Copernicus, Nicolaus

1473 - He was born on the 19th day of February in the city of ToruD (Thorn) in Royal Prussia.

1491 - He enrolled at the Kraków Academy (now Jagiellonian University), where he probably first encountered astronomy with the professor, Albert Brudzewski.

1495 - He went to Italy, where he studied law and medicine at the universities of Bologna and Padua.

1497 - His uncle was ordained Bishop of Warmia, and Copernicus was named a canon at Frombork Cathedral, but

he waited in Italy for the great Jubilee of 1500.

1501 - He would thus have visited Frombork only in this year. As soon as he arrived, he requested and obtained permission to return to Italy to complete his studies at Padua and at Ferrara.

1503 - He received his doctorate in canon law.

1504 - He began collecting observations and ideas pertinent to his theory.

1519 - He formulated an early iteration of the theory, now called "Gresham's Law," that "bad" (debased) coinage drives "good" (un-debased) coinage out of circulation.

1514 - He made available to friends his Commentariolus (Little Commentary) — a short handwritten text describing his ideas about the heliocentric hypothesis. Thereafter he continued gathering data for a more detailed work.

1536 - His work was nearing its definitive form, and rumors about his theory had reached educated people all over Europe.

1539 - He was still working on De revolutionibus orbium coelestium (even if not convinced that he wanted to publish it).

1543 – He died on the 24th day of May in Frombork, Poland.