Copernicus

In 1473,Nicolaus Copernicus was born in Torún. During his formative years, Copernicus studied in Kraków, Bologna, Padua and Ferrara – this varied education gave him a broad platform to work from for the future. His primary occupation, as a cleric, provided him the opportunity to contemplate the writings of Ptolemy – which arguably laid the foundation for his own works in later life.

It’s fair to say that sundials were no longer new news by the time Copernicus got into the game in 1514, when he provided a collection of his colleagues with the Commentariolus – a brief outline of his heliocentric hypothesis of the solar system. However, the impact of Copernicus’ theories on everything from the study of astronomy to common activities like telling the time was huge.

Understanding Copernican Theory

The Commentariolus is a solid snapshot of the thundering six-volume De Revolutionibus Orbium Coelestium, or On the Revolutions of the Celestial Spheres, that he went on to publish in 1543. The publication of De Revolutionibus, in the eyes of most historians and scientists, marks the start of the scientific revolution.

In brief, the four key points of Copernicus’ leading theory are:

• The sun is the centre of the universe
• The planets rotate around the sun in uniform, circular paths
• The earth has three essential movements – rotation, revolution and the tilting of its axis
• The earth is comparatively close to the sun

The impact of Copernicus' theory is heralded by most as the dawn of the scientific revolution – with good reason. Few, if any, have had a similar level of sway over the beliefs and thinking that shape our daily lives. In Copernican theory, the world was no longer the heart of the universe – and it is this essential truth that changed the way sundials, astrolabes and the like were engineered forevermore.

Copernican Sundials

Before Copernicus, the sundial wasn’t particularly reliable. Though the majority of people using such instruments to tell the time had worked out that pointing the gnomon of the sundial toward the North Star would get the best results, a general lack of acceptance that the earth rotates around the sun meant no one was quite sure why.

As the Renaissance built up momentum, sundials became increasingly popular – as a combination of art and science, the devices typified the period. Thanks to Copernicus, that increase in popularity lead to greater reliability. Though it isn’t until Newton that we see a true numeric justification for the evenly-spaced hours and the resulting improvement in time-telling, the Copernican theory put in place a number of key notions that made the sundial more invaluable than ever before.

Today’s sundials reflect these subtle changes – a repositioning of the sun as the heart of the solar system would eventually make sundial construction a more exact science. While the mass production methods employed by many garden sundial makers mean a sundial isn’t always as accurate as it could be, careful craftsmanship and attention to detail make the majority of sundials available for use in home or business settings reliable, flexible centrepieces.