Swedish DNA expert Marie Allen talks at a news conference in Warsaw, Poland to announce the identification of remains. O_O
"The Sun, not the Earth... is the center of the universe! " those were the words he uttered when the questions about astronomy were raised centuries ago. This is what we all learned in Science Class when we were in Elementary, High School and in College... His theories are still taught until today because it led us to what information we have now. I got news however, that Nicolaus Copernicus remains and his grave was found!
Just this Thursday, they have identified the remains of Nicolaus Copernicus by comparing DNA from this skeleton and hair that was retrieved from one of his 16th-century astronomer's books. This could put an end to the centuries old speculation about the exact resting spot of Copernicus, a priest and astronomer. He is believed to have come up with the main idea that the Sun is at the center of the universe between 1508 and 1514, and during those years wrote a manuscript commonly called as Commentariolus (Little Commentary).
The reconstruction of the remains shows a broken nose and other features that exactly resembles a self-portrait of Copernicus, and the skull bears a cut mark above the left eye that corresponds with a scar shown in the painting (see image above). "We collected four hairs and two of them are from the same individual as the bones," Allen Gassowski said. Sheis the head of the Archaeology and Anthropology Institute in Pultusk, in central Poland, and Allen works at the Rudbeck Laboratory of the Genetics and Pathology Department of Uppsala University. Copernicus was known to have been buried in the 14th-century Frombork Cathedral where he served as a canon, but his grave was not marked. Gassowski's team started his search in 2004, on request from regional Catholic bishop, Jacek Jezierski. The bones found by Gassowski were located under floor tiles near one of the side altars. I just hope his ghost doesn't mind. "In the two years of work, under extremely difficult conditions amid thousands of visitors and usiseros hehe, with earth shifting under the heavy pounding of the organ music we managed to locate the grave, which was badly damaged," Allen Gassowski said. They also found that the skull belonged to a man aged around 70 which was Copernicus's age when he died in 1543.
Just this Thursday, they have identified the remains of Nicolaus Copernicus by comparing DNA from this skeleton and hair that was retrieved from one of his 16th-century astronomer's books. This could put an end to the centuries old speculation about the exact resting spot of Copernicus, a priest and astronomer. He is believed to have come up with the main idea that the Sun is at the center of the universe between 1508 and 1514, and during those years wrote a manuscript commonly called as Commentariolus (Little Commentary).
The reconstruction of the remains shows a broken nose and other features that exactly resembles a self-portrait of Copernicus, and the skull bears a cut mark above the left eye that corresponds with a scar shown in the painting (see image above). "We collected four hairs and two of them are from the same individual as the bones," Allen Gassowski said. Sheis the head of the Archaeology and Anthropology Institute in Pultusk, in central Poland, and Allen works at the Rudbeck Laboratory of the Genetics and Pathology Department of Uppsala University. Copernicus was known to have been buried in the 14th-century Frombork Cathedral where he served as a canon, but his grave was not marked. Gassowski's team started his search in 2004, on request from regional Catholic bishop, Jacek Jezierski. The bones found by Gassowski were located under floor tiles near one of the side altars. I just hope his ghost doesn't mind. "In the two years of work, under extremely difficult conditions amid thousands of visitors and usiseros hehe, with earth shifting under the heavy pounding of the organ music we managed to locate the grave, which was badly damaged," Allen Gassowski said. They also found that the skull belonged to a man aged around 70 which was Copernicus's age when he died in 1543.
What a find huh?! ^_^
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