We want to restore Copernicus to its rightful place in the world,” said the Secretary General of the Copernican Academy, Prof. Dr. Krzysztof Górski, at the opening ceremony of the College of Legal Sciences at the Nicolaus Copernicus University in Lublin.

Opening of the College of Legal Studies at the Nicolaus Copernicus University was held on 13 September at the premises of the Regional Branch of the National Bank of Poland in Lublin. Speaking at the ceremony, the Secretary General of the AK stressed the importance of the initiative to establish the College and the contribution of the Minister of Education and Science, Przemyslaw Chernak, to the development of the Copernicus Academy and the Nicolaus Copernicus High School.

“Copernicus is our great patron”.

At the same time, as Prof. Górski pointed out, the patronage of Nicolaus Copernicus is a challenge for the representatives of the Academy to act in commemoration of this outstanding Polish scientist and a commitment to stick to the principles of work ethics set by the researcher.

– Copernicus is our great patron saint. He was born 550 years ago and achieved immortality, leaving a phenomenal mark on the culture of mankind. My personal feeling is that, as a nation, we have not yet risen to the challenge of discovering what a diamond he was and he is still underexplored,” explained the AK General Secretary.

– It seems that in astronomy we have it easy, everyone says that Copernicus was an astronomer – ‘he stopped the Sun, moved the Earth’ – and we already have the matter settled. But in fact, in astronomy, the so-called Copernican principle is the supreme philosophical principle that allows us to systematise our knowledge of the entire Universe,” the AK General Secretary continued, referring to his professional work.

Nicolaus Copernicus and Leonardo da Vinci

– The thoughts that went through Copernicus’ head and were put down on paper are immortal. They are still the determinant of how we think about areas of the Universe that he did not even think about, that he could not have imagined. The power of these thoughts has outlived him and his time, and this is how I would like to see aspirationally some of our tasks at the Nicolaus Copernicus Academy and Graduate School. To pay Copernicus this proper homage and to treat the Academy – in accordance with the ideas of its founders – as a living monument to this figure,” added Prof. Górski, comparing the Polish scientist’s achievements to those of Leonardo da Vinci.

– We should restore Copernicus to his rightful place in global terms – because, in my opinion, he still does not have it. In short, I am talking about a comparison of the type Nicolaus Copernicus – Leonardo da Vinci – pointed out the Secretary General of the AK.

– For everyone in the world, Leonardo da Vinci is a symbol of the Renaissance. He was a visionary, he is said to have been an inventor, although practically none of the machines he drew worked, and, like Copernicus, he did not know physics. Newtonian ideas did not yet exist at that time. But he was an artist, and he left those dozen or so paintings that everyone cherishes so much,” stressed Prof. Górski, noting that the Polish researcher dealt with a broader spectrum of things than da Vinci. – And this is what the Copernicus Academy is trying to reflect,” he explained.

– ‘In our assumptions, through the operation of these five chambers and five colleges in which the Nicolaus Copernicus University will educate doctoral students, we want to make the dialogue and interaction between these fields a living issue,’ Professor Górski pointed out.

As the Secretary General of the AK acknowledged at the same time, the tasks imposed on the Academy involve a great deal of work, but they are gradually being realised. – Today we are opening our third college – the College of Legal Studies of the Nicolaus Copernicus University, behind us is the opening of the College of Philosophy and Theology in Cracow and College of Economic Sciences and Management in Warsaw – said Prof. Górski, announcing the inauguration of the Colleges of Medicine, Astronomy and Mathematical and Natural Sciences in the coming weeks.