After reading On The Revolutions Of The Heavenly Spheres, Nicolaus Copernicus's dedication to Pope Paul III, it can be gathered that the life of a scholar was something of a mission, a crusade if you will, to achieve knowledge of the unknown. Like a crusade, scholarly life contained hardships but also achievements and even more importantly and sometimes most strived for, notoriety. Scholarly life in the 16th -century was no simple task, but a task that took much drive and ambition, and after that, a task that underwent much scrutiny from disapproving colleagues as well as outsiders.

It can be gathered that the life of a scholar was something of a mission from this piece of writing by Nicolaus Copernicus because it is stated in his own words the vigorous task that takes place when trying to make a new discovery or propose a new theory. He himself...