Nicolaus Copernicus Monument

Nicolaus Copernicus, born on February 19, 1473, and passing away on May 24, 1543, was a remarkable figure of the Renaissance era. He possessed a diverse range of skills and knowledge, excelling as a mathematician, astronomer, and Catholic canon. His most significant contribution to science was the formulation of a revolutionary model of the universe, placing the Sun at the center instead of the Earth. It is highly probable that Copernicus independently developed this model, unaware of the earlier work by Aristarchus of Samos, an ancient Greek astronomer who had proposed a similar concept nearly eighteen centuries before.

The publication of Copernicus's groundbreaking model occurred in his book titled "De revolutionibus orbium coelestium" (On the Revolutions of the Celestial Spheres), which was released shortly before his death in 1543. This event marked a momentous milestone in the history of science, igniting the Copernican Revolution and making an extraordinary contribution to the larger Scientific Revolution.

Born and raised in Royal Prussia, a region that had been part of the Kingdom of Poland since 1466, Copernicus possessed a vast array of talents and interests. He was proficient in multiple languages and had an extensive breadth of knowledge. Alongside his roles as a mathematician, astronomer, physician, and classics scholar, he also engaged in pursuits such as translation, governance, diplomacy, and economics. Beginning in 1497, Copernicus held the position of a Warmian Cathedral chapter canon. Additionally, in 1517, he formulated a theory of money known as the quantity theory of money, which would later become a fundamental concept in economics. Furthermore, in 1519, he established an economic principle that would come to be referred to as Gresham's law.

The monument of Nicolaus Copernicus, a Polish astronomer, was designed by Bertel Thorvaldsen in 1822 and erected in 1828-30, which was funded through public donations and by Stanisław Staszic, a scientist and philosopher. The original plan was to erect the statue in Toruń, Copernicus' hometown, but due to the fall of the Duchy of Warsaw, the location was changed to Warsaw, which was then in the Russian partition. The unveiling ceremony was presided over by Tadeusz Kościuszko's former comrade-in-arms, Julian Ursyn Niemcewicz, but the Polish clergy refused to attend as Copernicus' book had been condemned by the Holy Office in 1616. The ban was lifted in 1758 during the pontificate of Pope Benedict XIV. The pedestal has inscriptions on the east face, which reads "Nicolo Copernico Grata Patria" ("To Nicolaus Copernicus from a Grateful Nation"), and on the west face, which reads "Mikołajowi Kopernikowi Rodacy" ("To Mikołaj Kopernik from his compatriots").

During World War II, the Copernicus monument in Warsaw became the focus of a "minor-sabotage" operation by the Polish underground. After the Germans occupied Warsaw in 1939, they removed the Latin and Polish inscriptions from the monument and replaced them with a plaque in German language that stated "To Nicolaus Copernicus from the German Nation". In response, a Polish man named Maciej Aleksy Dawidowski removed the German plaque on 11 February 1942. The Germans retaliated by moving a statue of Jan Kiliński to the National Museum in Warsaw on 21 February. Dawidowski and his comrades responded by putting up a large graffiti on the Museum and adding a new plaque to the Copernicus monument, which read "For removal of the Kiliński statue, I am extending the winter by two months. Kopernik". It is noteworthy that there was a really long winter that year.

In 1944, during the Warsaw Uprising, the monument was damaged, and the Germans decided to melt it down. They took it to Nysa, but had to retreat before they could destroy it. The monument was eventually brought back to Warsaw on 22 July 1945, renovated, and unveiled again on 22 July 1949.

In 2007, a bronze representation of Copernicus' Solar System, based on an image from his "On the Revolutions of the Celestial Spheres", was placed in front of the monument. This statue was vandalized in July 2008, but the stolen parts were recovered shortly after. Replicas of the Warsaw Copernicus monument can be found in Montreal and Chicago.