this subject, although effective, have been
completely overlooked by his astronomy.
Copernicus’s ideas were spreading
throughout Europe despite his desire to
keep them secret. He feared the harsh
opinions of scientists, who were sure to
ridicule his notion, as well as the judg-
ment of the church, which he believed
might find him to be a heretic. He was
roundly criticized by the Protestant re-
formers at the same time Pope Clement
VII and his cardinals were learning of the
heliocentric theory through reports and
lectures in Rome. In 1539 George Rheti-
cus, a scholar attending the University of
Wittenberg, met Copernicus, who agreed
to tutor the younger man in mathematics
and astronomy. Rheticus enthusiastically
accepted the heliocentric theory and wrote
his own treatise detailing it, entitledFirst
Account. This emboldened Copernicus to
bring out his own book,On the Revolu-
tions, which was finally published in 1543,
just a few weeks before its author died.
The Copernican system began a scien-
tific and philosophical revolution in Eu-
rope. By moving the earth from its sym-
bolic position at the center of the universe,
it forced astronomers to consider the pos-
sibility that the known world was but a
small and insignificant part of all creation.
It also suggested that human observation
and perception often led to false or mis-
leading conclusions about the true state of
the natural world. Scientific skepticism be-
gan with this questioning of a phenom-
enon obvious to everyone: that the sun
moves through the sky every day.
The heliocentric theory was gradually
accepted and modified by the leading as-
tronomers and scientists in Europe, includ-
ing Johannes Kepler and Galileo Galilei
(who was among the first to make astro-
nomical observations with a telescope).
The Catholic Church, however, found the
Copernican system to be contrary to ac-
cepted Christian doctrine, and placedOn
the Revolutionson its Index of prohibited
books in 1616. The Enlightenment, a
movement of natural philosophy that re-
jected religious doctrine as a basis for sci-
entific observation altogether, accepted the
heliocentric system in the eighteenth cen-
tury. But it wasn’t until 1835 that the book
of Copernicus detailing this system was
taken off the list of books banned by the
Vatican.SEEALSO: astronomy; Brahe, Tycho; Galilei,
Galileo; Kepler, JohannesCorreggio .........................................
(1494–1534)
Italian artist, born Antonio Allegri in the
town of Correggio in Lombardy. He was
the son of a merchant and apprenticed as
a painter in the city of Modena with
Francesco Ferrara. He returned to Correg-
gio in 1506 and began working on reli-
gious paintings for wealthy patrons and
on commission from the city fathers of
Mantua. He was influenced by Leonardo
da Vinci and Andrea Mantegna in his early
works, includingMadonna of St. Francis
andAdoration of the Child with St. Eliza-
beth and John. In about 1518 he went to
Rome, where he studied the works of
Michelangelo and Raphael, then returned
to Parma, where he was commissioned to
create frescoes for the convent of San
Paolo. These paintings were done on the
walls and ceiling of the Camera di San
Paolo, the drawing room of Giovanna da
Piacenza, the abbess of the convent. De-
picted is the mythical figure of Diana, god-
dess of the hunt, and a scene of cherubs
set in an arbor overgrown with fruits and
vines. Correggio also painted the apse,
nave, and interior dome of the church ofCorreggio