physician to Bishop Lukasz Watzenrode. Around 1507 he wrote the so-called Commentary (Commentariolus), which was the first outline of the heliocentric theory and made his name famous in specialist circles. He conducted further astronomical research in Frombork, where he organised his own observatory, and in Olsztyn. At the same time, as a canon, he held various administrative posts, but devoted every free moment to astronomical observations. His groundbreaking work De revolutionibus orbium coelestium (On the Revolutions of the Celestial Spheres) was probably written between 1515 and 1533, and was published in Nuremberg in 1543, the year of his death. In addition to astronomy and medicine, Nicolaus Copernicus was also involved in monetary reform and cartography.