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
Astronomer Copernicus, or Conversations with God reception of the painting was mixed; later that year it was displayed in Vienna. In March the community of Kraków decided to buy the painting for 12,000 Polish zloty, and it was donated to the Jagiellonian University, where it has been on public display in the Collegium Novum building ever since. The painting depicts a kneeling, inspired Nicolaus Copernicus observing the heavens transitioning from night to dawn. He is on a balcony, near or at the cathedral in Frombork, surrounded by various astronomical tools and aids. The scene likely portrays the epiphany moment of Copernicus profound discovery, with his own