| Description : Nicolaus Copernicus (1473‐1543), born Niklas Koppernigk
in the Hanseatic city of Thorn, spoke German and Polish and learned Greek, Latin and Italian. He was a canon of the
Prussian prince‐bishopric of Ermland (Polish: Warmia), which was under Polish protection, as well as a doctor and
astronomer. After his father's death in 1483, his mother's brother, Lucas Watzenrode, Prince‐Bishop of Warmia, secured
his maintenance and education. From 1491 to 1494 Copernicus studied the seven liberal arts (grammar, rhetoric, dialectics,
arithmetic, geometry, music and astronomy) at the University of Cracow; in 1496 he began studies of both laws at the
University of Bologna. In 1501 he transferred to the University of Padua to study medicine, obtained a doctorate in canon
law in 1503 and became secretary and personal physician to his uncle at the bishop's residence, Heilsberg Castle. He got a
job in the cathedral chapter of Frauenburg (Frombork), of which he was chancellor from 1510. There he set up an observatory
in a tower of the cathedral fortress in 1514. As administrator he regulated the affairs of government from 1516 to 1519 and
worked out a pioneering monetary theory in the negotiations on the reform of Prussian coinage. Copernicus lived in Olsztyn
Castle during this time. An astronomical panel for calculating the equinox painted on the plaster of the castle's cloister
has been preserved to this day. After the destruction of Frauenburg in the so‐called Horsemen's War, Copernicus moved
his residence to Allenstein in 1520 and organised the defence of the city against the Knights of the Order. For his
astronomical observations he used the quadrant, triple rod and armillary sphere. In 1542, ten years after completing his
Latin manuscript, Copernicus gave his consent to the printing of his findings "On the Orbits of the Celestial Spheres" and,
according to legend, it was not until the day of his death in 1543 that the last pages of his printed life's work could be
presented to him. Today also called the Copernican world view, it describes the sun as the resting centre of the universe
around which the planets, including the earth, move. The coin designed by Daniela Fusco shows on the right the face
part of the bronze seated image of Copernicus created for Olsztyn in 2003. The centre of the motif is the sun, whose halo
of rays overlaps the circular orbits of the inner three planets surrounding it. Venus is shown on its orbit on the left and
the Earth on top. On the upper left is the arched inscription "NICOLAUS KOPERNICUS 1473‐1543", on the lower left
"• MALTA 2023" the issuing country and the year of issue. The designer's signet "FUSCO" appears at the bottom. The
coin was produced without mint mark by the Royal Dutch mint Koninklijke Nederlandse Munt in Houten. |
