This week marks the 466th anniversary of two events: the publication of Nicolaus Copernicus' De revolutionibus orbium coelestium (On the Revolutions of the Heavenly Spheres), and the death of its author. San Diego State added its copy of this landmark edition as its one millionth volume in 1992. Generously purchased by the Friends of the Library, this book is the jewel of our Historic Astronomy Collection.
De revolutionibus marked the beginning of the scientific revolution, for in it Copernicus overturned the Ptolemaic theory of a closed universe with a fixed earth at its center around which all celestial bodies rotated, in favor of the heliocentric model. This theory had been proposed before, by the Greek astronomer Aristarchus of Samos. But Copernicus was the first to formally document the rotation of the Earth on its axis, the correct positions of the planets, and the rotation of the moon around the Earth. Copernicus died the week of the book's publication, but legend has it that he was able to hold a copy in his hands on his deathbed.
Though the book was not particularly controversial when it appeared, in 1616 it was placed on the Index Librorum Prohibitorum by the Catholic Church pending corrections that would recharacterize the work as more hypothetical than definitive. However, the next edition of the work, issued the next year, did not contain these corrections, nor did any subsequent editions; and so the book remained on the Index until 1758. San Diego State's copy is particularly special because it contains the recommended corrections in a contemporary hand, with the questionable passages and headings censored in ink (see image).
San Diego State also has the second edition of 1566 among the other 800 volumes of the Historic Astronomy Collection, along with many other rare and important first editions by Kepler, Brahe, Galileo, and Newton. With these and the wonderful Zinner Collection, San Diego State boasts truly remarkable resources in the history of astronomy--stop by our Reading Room to find a treasure!
