Renaissance in Poland late 18th century. The period of Polish Renaissance, supportive of intellectual pursuits, produced many outstanding artists and scientists. Among them were Nicolaus Copernicus who in his "De revolutionibus orbium coelestium" presented the heliocentric theory of the universe, Maciej of Miechów, author of "Tractatus de duabus Sarmatis..." – the most accurate up to date geographical and ethnographical account of Eastern Europe; Bernard Wapowski, a cartographer whose maps of that region appeared in Ptolemy's "Geography"; Marcin Kromer who in his "De origine et rebus gestis Polonorum libri..." described both the history and geography of Poland; Andrzej Frycz Modrzewski, a philosopher concerned with
Nicolaus Copernicus a natural choice for German-speaking students, regardless of their ethnicity or self-identification. The surname "Kopernik", "Copernik", "Koppernigk" is recorded in Kraków from c. 1350, in various spellings, apparently given to people from the village of Koperniki (prior to 1845 rendered Kopernik, "Copernik, Copirnik" and "Koppirnik") in the Duchy of Nysa. Nicolas Copernicus' great-grandfather is recorded as having received citizenship in Kraków in 1386. The toponym "Kopernik" (modern "Koperniki") has been variously tied to the Polish word for "dill" ("koper") and German for copper ("Kupfer"). The suffix -nik (or plural -niki) denotes a Slavic and Polish agent noun, though. As was