Nicolaus Copernicus pioneering contribution to the Scientific Revolution. Copernicus was born and died in Royal Prussia, a region that had been part of the Kingdom of Poland since 1466. A polyglot and polymath, 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 – and in 1519 he formulated an economic principle that later came to be called Gresham's law. Nicolaus Copernicus was born on 19 February 1473 in the city of Thorn (modern Toruń), in
Nicolaus Copernicus Monument, Warsaw Nicolaus Copernicus Monument, Warsaw The Nicolaus Copernicus Monument in Warsaw is one of the Polish capital's notable landmarks. It stands before the Staszic Palace, the seat of the Polish Academy of Sciences on "Krakowskie Przedmieście". Designed by Bertel Thorvaldsen in 1822, it was completed in 1830. The bronze statue of a Polish astronomer Nicolaus Copernicus () holding a compass and armillary sphere was designed by Bertel Thorvaldsen in 1822 and erected in 1828–30. It was funded by public donations and by the scientist and philosopher Stanisław Staszic. The unveiling ceremony, presided over by Tadeusz Kościuszko's former comrade-in-arms, Julian Ursyn Niemcewicz.