Q 01/05

Why did Copernicus do all his observing with the naked eye?

A) No telescopes existed

B) The Church banned telescopes

C) Telescopes cost too much

D) He distrusted lenses

Answer · why

A) No telescopes existed

No telescopes existed. The first appeared about 65 years after his death, so Copernicus never saw the sights that later won his system support, such a...

Q 02/05

Which philosopher likened his own new theory of knowledge to Copernicus's change of viewpoint in astronomy?

A) René Descartes

B) Immanuel Kant

C) Friedrich Nietzsche

D) John Locke

Answer · why

B) Immanuel Kant

Immanuel Kant. In 1787 he proposed that objects must conform to our knowledge, not the reverse, just as Copernicus had explained the turning sky by ma...

Q 03/05

In which city was Copernicus born in 1473?

A) Poznań

B) Warsaw

C) Toruń

D) Gdańsk

Answer · why

C) Toruń

Toruń. The trading town had passed from the Teutonic Knights to the Polish crown only seven years before, which is how a merchant's son there was born...

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

Copper. He sold it mostly in Danzig, and his death when Nicolaus was about ten left the boy's schooling and career in the hands of a well-connected un...

Q 05/05

Which Italian friar, a champion of Copernicus's moving Earth, was burned at the stake in 1600?

A) Girolamo Savonarola

B) Tommaso Campanella

C) Giordano Bruno

D) Paolo Sarpi

Answer · why

C) Giordano Bruno

Giordano Bruno. Historians still argue over which of his ideas condemned him, and the Church left Copernicus's own book untouched for another 16 years...