The Faculty of Chemistry at the Universidad de Concepción has the only copy in South America of Copernicus’s book “De revolutionibus orbium coelestium”. In this book, Copernicus laid out his heliocentric model for the Universe.

The Astronomy Department was fortunate enough to receive the book for a one-day loan and I spent a few minutes flipping through it. It was awesome to be able to see and touch such an important historical book. Judging by the letter on the inside cover, this book was published prior to 1603.

Image for De revolutionibus orbium coelestium – Inside Cover

Over the course of opening to random pages, I had the good fortune to open to the page with a drawing of the heliocentric model, showing the Sun at the center, with the known planets (only out to Saturn) orbiting:

Image for De revolutionibus orbium coelestium – Solar System
Image for De revolutionibus orbium coelestium – Table

I was also amused to find several places where tree leaves were stuck between pages. My understanding is that these leaves were likely used as bookmarks, though I cannot guess as to when in the past 400 years they were inserted.