China holds exhibition commemorating Nicolaus Copernicus

A copy of "De revolutionibus orbium coelestium" (On the Revolutions of the Celestial Spheres), which was published in 1566, and a limited replica of Nicolaus Copernicus' manuscripts are being displayed at an exhibition in Beijing. (Xinhua/Wen Jinghua)

BEIJING, Nov. 18 (Xinhua) -- An exhibition commemorating the 550th anniversary of the birth of Nicolaus Copernicus has kicked off in Beijing since Thursday.

One of the highlights of the exhibition at the China Science and Technology Museum is a copy of "De revolutionibus orbium coelestium" (On the Revolutions of the Celestial Spheres), which was published in 1566.

Limited replicas of some of Copernicus' manuscripts are also being displayed at the exhibition, which is scheduled to be open to the public until the end of this year.

The exhibition is designed to allow visitors to have immersive and interactive experience when reviewing Copernicus' life story and his heliocentric theory, according to the museum.

Nicolaus Copernicus was a Polish Renaissance mathematician and astronomer who formulated a model of the universe that places the Sun rather than the Earth at its center. He was born in 1473 and died in 1543. ■