Study of the Universe: from Copernicus to the present day. Russian scientists and inventions that shook the world Scientists that turned the world upside down

01/17/2012 02/12/2018 by ☭ USSR ☭

There were many outstanding figures in our country, which we, unfortunately, forget, not to mention the discoveries that were made by Russian scientists and inventors. The events that turned the history of Russia upside down are also not known to everyone. I want to correct this situation and recall the most famous Russian inventions.

1. Airplane - Mozhaisky A.F.

The talented Russian inventor Alexander Fedorovich Mozhaisky (1825-1890) was the first in the world to create a life-size airplane capable of lifting a person into the air. As is known, people of many generations, both in Russia and in other countries, worked on solving this complex technical problem before A.F. Mozhaisky; they followed different paths, but none of them managed to bring the matter to practical experience with a full-scale aircraft. A.F. Mozhaisky found the right way to solve this problem. He studied the works of his predecessors, developed and supplemented them, using his theoretical knowledge and practical experience. Of course, he did not manage to resolve all the issues, but he did, perhaps, everything that was possible at that time, despite the extremely unfavorable situation for him: limited material and technical capabilities, as well as distrust of his work on the part of the military-bureaucratic apparatus Tsarist Russia. Under these conditions, A.F. Mozhaisky managed to find the spiritual and physical strength to complete the construction of the world's first aircraft. It was a creative feat that forever glorified our Motherland. Unfortunately, the surviving documentary materials do not allow us to describe in the necessary detail the aircraft of A.F. Mozhaisky and its tests.

2. Helicopter– B.N. Yuryev.

Boris Nikolaevich Yuryev is an outstanding aviator scientist, full member of the USSR Academy of Sciences, lieutenant general of the engineering and technical service. In 1911, he invented a swashplate (the main component of a modern helicopter) - a device that made it possible to build helicopters with stability and controllability characteristics acceptable for safe piloting by ordinary pilots. It was Yuryev who paved the way for the development of helicopters.

3. Radio receiver— A.S.Popov.

A.S. Popov first demonstrated the operation of his device on May 7, 1895. at a meeting of the Russian Physical-Chemical Society in St. Petersburg. This device became the world's first radio receiver, and May 7th became the birthday of radio. And now it is celebrated annually in Russia.

4. TV - Rosing B.L.

On July 25, 1907, he filed an application for the invention “Method of electrically transmitting images over distances.” The beam was scanned in the tube by magnetic fields, and the signal was modulated (change in brightness) using a capacitor, which could deflect the beam vertically, thereby changing the number of electrons passing to the screen through the diaphragm. On May 9, 1911, at a meeting of the Russian Technical Society, Rosing demonstrated the transmission of television images of simple geometric figures and their reception with reproduction on a CRT screen.

5. Backpack parachute - Kotelnikov G.E.

In 1911, a Russian military man, Kotelnikov, impressed by the death of the Russian pilot Captain L. Matsievich at the All-Russian Aeronautics Festival in 1910, invented a fundamentally new parachute RK-1. Kotelnikov's parachute was compact. Its dome is made of silk, the slings were divided into 2 groups and attached to the shoulder girths of the suspension system. The canopy and lines were placed in a wooden, and later aluminum, backpack. Later, in 1923, Kotelnikov proposed a backpack for stowing a parachute, made in the form of an envelope with honeycombs for lines. During 1917, 65 parachute descents were registered in the Russian army, 36 for rescue and 29 voluntary.

6. Nuclear power plant.

Launched on June 27, 1954 in Obninsk (then the village of Obninskoye, Kaluga Region). It was equipped with one AM-1 reactor (“peaceful atom”) with a capacity of 5 MW.
The reactor of the Obninsk Nuclear Power Plant, in addition to generating energy, served as a base for experimental research. Currently, the Obninsk NPP is decommissioned. Its reactor was shut down on April 29, 2002 for economic reasons.

7. Periodic table of chemical elements– Mendeleev D.I.

The periodic system of chemical elements (Mendeleev's table) is a classification of chemical elements that establishes the dependence of various properties of elements on the charge of the atomic nucleus. The system is a graphic expression of the periodic law established by the Russian chemist D. I. Mendeleev in 1869. Its original version was developed by D.I. Mendeleev in 1869-1871 and established the dependence of the properties of elements on their atomic weight (in modern terms, on atomic mass).

8. Laser

Prototype laser masers were made in 1953-1954. N. G. Basov and A. M. Prokhorov, as well as, independently of them, the American C. Townes and his employees. Unlike the Basov and Prokhorov quantum generators, which found a way out by using more than two energy levels, the Townes maser could not operate in a constant mode. In 1964, Basov, Prokhorov and Townes received the Nobel Prize in Physics “for their seminal work in the field of quantum electronics, which made it possible to create oscillators and amplifiers based on the principle of the maser and laser.”

9. Bodybuilding

Russian athlete Evgeniy Sandov, the title of his book “bodybuilding” was literally translated into English. language.

10. Hydrogen bomb– Sakharov A.D.

Andrey Dmitrievich Sakharov(May 21, 1921, Moscow - December 14, 1989, Moscow) - Soviet physicist, academician of the USSR Academy of Sciences and politician, dissident and human rights activist, one of the creators of the first Soviet hydrogen bomb. Winner of the Nobel Peace Prize for 1975.

11. The first artificial satellite of the earth, the first astronaut, etc.

12. Plaster - N. I. Pirogov

For the first time in the history of world medicine, Pirogov used a plaster cast, which accelerated the healing process of fractures and saved many soldiers and officers from ugly curvature of their limbs. During the siege of Sevastopol, to care for the wounded, Pirogov used the help of sisters of mercy, some of whom came to the front from St. Petersburg. This was also an innovation at that time.

13. Military medicine

Pirogov invented the stages of providing military medical service, as well as methods for studying human anatomy. In particular, he is the founder of topographic anatomy.

Antarctica was discovered on January 16 (January 28), 1820 by a Russian expedition led by Thaddeus Bellingshausen and Mikhail Lazarev, who approached it on the sloops Vostok and Mirny at point 69°21? Yu. w. 2°14? h. d. (G) (area of ​​the modern Bellingshausen ice shelf).

15. Immunity

Having discovered the phenomena of phagocytosis in 1882 (which he reported in 1883 at the 7th Congress of Russian Naturalists and Doctors in Odessa), he developed on their basis the comparative pathology of inflammation (1892), and later the phagocytic theory of immunity (“Immunity in infectious diseases” , 1901 - Nobel Prize, 1908, jointly with P. Ehrlich).

The basic cosmological model in which consideration of the evolution of the Universe begins with a state of dense hot plasma consisting of protons, electrons and photons. The hot universe model was first considered in 1947 by Georgiy Gamow. The origin of elementary particles in the hot universe model has been described since the late 1970s using spontaneous symmetry breaking. Many of the shortcomings of the hot universe model were resolved in the 1980s as a result of the theory of inflation.

The most famous computer game, invented by Alexey Pajitnov in 1985.

18. The first machine gun - V.G. Fedorov

An automatic carbine designed for hand-held burst fire. V.G. Fedorov. Abroad, this type of weapon is called an “assault rifle.”

1913 - prototype chambered for a special cartridge intermediate in power (between pistol and rifle).
1916 - adoption (under the Japanese rifle cartridge) and first combat use (Romanian Front).

19. Incandescent lamp– lamp by A.N. Lodygin

The light bulb does not have one single inventor. The history of the light bulb is a whole chain of discoveries made by different people at different times. However, Lodygin's merits in the creation of incandescent lamps are especially great. Lodygin was the first to propose using tungsten filaments in lamps (in modern light bulbs the filaments are made of tungsten) and twisting the filament in the shape of a spiral. Lodygin was also the first to pump air out of lamps, which increased their service life many times over. Another invention of Lodygin, aimed at increasing the service life of lamps, was filling them with inert gas.

20. Diving apparatus

In 1871, Lodygin created a project for an autonomous diving suit using a gas mixture consisting of oxygen and hydrogen. Oxygen had to be produced from water by electrolysis.

21. Induction oven

The first caterpillar propulsion device (without a mechanical drive) was proposed in 1837 by staff captain D. Zagryazhsky. Its caterpillar propulsion system was built on two wheels surrounded by an iron chain. And in 1879, the Russian inventor F. Blinov received a patent for the “caterpillar track” he created for a tractor. He called it “a locomotive for dirt roads”

23. Cable telegraph line

The St. Petersburg-Tsarskoe Selo line was built in the 40s. XIX century and had a length of 25 km. (B. Jacobi)

24. Synthetic rubber from petroleum– B. Byzov

25. Optical sight

“A mathematical instrument with a perspective telescope, with other accessories and a spirit level for quick guidance from a battery or from the ground at the shown location to the target horizontally and along the levation.” Andrey Konstantinovich NARTOV (1693-1756).

In 1801, the Ural master Artamonov solved the problem of lightening the weight of the cart by reducing the number of wheels from four to two. Thus, Artamonov created the world's first pedal scooter, a prototype of the future bicycle.

27. Electric welding

The method of electric welding of metals was invented and first used in 1882 by the Russian inventor Nikolai Nikolaevich Benardos (1842 - 1905). He called the “stitching” of metal with an electric seam “electrohephaestus.”

The world's first personal computer was invented not by the American company Apple Computers and not in 1975, but in the USSR in 1968
year by a Soviet designer from Omsk Arseny Anatolyevich Gorokhov (born 1935). Copyright certificate No. 383005 describes in detail the “programming device,” as the inventor then called it. They didn’t give money for an industrial design. The inventor was asked to wait a little. He waited until the domestic “bicycle” was once again invented abroad.

29. Digital technologies.

- the father of all digital technologies in data transmission.

30. Electric motor– B.Jacobi.

31. Electric car

The two-seater electric car of I. Romanov, model 1899, changed the speed in nine gradations - from 1.6 km per hour to a maximum of 37.4 km per hour

32. Bomber

Four-engine aircraft “Russian Knight” by I. Sikorsky.

33. Kalashnikov assault rifle

A symbol of freedom and the fight against oppressors.

One of the most famous astronomers, physicists and philosophers in human history is Galileo Galilei. A short biography and his discoveries, which you will now learn about, will allow you to get a general idea of ​​​​this outstanding person.

First steps in the world of science

Galileo was born in Pisa (Italy), February 15, 1564. At the age of eighteen, the young man entered the University of Pisa to study medicine. His father pushed him to take this step, but due to lack of money, Galileo was soon forced to leave his studies. However, the time that the future scientist spent at the university was not in vain, because it was here that he began to take a keen interest in mathematics and physics. No longer a student, the gifted Galileo Galilei did not abandon his hobbies. A brief biography and his discoveries made during this period played an important role in the future fate of the scientist. He devotes some time to independent research into mechanics, and then returns to the University of Pisa, this time as a mathematics teacher. After some time, he was invited to continue teaching at the University of Padua, where he explained to students the basics of mechanics, geometry and astronomy. It was at this time that Galileo began to make discoveries significant for science.

In 1593, the first scientist was published - a book with the laconic title “Mechanics”, in which Galileo described his observations.

Astronomical research

After the book was published, a new Galileo Galilei was “born”. A short biography and his discoveries is a topic that cannot be discussed without mentioning the events of 1609. After all, it was then that Galileo independently built his first telescope with a concave eyepiece and a convex lens. The device gave an increase of approximately three times. However, Galileo did not stop there. Continuing to improve his telescope, he increased the magnification to 32 times. While using it to observe the Earth's satellite, the Moon, Galileo discovered that its surface, like the Earth's, was not flat, but covered with various mountains and numerous craters. Four stars were also discovered through the glass and changed their usual sizes, and for the first time the idea of ​​their global remoteness arose. turned out to be a huge accumulation of millions of new celestial bodies. In addition, the scientist began to observe the movement of the Sun and make notes about sunspots.

Conflict with the Church

The biography of Galileo Galilei is another round in the confrontation between the science of that time and church teaching. The scientist, based on his observations, soon comes to the conclusion that the heliocentric one, first proposed and substantiated by Copernicus, is the only correct one. This was contrary to the literal understanding of Psalms 93 and 104, as well as Ecclesiastes 1:5, which refers to the immobility of the Earth. Galileo was summoned to Rome, where they demanded that he stop promoting “heretical” views, and the scientist was forced to comply.

However, Galileo Galilei, whose discoveries at that time were already appreciated by some representatives of the scientific community, did not stop there. In 1632, he made a cunning move - he published a book entitled “Dialogue on the two most important systems of the world - Ptolemaic and Copernican.” This work was written in an unusual form of dialogue at that time, the participants of which were two supporters of the Copernican theory, as well as one follower of the teachings of Ptolemy and Aristotle. Pope Urban VIII, a good friend of Galileo, even gave permission for the book to be published. But this did not last long - after just a couple of months, the work was recognized as contrary to the tenets of the church and prohibited. The author was summoned to Rome for trial.

The investigation lasted quite a long time: from April 21 to June 21, 1633. On June 22, Galileo was forced to pronounce the text proposed to him, according to which he renounced his “false” beliefs.

The last years in the life of a scientist

I had to work in the most difficult conditions. Galileo was sent to his Villa Archertri in Florence. Here he was under constant supervision of the Inquisition and had no right to go to the city (Rome). In 1634, the scientist’s beloved daughter, who took care of him for a long time, died.

Death came to Galileo on January 8, 1642. He was buried on the territory of his villa, without any honors and even without a tombstone. However, in 1737, almost a hundred years later, the scientist’s last will was fulfilled - his ashes were transferred to the monastic chapel of the Florence Cathedral of Santa Croce. On the seventeenth of March he was finally buried there, not far from Michelangelo’s tomb.

Posthumous rehabilitation

Was Galileo Galilei right in his beliefs? A short biography and his discoveries have long been a topic of debate between clergy and luminaries of the scientific world; many conflicts and disputes have developed on this basis. However, only on December 31, 1992 (!) John Paul II officially admitted that the Inquisition in the 33rd year of the 17th century made a mistake, forcing the scientist to renounce the heliocentric theory of the universe formulated by Nicolaus Copernicus.

Every year on the last Saturday of June, Russia celebrates Inventor and Innovator Day. Our country is rich in great scientists and inventors who have made a significant contribution not only to Russian progress, but also to the world. We invite you to get acquainted with the brilliant fruits of the engineering thought of our compatriots, which you can rightfully be proud of!

1. Galvanoplasty

We so often come across products that look like metal, but are actually made of plastic and only covered with a layer of metal, that we have stopped noticing them. There are also metal products coated with a layer of another metal - for example, nickel. And there are metal products that are actually a copy of a non-metallic base. We owe all these miracles to the genius of physics Boris Jacobi - by the way, the older brother of the great German mathematician Carl Gustav Jacobi.

Jacobi's passion for physics resulted in the creation of the world's first electric motor with direct shaft rotation, but one of his most important discoveries was electroplating - the process of depositing metal on a mold, allowing the creation of perfect copies of the original object. In this way, for example, sculptures were created on the naves of St. Isaac's Cathedral. Galvanoplasty can be used even at home.

The electroforming method and its derivatives have found numerous applications. With its help, everything has not been done and is still not being done, right down to the cliché of state banks. Jacobi received the Demidov Prize for this discovery in Russia, and a large gold medal in Paris. Possibly also made using this same method.

2. Electric car

In the last third of the 19th century, the world was gripped by a form of electrical fever. That's why electric cars were made by everyone. This was the golden age of electric cars. The cities were smaller, and a range of 60 km on a single charge was quite acceptable. One of the enthusiasts was engineer Ippolit Romanov, who by 1899 had created several models of electric cabs.

But that’s not even the main thing. Romanov invented and created in metal an electric omnibus for 17 passengers, developed a scheme of city routes for these ancestors of modern trolleybuses and received permission to work. True, at your own personal commercial peril and risk.

The inventor was unable to find the required amount, to the great joy of his competitors - owners of horse-drawn horses and numerous cab drivers. However, the working electric omnibus aroused great interest among other inventors and remained in the history of technology as an invention killed by the municipal bureaucracy.

3. Pipeline transport

It is difficult to say what is considered the first real pipeline. One can recall the proposal of Dmitry Mendeleev, dating back to 1863, when he proposed to deliver oil from the production sites to the seaport at the Baku oil fields not in barrels, but through pipes. Mendeleev's proposal was not accepted, and two years later the first pipeline was built by the Americans in Pennsylvania. As always, when something is done abroad, they begin to do it in Russia. Or at least allocate money.

In 1877, Alexander Bari and his assistant Vladimir Shukhov again came up with the idea of ​​pipeline transport, already relying on American experience and again on the authority of Mendeleev. As a result, Shukhov built the first oil pipeline in Russia in 1878, proving the convenience and practicality of pipeline transport. The example of Baku, which was then one of the two leaders in world oil production, became infectious, and “getting on the pipe” became the dream of any enterprising person. In the photo: a view of a three-furnace cube. Baku, 1887.

4. Electric arc welding

Nikolai Benardos comes from Novorossiysk Greeks who lived on the Black Sea coast. He is the author of more than a hundred inventions, but he went down in history thanks to the electric arc welding of metals, which he patented in 1882 in Germany, France, Russia, Italy, England, the USA and other countries, calling his method “electrohephaestus”.

Benardos's method spread across the planet like wildfire. Instead of fiddling with rivets and bolts, it was enough to simply weld pieces of metal. However, it took about half a century for welding to finally take a dominant position among installation methods. A seemingly simple method is to create an electric arc between a consumable electrode in the welder’s hands and the pieces of metal that need to be welded. But the solution is elegant. True, it did not help the inventor meet old age with dignity; he died in poverty in 1905 in an almshouse.

5. Multi-engine aircraft “Ilya Muromets”

It’s hard to believe now, but just over a hundred years ago it was believed that a multi-engine aircraft would be extremely difficult and dangerous to fly. The absurdity of these statements was proved by Igor Sikorsky, who in the summer of 1913 took into the air a twin-engine aircraft called Le Grand, and then its four-engine version, the Russian Knight.

On February 12, 1914, the four-engine Ilya Muromets took off at the Russian-Baltic Plant training ground in Riga. There were 16 passengers on board the four-engine plane - an absolute record at that time. The plane had a comfortable cabin, heating, a bath with toilet and... a promenade deck. In order to demonstrate the capabilities of the aircraft, in the summer of 1914, Igor Sikorsky flew on the Ilya Muromets from St. Petersburg to Kyiv and back, setting a world record. During World War I, these aircraft became the world's first heavy bombers.

6. ATV and helicopter

Igor Sikorsky also created the first production helicopter, the R-4, or S-47, which the Vought-Sikorsky company began producing in 1942. It was the first and only helicopter to serve in World War II, in the Pacific theater of operations, as a staff transport and for casualty evacuation.

However, it is unlikely that the US military department would have allowed Igor Sikorsky to boldly experiment with helicopter technology if not for the amazing rotary-wing machine of George Botezat, who in 1922 began testing his helicopter, which the American military ordered him. The helicopter was the first to actually take off from the ground and be able to stay in the air. The possibility of vertical flight was thus proven.

Botezat's helicopter was called the "flying octopus" because of its interesting design. It was a quadcopter: four propellers were placed at the ends of metal trusses, and the control system was located in the center - exactly like modern radio-controlled drones.

7. Color photo

Color photography appeared at the end of the 19th century, but photographs of that time were characterized by a shift to one or another part of the spectrum. The Russian photographer was one of the best in Russia and, like many of his colleagues around the world, dreamed of achieving the most natural color rendition.

In 1902, Prokudin-Gorsky studied color photography in Germany with Adolf Miethe, who by that time was a worldwide star of color photography. Returning home, Prokudin-Gorsky began to improve the chemistry of the process and in 1905 he patented his own sensitizer, that is, a substance that increases the sensitivity of photographic plates. As a result, he was able to produce negatives of exceptional quality.

Prokudin-Gorsky organized a number of expeditions across the territory of the Russian Empire, photographing famous people (for example, Leo Tolstoy), peasants, churches, landscapes, factories, thus creating an amazing collection of colorful Russia. Prokudin-Gorsky's demonstrations aroused great interest in the world and pushed other specialists to develop new principles of color printing.

8. Parachute

As you know, the idea of ​​a parachute was proposed by Leonardo da Vinci, and several centuries later, with the advent of aeronautics, regular jumps from balloons began: parachutes were suspended under them in a partially opened state. In 1912, the American Barry was able to leave the plane with such a parachute and, importantly, landed on the ground alive.

The problem was solved in every possible way. For example, the American Stefan Banich made a parachute in the form of an umbrella with telescopic spokes that were attached around the pilot’s torso. This design worked, although it was still not very convenient. But engineer Gleb Kotelnikov decided that it was all about the material, and made his parachute from silk, packing it in a compact backpack. Kotelnikov patented his invention in France on the eve of the First World War.

But besides the backpack parachute, he came up with another interesting thing. He tested the opening ability of the parachute by opening it while the car was moving, which literally stood rooted to the spot. So Kotelnikov came up with a braking parachute as an emergency braking system for aircraft.

9. Theremin

The history of this musical instrument, which produces strange “cosmic” sounds, began with the development of alarm systems. It was then that the descendant of the French Huguenots, Lev Theremin, in 1919, drew attention to the fact that changing the position of the body near the antennas of the oscillatory circuits affects the volume and tonality of the sound in the control speaker.

Everything else was a matter of technique. And marketing: Theremin showed his musical instrument to the leader of the Soviet state, Vladimir Lenin, an enthusiast of the cultural revolution, and then demonstrated it in the States.

The life of Lev Theremin was difficult; he knew ups, glory, and camps. His musical instrument still lives today. The coolest version is the Moog Etherwave. The theremin can be heard among the most advanced and quite pop performers. This is truly an invention for all times.

10. Color television

Vladimir Zvorykin was born into a merchant family in the city of Murom. Since childhood, the boy had the opportunity to read a lot and carry out all sorts of experiments - his father encouraged this passion for science in every possible way. Having started studying in St. Petersburg, he learned about cathode ray tubes and came to the conclusion that the future of television lay in electronic circuits.

Zvorykin was lucky; he left Russia on time in 1919. He worked for many years and in the early 30s he patented a transmitting television tube - an iconoscope. Even earlier, he designed one of the variants of the receiving tube - a kinescope. And then, already in the 1940s, he split the light beam into blue, red and green colors and got color TV.

In addition, Zvorykin developed a night vision device, an electron microscope and many other interesting things. He invented throughout his long life and even in retirement continued to amaze with his new solutions.

11. VCR

The AMPEX company was created in 1944 by Russian emigrant Alexander Matveevich Ponyatov, who took three letters of his initials for the name and added EX - short for “excellent”. At first, Ponyatov produced sound recording equipment, but in the early 50s he focused on developing video recording.

By that time, there had already been experiments in recording television images, but they required a huge amount of tape. Ponyatov and colleagues proposed recording the signal across the tape using a block of rotating heads. On November 30, 1956, the first previously recorded CBS News aired. And in 1960, the company, represented by its leader and founder, received an Oscar for its outstanding contribution to the technical equipment of the film and television industry.

Fate brought Alexander Ponyatov together with interesting people. He was a competitor of Zvorykin, Ray Dolby, the creator of the famous noise reduction system, worked with him, and one of the first clients and investors was the famous Bing Crosby. And one more thing: by order of Ponyatov, birch trees were necessarily planted near any office - in memory of the Motherland.

12. Tetris

A long time ago, 30 years ago, the “Pentamino” puzzle was popular in the USSR: you had to place various figures consisting of five squares on a lined field. Even collections of problems were published, and the results were discussed.

From a mathematical point of view, such a puzzle was an excellent test for a computer. And so, a researcher at the Computing Center of the USSR Academy of Sciences, Alexey Pajitnov, wrote such a program for his computer “Electronics 60”. But there wasn’t enough power, and Alexey removed one cube from the figures, that is, he made a “tetromino”. Well, then the idea came to have the figures fall into the “glass”. This is how Tetris was born.

It was the first computer game from behind the Iron Curtain, and for many people the first computer game at all. And although many new toys have already appeared, Tetris still attracts with its apparent simplicity and real complexity.

Name Nicolaus Copernicus Almost everyone who studied at school heard it one way or another. However, information about him, as a rule, is placed in one or two lines, along with a couple more names of outstanding scientists who strengthened the triumph of the heliocentric system of the world - and Galileo Galilei.

This triumvirate is so entrenched in the minds that it sometimes causes confusion in the minds of even high-ranking politicians. Former speaker of the State Duma Boris Gryzlov, defending the controversial scientific developments of his longtime acquaintance and “scientific collaborator” academician Petrika, threw out the phrase that immediately became famous: “The term pseudoscience goes back far to the Middle Ages. We can remember Copernicus, who was burned because he said, “But the Earth still turns!”

Thus, the politician mixed the fates of all three scientists into one pile. Although in fact, Nicolaus Copernicus, unlike his students, managed to happily escape the persecution of the Inquisition.

Canon "through connections"

The future creator of a new picture of the world was born on February 19, 1473 in the now Polish city of Torun, into a merchant family. Interestingly, there is no consensus even about his national origin. Despite the fact that Copernicus is considered a Pole, there is not a single document that the scientist wrote in Polish. It is known that Nikolai’s mother was German, and his father, a native of Krakow, may have been Pole, but it is not possible to establish this for sure.

Copernicus's parents died early, and Nicholas found himself in the care of his maternal uncle, a Catholic priest. Luke Watzenrode. It was thanks to his uncle that in 1491 Copernicus entered the University of Krakow, where, among other sciences, he became interested in astronomy.

Nicholas's uncle, meanwhile, became a bishop, and in every possible way contributed to his nephew's career. In 1497, Copernicus continued his studies at the University of Bologna in Italy. It is interesting that Nikolai did not receive any academic degree either in Krakow or Bologna.

Since 1500, Copernicus studied medicine at the University of Padua, after which he passed the exams and received the degree of Doctor of Canon Law.

After spending three years in Italy as a practicing physician, Nikolai returned to his uncle, the bishop, under whom he took the position of secretary and confidant, while simultaneously serving as a personal physician.

The career of Copernicus, who by that time held the ecclesiastical rank of canon, was completely successful. While remaining his uncle's secretary, Nikolai managed to engage in astronomical research in Krakow.

The Plumber and the Plague Winner

The comfortable life ended in 1512, along with the death of his uncle, the bishop. Copernicus moved to the town of Frombork, where he had been nominally listed as a canon for several years, and began his spiritual duties.

Copernicus also did not abandon his scientific activity, starting to develop his model of the world.

It must be said that Copernicus did not make a big secret of his ideas. His handwritten text “Small Commentary on Hypotheses Relating to Celestial Movements” even circulated among his friends. However, it will take the scientist almost 40 years to fully develop the new system.

The astronomical works of Copernicus became known in Europe, but at first there was no persecution of the concept he proposed. Firstly, the astronomer himself rather carefully formulated his own ideas, and secondly, the church fathers for a long time could not decide whether to consider the heliocentric system of the world a heresy.

Heliocentric system of the world. Photo: www.globallookpress.com

Copernicus himself, without forgetting about the main work of his life, managed to make his mark in other sciences: he developed a new coin system for Poland, as a physician he actively contributed to the elimination of the plague epidemic of 1519 and even designed a water supply system for houses Frombork.

Since 1531, Copernicus was only concerned with the development of his heliocentric system and medical practice. His health began to deteriorate, and in the last years of his life he was helped in his work by students and like-minded people.

In the last year of his life, Copernicus was struck down by paralysis, and a couple of months before his death he fell into a coma. The scientist died in his bed on May 24, 1543, without ever seeing the work of his whole life published - the book “On the Rotation of the Celestial Spheres.” It was first published in Nuremberg, in the same year 1543.

Life's work

It should be noted that in his criticism of the Ptolemaic picture of the world with the Earth at the center of the Universe, Copernicus was far from the first. Ancient authors such as Nikita Syracuse And Philolaus, believed that the Earth revolves around the Sun, and not vice versa. However, the authority of such luminaries of science as Ptolemy And Aristotle, turned out to be higher. The geocentric system finally won when the Christian Church made it the basis of its picture of the world.

Interestingly, the work of Copernicus himself was far from accurate. Affirming the heliocentric system of the world, the rotation of the Earth around its axis, the movement of planets in orbits, he, for example, believed that the orbits of the planets were perfectly round, not elliptical. As a result, even enthusiasts of his theory were quite puzzled when, during astronomical observations, the planets turned out to be in a place other than that prescribed by Copernicus’ calculations. And for critics of his works it was a gift.

As already mentioned, Copernicus happily escaped persecution by the Inquisition. The Catholic Church had no time for him - it waged a desperate struggle against the Reformation. Some bishops, of course, even during the scientist’s lifetime accused him of heresy, but it did not lead to real persecution.

Only in 1616, with Pope Paul V, the Catholic Church officially prohibited the adherence to and defense of the Copernican theory as a heliocentric world system, since such an interpretation contradicts Scripture. It’s a paradox, but at the same time, according to the theologians, the heliocentric model could still be used to calculate the motion of the planets.

It is also interesting that Copernicus’ book “On the Rotation of the Celestial Bodies” was included in the famous Roman Index of Prohibited Books, a kind of medieval prototype of the “black list” of prohibited Runet sites, for only 4 years, from 1616 to 1620. After that, it returned to circulation, albeit with ideological changes - references to the heliocentric system of the world were cut out of it, while leaving the mathematical calculations that underlay it.

This attitude towards the work of Copernicus only spurred interest in it. Followers developed and refined the theory of the great scientist, ultimately establishing it as the correct picture of the world.

The burial place of Nicolaus Copernicus became known only in 2005. On May 22, 2010, the remains of the great scientist were solemnly reburied in Frombork Cathedral.

Reburial of the remains of Copernicus. Photo: www.globallookpress.com

The Catholic Church admitted its guilt in denying the correct theory of Copernicus only in 1993, when the Pope was John Paul II- fellow countryman of Copernicus, Pole Karol Wojtyla.

Rebellious Bruno and humble Galileo

It is also necessary to mention the fate of two followers of Nicolaus Copernicus - Giordano Bruno and Galileo Galilei.

Giordano Bruno, who not only shared the teachings of Copernicus, but also went much further than him, proclaiming the plurality of worlds in the Universe, defining the stars as distant bodies similar to the Sun, was very active in promoting his ideas. Moreover, he encroached on many church postulates, including the immaculate nature of the conception of the Virgin Mary. Naturally, the Inquisition began to persecute him, and in 1592 Giordano Bruno was arrested.

Giordano Bruno. Photo: www.globallookpress.com

For more than six years, the inquisitors sought the renunciation of the scientist, who was also a monk, but they failed to break Bruno’s will. On February 17, 1600, the scientist was burned in the Square of Flowers in Rome.

Unlike the works of Copernicus, the books of Giordano Bruno remained in the Index of Prohibited Books until its most recent publication in 1948. 400 years after the execution of Giordano Bruno, the Catholic Church considers the execution of the scientist justified and refuses to rehabilitate him.

Galileo Galilei. Photo: www.globallookpress.com

Galileo Galilei, whose works and discoveries in astronomy were unusually great, did not show the stamina of Giordano Bruno. Finding himself in the hands of the Inquisition at almost 70 years of age, after torture and under the threat of “sharing the fate of the heretic Bruno,” Galileo in 1633 chose to renounce the heliocentric system, of which he had been a defender throughout his life. And, of course, it never occurred to the unfortunate old man, who barely escaped the auto-da-fé, to throw the daring “But still she’s spinning!” in the face of his tormentors!

Galileo Galilei will be finally rehabilitated only in 1992, also by the decision of Pope John Paul II.