Originally Posted by Serpens

Hello!
I think everyone of you know who Copernicus (Kopernik) was. I am writing here because one thing associated to him has shocked me.
I was reading a Polish edition of 'Scientific American' when my mother turned the TV on. I heard the name 'Copernicus' and it immediately got my attention. It turned out that our National Astronomy Abuser, the Public TV, was making a survey about Copernicus. They asked a quick question about who he was and what did he discover. I didn't hear the whole survey, but three answers were amazing:
"Copernicus discovered America"
"He created the astronomy. He was in space"
"Copernicus was an astronaut".
Thanks God, I don't remember more. I was simply shocked when I heard those results.

Now, Copernicus was our Polish national hero. We all should now even the basic things about him. A typical Polish citizen may not know, for example, about Kepler or Flamsteed, but, let me state it again, Copernicus is our national hero, comparable even to Neil Armstrong. And yet, some of us still spout such a nonsense about him. What if those three answers are representative to our nation?
What kind of nation are we?