The Return of Earth-Centered Cosmology
BY DONALD PROTHERO
The idea of a heliocentric solar system is most famously attributed to the Polish scholar Mikolaja Kopernika (we know him by the Latinized version of his name, Nicholaus Copernicus), although a version of the idea was first proposed by the Greek scholar Aristarchos of Samos about 280 BCE. Copernicus was a true genius, fluent in Latin, German, and Polish, and also speaking some Greek, Italian, and Hebrew, so he often worked as a translator. But he is most famous for his astronomical observations that led him to suggest heliocentrism and give strong evidence for it