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 Nicolaus Copernicus 500th Anniversary of Birth Scott 537-540 (1973) On June 19, 1973, Vatican City issued a four-stamp set commemorating the birth of the Renaissance astronomer and “polymath” Nicolaus Copernicus. The stamps have two images: the 20 L and 100 L stamps show his birthplace of Torun, Poland, and the 50 L and 130 L stamps depict Copernicus holding a model of the universe, with the Sun at its center.  Nicolaus Copernicus Monument, Toruń (Thorn), Poland Photo by Pudelek From Wikimedia Commons, Used under the terms of Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International license Copernicus was born on February 19, 1473, in the city of Toruń (Thorn), in the province of Royal Prussia, in the Crown of the Kingdom of Poland. His father was a merchant from Kraków, and his mother was the daughter of a wealthy Toruń merchant. Copernicus is best remembered for formulating the heliocentric model of the “universe” (remembering that at this time the concept of the solar system had not been developed). First postulated by ancient Greek astronomers, this model placed the Sun at the center of our solar system, which contradicted existing “geocentric” dogma that had the celestial bodies of the universe revolving around the Earth. Copernicus’s book, De revolutionibus orbium coelestium (On the Revolutions of the Celestial Spheres), published shortly before his death in 1543, can be safely called as one of the major treatises in the history of science and provided a groundbreaking contribution to the Scientific Revolution. He probably first formulated his theory much earlier (perhaps dating as far back as 1510). The assumptions upon which the theory is based (which can be viewed in detail in the Wikipedia reference cited at the end of this article) lead to the dismissal of the geocentric theory. Given the times in which his new theory of the universe was presented (concurrent with the Protestant Reformation), it is curious that Copernicus did not receive much in the way of criticism from the Church during his lifetime. The heliocentric theory was in opposition to the geocentric theory then espoused by the Church. One of the subsequent proponents of heliocentrism, Galileo, would bear the brunt of Church criticism when he expanded on the theory almost seventy-five years later. His furtherance of the theory led him to be branded a heretic. As is now known, the heliocentric theory has proven to be correct. Copernicus died on May 24, 1543, in Frauenburg, Royal Prussia, Poland. In addition to the stamps issued in 1973 at the top of the article, Vatican City issued a souvenir sheet in 2023 to mark the 550th anniversary of Copernicus’s birth. The issue, a joint release with Poland, shows the 19th century painting 'Astronomer Copernicus, or Conversations with God', by Jan Matejko:  Nicolaus Copernicus 550th Anniversary of Birth Scott 1820 (2023) Copernicus has been honored on many stamps from around the world, particularly in his home country of Poland. An early stamp issued by Poland, appearing in 1923, marked the 450th anniversary of his birth. In addition to Vatican City, the United States and several other countries issued stamps in 1973 for the 500th anniversary of his birth. Some of the stamps honoring the great astronomer Copernicus are shown below:  
 
 Stamps honoring Nicolaus Copernicus: 450th Anniversary of Birth (Poland, 1923) 500th Anniversary of Birth (United States, East Germany, Brazil, Soviet Union, 1973) Stamp images from Wikimedia Commons (all in the public domain) REFERENCES: |
