Dava Sobel, "A More Perfect Heaven: How Copernicus Revolutionized the Cosmos"
English | ISBN: 0802717934 | 2011 | 288 pages | PDF | 7 MB
By 1514, the reclusive cleric Nicolaus Copernicus had written and hand-copied an initial outline of his heliocentric theory-in which he defied common sense and received wisdom to place the sun, not the earth, at the center of our universe, and set the earth spinning among the other planets. Over the next two decades, Copernicus expanded his theory through hundreds of observations, while compiling in secret a book-length manuscript that tantalized mathematicians and scientists throughout Europe. For fear of ridicule, he refused to publish.