Page:The Gradual Acceptance of the Copernican Theory of the Universe.djvu/33

 At this period the professor of astronomy at Bologna was the famous teacher Dominicus Maria di Novara (1454-1504), a man "ingenio et animo liber" who dared to attack the immutability of the Ptolemiac system, since his own observations, especially of the Pole Star, differed by a degree and more from the traditional ones. He dared to criticise the long accepted system and to emphasize the Pythagorean notion of the underlying harmony and simplicity in nature ; and from him Copernicus may have acquired these ideas, for whether they lived together or not in Bologna, they were closely associated. It was here, too, that Copernicus began his study of Greek which later was to be the means of encouraging him in his own theorizing by acquainting him with the ancients who had thought along similar lines.

In the spring of the year (1501) following his visit to Rome, Copernicus returned to the Chapter at Frauenburg to get further leave of absence to study medicine at the University of Padua. Whether he received a degree at Padua or not and how long he stayed there are uncertain points. He was back in Ermeland early in 1506.

His student days were ended. And now for many years he led a very active life, first as companion and assistant to his uncle the Bishop, with whom he stayed at Schloss Heilsberg till after the Bishop's death in 1512; then as one of the leading canons of the chapter at Frauenburg, where he lived most of the rest of his life. As the chapter representative for five years (at intervals) he had oversight of the spiritual and temporal affairs of two large districts in the care of the chapter. He went on various diplomatic and other missions to the King of Poland, to Duke Albrecht of the Teutonic Order, and to the councils of the German states. He wrote a paper of

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