To suggest that the earth moved was ludicrous. Copernicus was a clergyman and knew his theory not only went against common sense but also challenged the church's view of reality. So, for thirty years, he kept his ideas to himself. Only as he neared death, and felt he did not want to take this important knowledge with him to the grave, did Copernicus finally decide to publish. The first copy of his little book, On the Revolutions of the Celestial Spheres , arrived in his hands on the day he died.
Every truth passes through three stages before it is recognized.
In the first, it is ridiculed. In the second, it is opposed. In the third, it is regarded as self-evident. Arthur Schopenhauer Copernicus's fears of repression turned out to be well founded. The Vatican immediately placed his work on the papal index of forbidden books.