Astronomy has long contributed to mathematics in fact at one time the name "mathematician" meant an astronomer. Prominent among the astronomers who stimulated mathematics was Nicolas Copernicus of Poland He was educated at the University of Cracow and studied law medicine and astronomy at Padua and Bologna. His theory of the Universe was completed in 1530 but was not published until the year of his death in 1543 Copernicus work necessitated the improvement of trigonometry and Copernicus himself contributed a treatise on the subject