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What work did Nicolaus Copernicus do as a church canon in Poland?
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Nicolaus Copernicus
Portrait of Nicolaus Copernicus, 1580, from the Town Hall in ToruÅ, Poland; in the collection of Muzeum OkrÄgowe w Toruniu (Regional Museum in ToruÅ). In his book De revolutionibus, he proposed that the Sun was the center of the solar system and that the planets circle the Sun.
As a church canon in Poland, Nicolaus Copernicus performed a variety of administrative, financial, and medical duties for the bishopric. His responsibilities included:
- Collecting rents from church-owned lands12
- Securing military defenses12
- Overseeing chapter finances12
- Managing the bakery, brewery, and mills12
- Providing medical care for his uncle and the other canons12
Although he held the position of canon, Copernicus was never ordained as a priest. He conducted his significant astronomical research during his spare time, separate from these professional obligations.21