"De revolutionibus orbium coelestium", the first truly important work of science to evade suppression by the Christian world, the most revolutionary in the scientific world, in Europe anyway (the Moslem-Arab world was half a millennium ahead), published today in 1543, about thirty-five years after he completed it, but his colleagues-in-samizdat who had been receiving secret copies since about 1510 kept it safely under covers until he was safely dead.
Thomas Cranmer, burnt at the stake, today in 1556 (should that be "burnt", or "burned"?) for the crime, or sin, or simply the inconvenience, of what is called "heresy" in the same way that a "freedom-fighter" is the one on your side who commits the atrocities, whereas the one on the other side is a "terrorist". His heresy? Hard to say really. As Archbishop of Canterbury for the previous three years he had provided sound advice to Edward VI, as he had done for several yeats before that under a different hat for Henry VIII, had put the English Bible in every parish church, had drawn up the Book of Common Prayer, had even composed a litany that remains in use today. A hero, surely? The founding-cleric of today's Anglican church, surely? Yes, but look again at the date. 1556. Mary was on the throne. Cranmer was a Protestant. Not much chance of survival, was there? (see also "Three Blind Mice" on March 15)
This coincidence of dates and deaths is interesting to me because, as I read through the almanacs for dates and details that have a meaning to me, people being burned at the stake are automatic candidates for this blog, though there has to be a good reason for my interest (there never is a good reason for their burning, but that is secondary).
But actually these two are not the same, because, as noted above, Copernicus' great work was kept underground for fully thirty-five years, precisely because he, and his scientific colleagues, knew exactly what would happen if he published. So he wasn't among those burned at the stake, though his books were, and he almost certainly would have been, had he not suffered a stroke, and died soon after of its consequences (see February 19).
And to understand why Copernicus was quite so important, click here, and follow any of the multiple sub-links.
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