Leopold Prowe

Leopold Friedrich Prowe (1821 - 1887) was a German historian and gymnasium instructor, born as the son of a town councillor of Thorn (Toruń) in West Prussia, the town where Nicolaus Copernicus was born in 1473. Prowe compiled a comprehensive German language biography of Copernicus, titled "Nicolaus Coppernicus", according to the spelling often used by the astronomer.

Prowe studied in Leipzig and then returned home to become a teacher at the gymnasium of Thorn. A local Coppernicus society, "Coppernicus-Verein für Wissenschaft und Kunst zu Thorn", had been founded with the intention to erect a monument, which was created by Friedrich Tieck of Berlin, and erected posthumously in 1853. It was titled "Nicolaus Copernicus Thorunensis, terrae motor, solis caelique stator" (Nicolaus Copernicus of Thorn, mover of the earth, stopper of the sun and the heavens). As a member of the "Coppernicus-Verein", Prowe researched the local archives of Copernicus' birthplace, as well as those of other towns in Prussia where the astronomer had worked and lived.

His biography of the astronomer is the most comprehensive in German, if not in any language. It is considered the best since the one compiled by Pierre Gassendi (1592 – 1655). Prowe also traveled abroad, e. g. to the places in Italy where Copernicus had studied - or not. Carlo Malagola, who had discovered that according to the note "Dominus Nicolaus Kopperlingk de Thorn - IX grossetos" [Marian Biskup Regesta Copernicana (calendar of Copernicus' Papers), 1973,
Ossolineum [http://books.google.com/books?id=3gkLAAAAMAAJ&dq=Kopperlingk&q=Kopperlingk&pgis=1#search] ] [Carlo Malagola: Della vita e delle opere di Antonio Urceo detto Codro: studi e ricerche,1878, [http://books.google.com/books?id=SzQGAAAAQAAJ&dq=author%3A%22Carlo+Malagola%22+Kopperlingk&q=Kopperlingk&pgis=1#search] [http://books.google.com/books?id=SzQGAAAAQAAJ&dq=author%3A%22Carlo+Malagola%22+Kopperlingk&q=germanorum&pgis=1#search] ] [Arthur Koestler, The Sleepwalkers, 1959 [http://books.google.com/books?id=skMBAAAAMAAJ&dq=papadopoli+padua+copernicus&q=polish+nation&pgis=1#search] ] [Ernst Ludwig Wilhelm Maximilian Curtze: Nicolaus Coppernicus: Eine biographische Skizze, 1899 [http://books.google.com/books?id=usEKAAAAIAAJ&dq=papadopoli+F%C3%A4lschung+copernicus&q=kopperlingk&pgis=1#search] ] the young Prussian had enrolled in 1496 for 9 Groschen in the "Acta nationis Germanorum" [Der Aufenthalt des Coppernicus in Bologna, By Carlo Malagola, 1880] [Carlo Malagola: I libri della Nazione tedesca presso lo Studio bolognese, note storico ... 1884 [http://books.google.com/books?q=author%3A%22Carlo+Malagola%22+%22Nazione+tedesca%22+Copernico&btnG=Search+Books] ] at Bologna, revealed that the librarian Nicolò Comneno Papadopoli in Padua had falsely claimed in 1726 that he had seen an entry of Copernicus in records of a "Polish nation" at the university. In the century that had passed since, this claim had been widely published and "found a place in all subsequent biographies of Copernicus, but the decorative particulars added by the historian of the Patavian university have been shown to be wholly incorrect" ["The fact was asserted by Papadopoli in 1726, and found a place in all subsequent biographies of Copernicus ; but the decorative particulars added by the historian of the Patavian university having having been shown wholly incorrect, it seemed unreasonable to rely on his discredited authority for the fundamental circumstance." - The Edinburgh Review: Or Critical Journal, By Sydney Smith et. al., Published 1883, A. and C. Black, [http://books.google.com/books?id=J64SGcKqdxUC&dq=Patavian+university+have+been+shown&q=Patavian+university+have+been+shown&pgis=1#search] ] and "utterly baseless." ["As for the assertion that Copernicus was registered as a Pole at Padua, that was investigated, at the instance of Prince Boncompagni, by Favaro, and found utterly baseless. On the other hand, Carlo Malagola, in his admirable work on Urceo Codro showed that "Niccolo Kopperlingk di Thorn" had registered as a law student at Bologna in the album of the "Nazione Alemanna". This may not prove much, but it is, at least, not an invention." - Charles Sanders Peirce, Kenneth Laine Ketner, James E. Cook: Contributions to the Nation, Published 1982Texas Tech University Press, 202 pages ISBN 089672154X (ISBN 0-89672-069-1 paper ISBN 0-89672-070-5 hardbound) [http://books.google.com/books?id=scUYAAAAIAAJ&q=Was+Copernicus+a+German&pgis=1#search] ]

In 1934, an asteroid was named 1322 Coppernicus according to the spelling preferred by Prowe. For the 400th anniversary of his death, German government picked the spelling Kopernikus as standard, though, which since remains as the common spelling in German.

Since the 1970s, the "Nicolaus Copernicus Gesamtausgabe" (complete edition) expands on Prowe's work. It is published in several volumes by Akademie Verlag in Berlin.

External links

* Works by Prowe at Google Books [http://books.google.com/books?q=author%3A%22Leopold+Friedrich+Prowe%22&btnG=Search+Books]
* [http://books.google.com/books?id=CtILAAAAYAAJ&pg=RA2-PA90&dq=leopold+prowe+copernicus+verein#PRA2-PA89,M1 Gedächtnisrede auf Professor Leopold Prowe 1887, M. Curtze]
* On the Malagola/Papadopoli case [http://books.google.com/books?id=B-JNHCKKsDMC&dq=papadopoli+F%C3%A4lschung+copernicus&q=papadopoli+&pgis=1#search] [http://books.google.com/books?id=skMBAAAAMAAJ&dq=papadopoli+padua+copernicus&q=papadopoli+padua&pgis=1#search] [http://books.google.com/books?id=J64SGcKqdxUC&dq=papadopoli+padua+copernicus&q=papadopoli&pgis=1#search] [http://books.google.com/books?source=web&id=HtM4AAAAIAAJ&dq=papadopoli+copernicus&q=malagola+&pgis=1#search ] [http://books.google.com/books?id=usEKAAAAIAAJ&dq=papadopoli+F%C3%A4lschung+copernicus&q=malagola&pgis=1#search]
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