There is no evidence that he believed the heliocentric theory but his motivation in putting the theory forward was to provide a model of circles and epicycles that provided a simpler model for predicting the planets' positions than the old Ptolemaic theory. It worked quite well and was accepted by the church as a valuable teaching aid, while they retained their theological beliefs about the Earth being in fact at the centre.
Chat with our AI personalities
Nicolaus Copernicus
the first person to formulate a comprehensive heliocentric cosmology
anex: developing a heliocentric theory
Nicolaus Copernicus
what did nicolaus Copernicus obstacles