<P> Even before the 1543 publication of De revolutionibus, rumors circulated about its central theses . Martin Luther is quoted as saying in 1539: </P> <P> People gave ear to an upstart astrologer who strove to show that the earth revolves, not the heavens or the firmament, the sun and the moon...This fool wishes to reverse the entire science of astronomy; but sacred Scripture tells us (Joshua 10: 13) that Joshua commanded the sun to stand still, and not the earth . </P> <P> When the book was finally published, demand was low, with an initial print run of 400 failing to sell out . Copernicus had made the book extremely technical, unreadable to all but the most advanced astronomers of the day, allowing it to disseminate into their ranks before stirring great controversy . And, like Osiander, contemporary mathematicians and astronomers encouraged its audience to view it as a useful mathematical fiction with no physical reality, thereby somewhat shielding it from accusations of blasphemy . </P> <P> Among some astronomers, the book "at once took its place as a worthy successor to the Almagest of Ptolemy, which had hitherto been the Alpha and Omega of astronomers". Erasmus Reinhold hailed the work in 1542 and by 1551 had developed the Prutenic Tables ("Prussian Tables"; Latin: Tabulae prutenicae; German: Preußische Tafeln) using Copernicus' methods . The Prutenic Tables, published in 1551, were used as a basis for the calendar reform instituted in 1582 by Pope Gregory XIII . They were also used by sailors and maritime explorers, whose 15th - century predecessors had used Regiomontanus' Table of the Stars . In England, Robert Recorde, John Dee, Thomas Digges and William Gilbert were among those who adopted his position; in Germany, Christian Wurstisen, Christoph Rothmann and Michael Mästlin, the teacher of Johannes Kepler; in Italy, Giambattista Benedetti and Giordano Bruno whilst Franciscus Patricius accepted the rotation of the earth . In Spain, rules published in 1561 for the curriculum of the University of Salamanca gave students the choice between studying Ptolemy or Copernicus . One of those students, Diego de Zúñiga, published an acceptance of Copernican theory in 1584 . </P>

Nicholas copernicus on the revolutions of heavenly bodies