Inaugurating the Year of Nicolaus Copernicus at the University of Wrocław

Several hundred final-year primary and secondary school students celebrated the upcoming 550th birthday of Nicolaus Copernicus today in the University Library at the University of Wrocław.

The students had the unique opportunity to see the first edition of the work that changed the world – “On the Revolutions of the Heavenly Spheres”, as well as other works by pioneers of astronomy: Ptolemy, Tycho de Brache, Jan Kepler, Johannes Hevelius and Galileo.

They also attended a lecture by dr Paweł Pres from the Faculty of Physics and Astronomy at the University of Wrocław entitled „550 lat astronomii – od Mikołaja Kopernika do teleskopu kosmicznego Jamesa Webba” (“550 years of astronomy – from Nicolaus Copernicus to the James Webb Space Telescope”).

The Day with Copernicus is the first in a series of events that the UWr University Library is preparing in collaboration with the UWr Department of Physics and Astronomy and the Ossoliński National Institute in Wrocław.

Grażyna Piotrowicz, Director of the UWr University Library, pointed out: – The Year of Nicolaus Copernicus has only just begun. Over the coming months, we will be organising a whole series of events, exhibitions and curatorial tours of our collections.

Dr Dorota Sidorowicz-Mulak, Deputy Director of the Ossoliński National Institute, emphasised that the Ossolineum houses not only the first edition of ‘On the Revolutions of the Heavenly Spheres’, but also other classical works originating from the Ossolineum’s collection in Lviv.

Prof. Michał Tomczak, Dean of the Faculty of Physics and Astronomy, announced that he would like Wrocław residents to become familiar with the text of Copernicus’ great work and invited them to a public reading of “On the Revolutions of the Heavenly Spheres”.

Details of the University’s Year of Nicolaus Copernicus will appear successively on our website.