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In 1496, Copernicus took leave and traveled to 

Italy, where he enrolled in a religious law 

program as the University of Bologna. There, 

he met astronomer Domenico Maria Novara—a 

fateful encounter, as the two began 

exchanging astronomical ideas and 

observations. In 1500, after completing his law 

studies in Bologna, Copernicus went on to 

study practical medicine at the University of 

Padua. 

Throughout the seven years he 

spent in Lidzbark-Warminski, 

Copernicus read several books 

on the subject of astronomy. 

Among the sources, Copernicus 

looked at Regiomontus's 

Epitome of the Almagest, which 

presented something different to 

astrologist Claudius Ptolemy's 

model of the universe, and 

influenced his research.

By 1508, Copernicus had begun developing his 

own celestial model, a heliocentric planetary 

system. Ptolemy had previously invented a 

geometric planetary model, which was 

inconsistent with Aristotle's idea that celestial 

bodies moved in a circular motion at different 

speeds around a fixed point, the earth. In an 

attempt to reconcile such inconsistencies, 

Copernicus's heliocentric solar 

system named the sun, rather than the earth, as 

the center of the solar system. Subsequently, 

Copernicus believed that the size of each planet's 

orbit depended on its distance from the sun.

Though his theory was viewed as revolutionary 

and met with some concern, Copernicus was 

not the first astronomer to propose such a 

theory. In 270 B.C., ancient Greek astronomer 

Aristarchus of Samos had identified the sun as 

the solar system's central unit. 

Both ideologies were dismissed or not 

excepted at the time, because it interrupted 

the religious beliefs. (ex. Roman Catholic 

church.) There would be severe punishments if 

the word spread of such news. 

Around 1514, Copernicus completed a written work, 

Commentariolus. The sketch set forth seven axioms, 

each describing an aspect of the heliocentric solar 

system: 1) Planets don't revolve around one fixed point; 

2) the earth is at the center of the moon's orbit; 3) The 

sun is at the center of the universe, and all celestial 

bodies rotate around it; 4) The distance between the 

earth and sun is only a tiny fraction of stars' distance 

from the earth and sun; 5) Stars do not move, and if 

they appear to, it is only because the earth itself is 

moving; 6) Earth moves in a sphere around the sun, 

causing the sun's yearly movement; and 7) Earth's orbit 

around the sun causes the planets to orbit in the 

opposite direction.

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