His Polish name was Mikolaj Kopernigk but, as was the fashion of that time, it was renamed in Latin to Nicolaus Copernicus. He was born in Torun on 19 February 1473, the youngest of four children of a wealthy merchant and his rich wife. The family had a big house in town, but they also had a summer residence with vineyards in the countryside.

His father died when Nicolaus was ten years old. His uncle, a high priest who would later become bishop, became guardian of the four children. He later helped Nicolaus with his studies and gave him a job.
As a young man, Nicolaus had travelled around in Europe. He studied mathematics and astrology at Cracow University in Poland, starting one year before Columbus discovered America. At 22, he visited several universities in Germany and then went to Italy to study law and medicine in Bologna, Padua and Ferrara.

It was in Bologna where Copernicus made his first observations of the skies. He soon discovered that something was wrong in the books of the ancient Greek astronomers. This stimulated him to think of better ways to explain the movements of the stars and planets across the sky.

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