Nicolaus Copernicus

About

Renaissance astronomer best known as the first scientist to assert that the Earth revolves around the Sun. This theory was controversial at the time but achieved enough support from contemporaries to give way to the scientific revolution. 

Before Fame

He looked after his sister's five children in place of the children he never had.

Trivia

His heliocentric model of the cosmos was condemned as heretical by the Catholic Church.

Family Life

Born to a merchant father and homemaker mother, he was the youngest of four children: Andreas, Barbara, and Katharina.

Associated With

His theories were eventually studied further and developed by Johannes Kepler.