A talk by Ludo Broothaers

Nicolaus Copernicus is famous for his revolutionary ideas on astronomy and for initiating the so-called scientific revolution. His fame may, however, have been seriously overstated. He was not the first man to recognise the place of the sun in the center of our planetary system. Neither did he produce any proof to justify his views. So, who preceded him in adopting a different opinion about the planets? Why were his ideas so vehemently opposed by other scholars during and after his lifetime? Under what historical circumstances was he singled out for his formidable fame? Although his theories on the heliocentric planetary system were later proved to be correct, he did not enjoy contemporary support. Ludo has a PhD in Geology from the University of Leuven, Belgium. He spent much of his career in Morocco, Indonesia and Surinam.