Nicolaus Copernicus
Nicolaus Copernicus (1473-1543) is well-known for defending the view that the earth and other planets go around the sun. Copernicus' theory could explain various phenomena difficult to explain previously, such as the retrograde movement of the planets, which had been described as the "wanderers."
Published in Nuremberg in 1543, De Revolutionibus was Nicolaus Copernicus' mature work. In the words of the philosopher of science Thomas Kuhn, the book "inaugurates the upheaval in astronomical and cosmological thought that we call the Copernican Revolution."
Copernicus revolutionized science by denying that the earth was at the center of the universe or of the planetary system. The sun now had primacy of place. This "heliocentric hypothesis" transformed not only astronomy, but also Western culture's longstanding anthropocentric self-understanding.
The book has a preface by Osiander suggesting that Copernicus' theory did not claim to depict accurately the universe, merely that it facilitated astronomical calculations. The preface's emphasis on calculation may have helped the book gain attention and may have had something to do with the book's not being condemned immediately.