February 19

Science Giants: Nicolaus Copernicus, Father of Modern Astronomy

On this day in 1473, Nicolaus Copernicus was born in Poland. He studied law and medicine in college, but he also became interested in astronomy. During his time, most astronomers believed that the sun, all the planets and even the stars revolved around the Earth and that the Earth didn't move at all. Copernicus disagreed with this theory, instead believing that the sun was the center of the planets' orbits. Although he couldn't prove it, he spent his entire life finding evidence for the Copernican theory, which scientists follow today