Kopernik & Frombork

With Frombork we had reached the town where Nicolaus Copernicus (Kopernik in Polish) worked as a mathematician and astronomer. The famous church of Frombork was under big renovations, which will make it a great place to visit maybe next year 😉

Nikolaj Kopernik

Frombork (Frauenburg)
The brick Gothic cathedral was finished in 1388 and is part of a fortified complex with a big courtyard and towers, one housing a planetarium. At the episcopal palace a museum about Copernicus can be visited, sadly all the informations are only in Polish.
Strange atmosphere with half the church covered in plastic
Grave of Kopernik discovered in the church of Frombork
A lot of work going on
Kopernik museum – sadly only in Polish
 Copernicus with Frombork in the back (1873)
Nicolaus Copernicus (1473 – 1543) formulated a model of the universe that placed the Sun rather than the Earth at the centre of the universe, in all likelihood independently of Aristarchus of Samos, who had formulated such a model some eighteen centuries earlier. He obtained a doctorate in canon law and was also a mathematician, astronomer, physician, classics scholar, translator, governor, diplomat, and economist. In 1517 he derived a quantity theory of money—a key concept in economics.


Title page of his book published in 1543
The publication of Copernicus’ model in his book “De revolutionibus orbium coelestium” (On the Revolutions of the Celestial Spheres), just before his death in 1543, was a major event in the history of science.

Instruments used by him for astronomy 
Copernicus tower where he lived and worked
Copernicus in front of the church of Frombork
On the road again
In this part of Poland most of the minor roads are alleys with huge old trees on both side. Very often there is no middle line and the tarmac just wide enough that 2 cars can pass. We had to be careful with trees leaning into the street or low branches. Often the tarmac is not very good, crumbling on the sides, so that we had to go slow or stop when a car was coming. 
Stop for lunch and a dip in the lake …
and some work of course

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