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Secondary sourceDocument1908

The Law of Oresme, Copernicus, and Gresham

Thomas Willing Balch · 1908

A 1908 paper tracing the history of a monetary principle, connecting Copernicus's economic ideas to later economists.

A later study linking Copernicus's monetary ideas to a broader tradition of economic thought.

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The Law of Oresme, Copernicus, and GreshamPDF · 40 pages

About this source

What it is

This is a paper by Thomas Willing Balch, read before the American Philosophical Society on 23 April 1908. It traces a monetary law across three thinkers: the medieval scholar Nicolas Oresme, Nicolaus Copernicus, and the Elizabethan financier Sir Thomas Gresham.

Why it matters

The paper shows that Copernicus's observations about money and coinage were part of a longer tradition of economic thought, later associated with the famous principle now known as Gresham's Law. It demonstrates how Copernicus's ideas were studied and connected to other thinkers long after his death.

Look closer

  • Why might a modern economist look back at writers from such different centuries and countries?
  • What does it suggest about Copernicus that his economic ideas are still discussed centuries later?
  • What sources did the author use to write this paper, and how reliable might they be?

This document is part of the curated material that grounds the AI version of Nicolaus Copernicus on Humy.ai — when students ask about related events, the AI can quote it and cite it.

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