Nicolaus Copernicus was born on 19 February 1473 in Torun, Poland. When Copernicus was ten years old, his father died and his uncle, the Warmian bishop Lucas Watzenrode, took him and his brothers in. He attended several universities in his life, some were the University of Krakow, the University of Bologna, the University of Padua and the University of Ferrara. In 1494 he took up the position of canon at Frombork Cathedral, which he held for the rest of his life. With the help of that position it offered him the opportunity to finance the continuation of his studies in different fields. Then in 1496 he left for Italy and met an astronomer and professor, Domenico Maria Novara. They exchanged astronomical ideas and observations. Later, in 1508, he began to develop his own celestial model, a heliocentric planetary system. When he invented the heliocentric planetary system, he brought about changes that transformed the way people would think. Initially people thought that the Earth was the center of the universe, however Copernicus proved that the sun was actually the center of the universe. It was an important event in the history of science because it started the Copernican revolution and helped support the scientific revolution. Copernicus also rejected the long-accepted Aristotelian/Ptolemaic view of the universe, stating that the earth was at the center. Then on May 24, 1543 Nicolaus Copernicus died. (Ravetz, JR) Copernicus's most important achievement was the development of his own celestial model of a heliocentric planetary system. His model was simple but apparently no better at predicting how the planets moved than the model before his. However, his model was even easier to use and understand. Part of what the model provided was the center of the Earth is not the center...... middle of the document ......action of the Quicentenary of Nicolaus Copernicus 1473-1543 (15 January 1974), pp. 5 -9Shaer, Matthew. "How Nicolaus Copernicus rewrote the rules of the solar system." The Christian Science Monitor: 22. 19 February 2013. ProQuest. Network. December 2, 2013. Tenn, Joe. "The Copernican Revolution". The Copernican revolution. Sonoma State University, January 19, 2007. Web. December 03, 2013."Nicolaus Copernicus." 2013. The Biography Channel website. December 2, 2013, 4:39 am http://www.biography.com/people/nicolaus-copernicus-9256984."Copernicus, Nicolaus" April 23, 2009. HowStuffWorks.com. 02 December 2013."Copernicus, Nicolaus, Mikolaj Kopernik (Pol) (1473 - 1543)." The Cambridge Dictionary of Scientists. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2002. Creed Reference. Network. 04 December 2013.