If Luther is the definitive Lutheran theologian, and Melanchthon is the definitive Lutheran scholar, and Cranach is the definitive Lutheran artist, and Bach is the definitive Lutheran musician, then Rheticus is the definitive Lutheran scientist.
A colleague of Luther and Melanchthon at the University of Wittenberg, Rheticus was the only pupil of Copernicus. He was the one who published Copernicus’s papers that promoted the revolutionary notion that the earth was not the center of the universe. Rheticus defended this position, which turned out to be true. Just as Luther overthrew human-centered theology, Rheticus overthrew human-centered science.
But he never gets any press, and hardly anybody has ever heard of him. Imagine my surprise to be surfing on the internet while my wife was watching a DVR of Warehouse 13
Here is what he really looked like:
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