Episode Details

Nicolaus Copernicus figured out that the Earth orbits the Sun and then sat on the discovery for over thirty years because he was terrified of the reaction. He finally allowed his book to be published only as he lay on his deathbed, and legend says he received the first printed copy on the day he died. The most revolutionary idea in the history of science was published by a man too frightened to face its consequences.

This episode traces Copernicus from his Polish cathedral chapter career through the heliocentric hypothesis, the thirty years of nervous delay, and the deathbed publication that changed humanity's understanding of its place in the universe.

• Copernicus's comfortable career as a church administrator and part-time astronomer
• The heliocentric hypothesis and why he knew it would provoke fierce opposition
• Thirty years of delay — circulating the idea privately while refusing to publish
• The deathbed publication of De Revolutionibus and the slow-burning revolution it ignited