A kopernikuszi turn fél évezred távlatában

Copernicus fundamentally changed our ideas about the relationship between the cosmos and man: without him, we would live in a different world today. But contrary to popular opinion, the Polish scientist did not radically break with his ancient and medieval predecessors: his considerations leading to the exchange of positions of the Sun and the Earth were influenced by the ancient Pythagoreans, and his system is based on the methodology of Greek mathematical astronomy inherited through Ptolemy. The scientific value of his achievement does not come from its revolutionizing everything; rather, it is due to the fact that he created a new cosmic world order by building on tradition and creatively renewing it.
The present volume, which resulted from the fruitful collaboration of natural scientists, historians of science and philosophers, fills a gap in the Hungarian literature dealing with Copernicus. In it, the authors present their own research results in the form of scientific treatises, but in an understandable way, and at the same time convey the latest international scientific developments related to the Copernican revolution to the Hungarian intellectual life. Their studies shed light on entrenched ideas about Copernicus and his followers as well as correcting the widespread, fictitious claims of Arthur Koestler's Sleepwalkers.