From Copernicus, an astronomer of Prussian birth (1493-1543), who was the first to show that all the observed motions of the planets could be explained by a diurnal rotation of the Earth on its axis, and a concept of the Sun as the centre around which the Earth and the other planets revolve. He was partially anticipated by Pythagoras, who taught a heliocentric system of astronomy.
ASTROLABE ENCYCLOPEDIA
