Q 01/05

Copernicus's model of the universe placed what at its centre instead of the Earth?

A) The Moon

B) The Sun

C) A central fire

D) Jupiter

Answer · why

B) The Sun

A similar heliocentric idea had been proposed by Aristarchus of Samos eighteen centuries earlier, though Copernicus likely arrived at his independentl...

Q 02/05

What was the title of the 1543 book that presented Copernicus's model?

A) Epitome in Almagestum Ptolemei

B) Theoricae novae planetarum

C) Astronomiae instauratae progymnasmata

D) De revolutionibus orbium coelestium

Answer · why

D) De revolutionibus orbium coelestium

The title translates as On the Revolutions of the Celestial Spheres.

Q 03/05

In which city was Copernicus born on 19 February 1473?

A) Kraków

B) Warsaw

C) Toruń

D) Gdańsk

Answer · why

C) Toruń

The city sits on the Vistula in what was then Royal Prussia, part of the Crown of the Kingdom of Poland.

Q 04/05

What did Copernicus's father, also named Niklas, trade in as a merchant?

A) Furs

B) Copper

C) Grain

D) Amber

Answer · why

B) Copper

He sold it mostly in Danzig and lent money to Poland's king to fight the Teutonic Knights.

Q 05/05

Which maternal uncle, later a prince-bishop, took in the orphaned Copernicus?

A) Lucas Watzenrode the Younger

B) Johannes Dantiscus

C) Barthel Gertner

D) Tiedemann Giese

Answer · why

A) Lucas Watzenrode the Younger

The Teutonic Order's Grand Master once called him "the devil incarnate".