Another father....

Nicolaus Copernicus was the "father of astronomy" (though he was a celibate), which means he was more than a dabbler in astrology as well. He was a also canon of the church, a minor nobleman, and a physician (yay!). Modest and dedicated, he spent his entire adult life writing a book that would not be published until literally the moment of his death. But that book, which supported and advanced the heliocentric theory of what was then the universe (our solar system) with scientific rigor, started a movement that has since some to be known, somewhat erroneously, as "the first scientific revolution". But by basing his theory on all the work that had gone before and enhanced by his own exhaustive observations, he made a lasting contribution by defining in real terms what we now know as "the scientific method". To my mind, this was his real genius, beyond his original thinking about the cosmos. The image at right is crafted from his skull and modern forensic techniques. Like most great men, he had a "nose with character"!