A Chance to Touch Astronomical History

It was one of the most revolutionary books in the history of science. And, as it happens, it's about revolutions, of a different kind. And now some lucky college students will have a chance to touch a piece of history.
Nicolaus Copernicus not only changed astronomy forever, he changed humanity's sense of its place in the scheme of things. The Danish astronomer's book "de revolutionibus orbium coelestium" (on the revolution of the celestial spheres), published in 1543, was the first scientific work to remove the Earth from the center of the universe, and to explain the motion of the Earth in an orbit around the sun, along with the other planets, pretty much as we understand it today.
Copernicus knew that the book would be denounced by the church, and was reluctant to have it published even though he was certain of the scientific truth of its claims. It finally appeared in print in the year he died.
The book is considered by many to be the beginning of modern astronomy, and a major milestone in the scientific revolution that took place in the renaissance.
Only a few first edition copies of the book survive, and those are worth upwards of a million dollars. More copies remain of a second edition, published just a few years later, and those are worth about a tenth as much.
Richard French, an astronomy professor at Wellesley College, has been trying to acquire a copy for the college library for years, and recently fulfilled the dream. Thanks to a donation from a Wellesley alum, he was able to land a second-edition copy of the book for Wellesley's collection, and his students will now have a chance to see the epochal work for themselves.
Wellesley had previously acquired first editions of two other, much later revolutionary scientific books:  Isaac Newton's "Principia Mathematica," which laid the foundations of modern physics, and Charles Darwin's "on the Origin of Species," which was the first description of the theory of evolution.
The Boston Globe quotes Wellesley sophomore Katie Judd saying "It's kind of cool to just look at this book, because I did my 10th-grade scientific report on it."
French points out that while Copernicus got most of the theory right, he got one crucial point wrong: He thought the Earth and the other planets moved in circular orbits, rather than the ellipses we now know they follow. He says it's important for students to see how even the greatest innovators in science still make mistakes.
French says the book, which was previously owned by a private collector, will now have a chance to have much greater impact by being part of the college's library, where many students will have a chance to see it for themselves over the coming years.