Cool discovery.

 

 

WARSAW, Poland - Polish archeologists believe they have located the grave of 16th-century astronomer and solar-system proponent Nicolaus Copernicus in a Polish church, one of the scientists announced Thursday.

 

Copernicus, who died in 1543 at 70 after challenging the ancient belief that the sun revolved around the earth, was buried at the Roman Catholic cathedral in the city of Frombork, 180 miles north of the capital, Warsaw.

 

Jerzy Gassowski, head of an archaeology and anthropology institute in Pultusk, central Poland, said his four-member team found what appears to be the skull of the Polish astronomer and clergyman in August, after a one-year search of tombs under the church floor.

 

"We can be almost 100 percent sure this is Copernicus," Gassowski told The Associated Press by phone after making the announcement during a meeting of scientists.

 

Gassowski said police forensic experts used the skull to reconstruct a face that closely resembled the features — including a broken nose and scar above the left eye — on a Copernicus self-portrait. The experts also determined the skull belonged to a man who died at about age 70.

 

The grave was in bad condition and not all remains were found, Gassowski said, adding that his team will try to find relatives of Copernicus to do more accurate DNA identification.

Doc Brown's dog in 1955 in "Back to the Future"?

Doc Brown's dog in 1955 in "Back to the Future"?

Shoulda seen this coming with the Biff avatar... :rolly

So, I know Galileo got a parden from the Church (10 years ago. . .), but did Copernicus?

i really respect those astrologers, they accelerated science a lot while having to stand their ground against the church...

Um.. that would be astronomers.

 

Slight difference.

So, I know Galileo got a parden from the Church (10 years ago. . .), but did Copernicus?

Did the Church ever really convict Copernicus of anything?

 

When he originally published his planetary motion treatise, he didn't actually push forwards and say "This is how it actually is", he pushed it forwards as not really representing reality, but as being a simpler way to calculate the motions of the heavenly bodies under the control of God...something we could never hope to understand.

 

Galileo was really the guy who came out and said "This is actually how it is".

Um.. that would be astronomers.

 

Slight difference.

Yup, I'd say so.

 

And Copernicus, Galileo. . . HACKS!!

 

Now, Tyco Brahe. . . there was an astronomer! Not only did his work form the basis of Kepler's laws of planetary motion. He also lived in a castle on a private island until he fell out of favor with the king of Denmark, had a silver nose because he lost the tip of his real nose in a duel. Most impressive, he died when his bladder exploded because he was too polite to leave the table at a Royal dinner partry to go urinate.

 

Take that, Copernicus!

Tyco also spent a significant portion of his life lying on his back looking up.

Edited November 4, 200520 yr by Balta1701

Tyco also spent a significant portion of his life lying on his back looking up.

He did 20 years of astronomical observations using nothing but a sextant and a compass as well.