How did the discoveries of copernicus and other astronomers affect the way people viewed the universe?

Copernicus completely changed people's minds in the way they perceived the world and the planet in general. He shifted away Ptolemaic model of the heavens, and developed his own theory of  the heliocentric model in which the Sun is placed at the center of the Solar System. As well as this person, most of the talented scientists of renaissance brought into people's life something new and, in some measure to those who was not prepared for big changes, shocking things.

Political forces often influence public opinion.