worldview saying that the sun didn't revolve around the earth and the earth was not the center of the universe. from book in poland in around fifteen forty. nicolaus copernicus was a canon at the cathedral there as well as a high ranking government official. he was also a lawyer physician and mathematician as well as an economist who wrote a highly regarded work on the. theory of money but his real passion was astronomy. his astronomical observations and calculations contradicted the generally accepted model originally posited by the ancient scholar claudius ptolemy namely that the earth was at the center of the solar system. this geocentric world view was essential teaching of the church. copernicus believed the sun was at the center of the solar system. but even though he spent thirty years working on his theory he