On the Revolutions of Heavenly Spheres

The Ptolemaic system of the universe, with the earth at the center, had held sway since antiquity as authoritative in philosophy, science, and church teaching. Following his observations of the heavenly bodies, Copernicus abandoned the geocentric system for a heliocentric model, with the sun at the center. This book stands as one of the supreme monuments of science. It led to one of the greatest intellectual revolutions of all time, and profoundly influenced, among others, Galileo and Sir Isaac Newton.