De libris revolutionum Copernici narratio prima, usually referred to as Narratio Prima , is an abstract of Nicolaus Copernicus

Nicolaus Copernicus

Nicolaus Copernicus was a Renaissance astronomer and the first person to formulate a comprehensive heliocentric cosmology which displaced the Earth from the center of the universe....

' heliocentric theory

Copernican heliocentrism

Copernican heliocentrism is the name given to the astronomical model developed by Nicolaus Copernicus and published in 1543. It positioned the Sun near the center of the Universe, motionless, with Earth and the other planets rotating around it in circular paths modified by epicycles and at uniform...

, written by Georg Joachim Rheticus

Georg Joachim Rheticus

Georg Joachim von Lauchen, also known as Rheticus , was a mathematician, cartographer, navigational-instrument maker, medical practitioner, and teacher. He is perhaps best known for his trigonometric tables and as Nicolaus Copernicus's sole pupil...

 in 1540. It is an introduction to Copernicus's major work, De revolutionibus orbium coelestium

De revolutionibus orbium coelestium

De revolutionibus orbium coelestium is the seminal work on the heliocentric theory of the Renaissance astronomer Nicolaus Copernicus...

, published in 1543, largely due to Rheticus's instigation. Narratio Prima is the first printed publication of Copernicus's theory.

History

Copernicus, born in 1473 and already well over 60 years old, had never published any astronomical work, as his only publication had been his translation of poems of Theophylact Simocatta

Theophylact Simocatta

Theophylact Simocatta was an early seventh-century Byzantine historiographer, arguably ranking as the last historian of Late Antiquity, writing in the time of Heraclius about the late Emperor Maurice .-Life:His history of the reign of emperor Maurice is in eight books...

, printed in 1509 by Johann Haller

Johann Haller

Johann Haller or Jan Haller is considered one of the first commercial printers in Poland.-Copernicus:Born in Rothenburg, Haller is perhaps best known for publishing in 1509 a volume of poems by Theophylact Simocatta which had been translated from Byzantine Greek by Nicolaus Copernicus...

. At the same time, he had distributed his ideas among friends, with manuscripts called Commentariolus

Commentariolus

The "Commentariolus" is Nicolaus Copernicus's forty-page outline of an early version of his revolutionary heliocentric theory of the universe...

. In the 1530s, he was urged to publish by many, yet still hesitated when in 1539, Rheticus arrived in Frauenburg

Frombork

Frombork is a town in northern Poland, on the Vistula Lagoon, in Braniewo County, Warmian-Masurian Voivodeship. It had a population of 2,528 as of 2005....

 (Frombork) to become Copernicus' first and only pupil. Philipp Melanchthon

Philipp Melanchthon

Philipp Melanchthon , born Philipp Schwartzerdt, was a German reformer, collaborator with Martin Luther, the first systematic theologian of the Protestant Reformation, intellectual leader of the Lutheran Reformation, and an influential designer of educational systems...

 had arranged for Rheticus to visit several astronomers and study with them.

In September 1539 Rheticus went to Danzig

History of Gdansk

This article is about the History of Gdańsk , a Polish city located on the Baltic Sea.- Early times :The area around the Vistula delta was inhabited by populations belonging to the various archaeological cultures of the Stone Age, Bronze Age, and Iron Age...

 (Gdańsk) to visit the mayor who gave Rheticus some financial assistance to publish the Narratio Prima. This Narratio Prima, published by Franz Rhode

Franz Rhode

Franz Rhode was a German printer of the 16th century.Having been active in Marburg between 1529 and 1534, he went to Hamburg in 1536 to print Latin works of the theologist Urbanus Rhegius from Celle...

 in Danzig in 1540, is still considered to be the best introduction to Copernicus' De revolutionibus orbium coelestium. As the full titlestates, the Narratio was published as an open letter to Johannes Schöner

Johannes Schöner

Johannes Schöner was a renowned and respected German polymath...

 of Nuremberg

Nuremberg

Nuremberg[p] is a city in the German state of Bavaria, in the administrative region of Middle Franconia. Situated on the Pegnitz river and the Rhine–Main–Danube Canal, it is located about north of Munich and is Franconia's largest city. The population is 505,664...

 (Nürnberg). It was bundled together with the Encomium Prussiae which praised the spirit of humanism

Humanism

Humanism is an approach in study, philosophy, world view or practice that focuses on human values and concerns. In philosophy and social science, humanism is a perspective which affirms some notion of human nature, and is contrasted with anti-humanism....

 in Prussia

Prussia

Prussia was a German kingdom and historic state originating out of the Duchy of Prussia and the Margraviate of Brandenburg. For centuries, the House of Hohenzollern ruled Prussia, successfully expanding its size by way of an unusually well-organized and effective army. Prussia shaped the history...

.

During his two year stay in Prussia, Rheticus published works of his own, and in cooperation with Copernicus, in 1542 a treatise on trigonometry

Trigonometry

Trigonometry is a branch of mathematics that studies triangles and the relationships between their sides and the angles between these sides. Trigonometry defines the trigonometric functions, which describe those relationships and have applicability to cyclical phenomena, such as waves...

 which was a preview to the second book of De revolutionibus. Under strong pressure from Rheticus, and having seen the favorable first general reception of the Narratio Prima, Copernicus finally agreed to give the book to his close friend, bishop Tiedemann Giese

Tiedemann Giese

Tiedemann Giese Tiedemann Giese Tiedemann Giese (1 June 1480 – 23 October 1550, Heilsberg (Lidzbark), was a member of the patrician Giese family of Danzig (Gdańsk). The brother of the Hanseatic League merchant Georg Giese and relative of Albrecht Giese he became Bishop of Culm (Chełmno) first...

, to be delivered to Nuremberg for printing by Johannes Petreius

Johannes Petreius

Johann Petreius was a German printer in Nuremberg.-Life:...

 under Rheticus's supervision.

Later editions of Narratio Prima were printed in Basel

Basel

Basel or Basle In the national languages of Switzerland the city is also known as Bâle , Basilea and Basilea is Switzerland's third most populous city with about 166,000 inhabitants. Located where the Swiss, French and German borders meet, Basel also has suburbs in France and Germany...

, in 1541 by Robert Winter

Robert Winter

Robert Winter is one of California's leading architectural historians. He is the Arthur G. Coons Professor of the History of Ideas, Emeritus, at Occidental College, Los Angeles. He is particularly known for his contributions to the history of the California branch of the Arts and Crafts...

, and in 1566 by Henricus Petrus

Henricus Petrus

Henricus Petrus or Sebastian Henric Petri are two of the names used for publications from a 16th century printer shop of Basel , also called Officina Henricpetrina....

in connection with the second edition of De revolutionibus.

External links

• Scienceworld article on Rheticus
• Narratio Prima (1540) - scanned edition at Linda Hall Library
• in English