Copernicus Credit - NASA

Personal: Male. Born in Poland.

Nicholas Copernicus of Poland symbolized the spirit of scientific inquiry that came to dominate the Renaissance. The son of a prosperous merchant, when his father died Copernicus was raised by his uncle, Lucas Watzelrode, the Bishop of Ermland. He was educated at the University of Cracow, where he excelled at mathematics, and at the University of Bologna in Italy, where he began to study astronomy. Copernicus developed complex models of movement for the Earth and other planets around the Sun. His "Heliocentric Solar System" concept gained acceptance slowly, but a century after his death was accepted as the norm for the scientific community