Copernicus' Secret

Nicolaus Copernicus gave the world perhaps the most important scientific insight of modern era: the theory that the earth and the other planets revolve around the sun. He was also the first to proclaim that the earth rotates on its axis once every 24 hours. He was a true radical of this time. Despite being a genius of the early Renaissance, he was also a flawed and conflicted person. A cleric who lived during the tumultuous years of the early Reformation, he may have been sympathetic to the teachings of the Lutherans. Although he had taken a vow of celibacy, he kept at least one mistress. He hid his astronomical work, revealing it to only a few intimates, and the manuscript that contained his revolutionary theory that he refined for over 20 years, remained 'hidden among my things'. His work was discovered and brought to light by a young mathematics professor who heard his ideas and journeyed hundreds of miles and risked personal danger to meet with Copernicus. Copernicus' Secret recreates the life and world of the scientific genius whose work revolutionised astronomy and altered our understanding of our place in the world, forever.
Revealing a surprising, little known story behind the dawn of the scientific age, his story is compelling and remarkable. Jack Repcheck is an editor at WW Norton & Co, where he publishes the work of leading scientists and economists. His previous book was the critically acclaimed The Man Who Found Time: James Hutton and the Discovery of the Earth's Antiquity.