Have you visited Google's homepage today? 

The site is celebrating the birthday of Nicolaus Copernicus, considered the founder of modern astronomy. The animated homepage graphic — known as a Doodle — is an early heliocentric model of the solar system. Copernicus proposed that sun was the center of the universe, rather than our own planet Earth. 

Doodles are the changes made to the Google logo to celebrate holidays, anniversaries and the lives of famous artists, pioneers and scientists. Entertainment Weekly reports Copernicus’s birthday beat out other notable Feb. 19 achievements — Thomas Edison received a patent for his phonograph in 1878 and Betty Friedan’s The Feminine Mystique was published in 1963. 

Here are some quotes attributed to Copernicus, and you can find more by clicking here. 

Mathematics is written for mathematicians. 

To know that we know what we know, and to know that we do not know what we do not know, that is true knowledge.

For I am not so enamoured of my own opinions that I disregard what others may think of them.

For it is the duty of an astronomer to compose the history of the celestial motions through careful and expert study.

Care to know more about Copernicus? Click here. 

Are you a fan of Google Doodles? Check out the Doodles Museum of past logos and tell us which recent Doodle is your favorite in the comments section below. 

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