Introduction

This Digital Humanities project focusses on the historical events that brought about and followed the publication of Nicolaus Copernicus’ controversial 1543 book On the Revolutions of Heavenly Spheres. Published in the city of Basel, the Latin work garnered the attention of many in the Scientific community. The theory of planetary motion forwarded in the book was not widely recognized to be legitimate, nor did it have many supporters. The main reason for controversy following this book’s publication is the Heliocentric approach – earth revolving around the sun. While currently not under threat, the Catholic Church had banned the book in 1616 on grounds of heresy. The main learning from this DH project would be a brief yet informative history of different theories of planetary motion and the subsequent opposition of the church and the religious scientific community.