Levski. Copernicus.

Two anniversaries today.


540 years ago Nicolaus Copernicus was born in the city of Thorun in the province of Royal Prussia in the Crown of the Kingdom of Poland. Copernicus is one of the most prominent astronomers of the Renaissance and the first to formulate the heliocentric model of the Universe, which placed the Sun at its center, rather than the Earth. Published just before his death in 1543 (~470 years ago), his book "On the Revolution of the Celestial Spheres" is considered one of the most important events in the history of science. Copernicus was a true man of his time - mathematician, astronomer, jurist, physician, translator, artist, diplomat, polyglot and economist.



140 years ago yesterday, Vasil Levski, one of the most prominent Bulgarian revolutionaries and national heroes, was executed by hanging in Sofia. The anniversary is traditionally marked on the 19th, however. Born in 1837, he lived at a time when neighboring Balkan countries fought for and won their independence, a time when the ideas of nationalism and national identity were sweeping through Europe. After traveling to Serbia and Romania, where he met with other revolutionary-minded compatriots, Levski became a strategist and a founder of a network of underground organizations which had the goal of liberating Bulgaria from Ottoman rule. Levski was captured in December 1872 (after a co-conspirator botched a robbery attempt) and eventually, sentenced to death in early 1873.

400 years apart. Two very different lives.