For it is the duty of an astronomer to compose the history of the celestial motions through careful and expert study.

"After we had named elements after our city and our state we wanted to make a statement with a name that was known to everyone" said Hofmann. At that time there was no reason to accept the Copernican theory except for its mathematical simplicity [by avoiding using the equant in determining planetary positions]. His sister Katharina married the businessman and Toruń city councilor Barthel Gertner and left five children whom Copernicus looked after to the end of his life.

The publication of Copernicus' book De revolutionibus orbium coelestium (On the Revolutions of the Celestial Spheres) just before his death in 1543 is considered a major event in the history of science. Copernicus was born and died in Royal Prussia a region of the Kingdom of Poland since 1466. Copernicus had a doctorate in canon law and though without degrees was a physician polyglot classics scholar translator artist[better source needed] governor diplomat and economist who in 1517 set down a quantity theory of money a principal concept in economics to the present day and formulated a version of Gresham's Law in the year 1519 before Gresham.