** watch future Linda Hall Library lectures live at new.livestream.com/lindahall ** April 28, 2016, in the Linda Hall Library Auditorium About the lecture: We remember Nicholas Copernicus primarily as the first modern astronomer to propose that the Earth does not rest in the center of the universe but rather moves in a high-speed orbit around the Sun. Most of his professional life, however, was spent not in astronomy but in working as a church government official who oversaw political negotiations, property and boundary disputes, and even a short military campaign during an era of extraordinary political and social upheaval. This talk explores some of these other features of Copernicus’s time, including the colorful cast of characters who intersected with his life and work. What can these more Earth-bound aspects of his biography tell us about the context of how he came to revolutionize our understanding of the heavens? About the speaker: Karl Galle is a historian of science specializing in the early history of astronomy, cartography, and other mathematical arts. From October 2015 to June 2016, Dr. Galle is in residence at the Linda Hall Library as a Research Fellow. From 2011 to 2015 he was a visiting professor at the American University in Cairo, and before that he served as a science and technology policy fellow with the State Department and a foreign service officer with the U.S. Agency for International Development. He holds a Ph.D. in the history and philosophy of science from the University of London and is currently working on a biography of the life and times of Nicholas Copernicus. Video produced by The VideoWorks of Roeland Park, Kansas.

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