Call it the crowning achievement of stargazers. Copernicus, the first astronomer to (openly) suggest that the Earth revolved around the Sun, not the other way around, has been rediscovered after 200 years. Although Copernicus and his theories made for some wild and heated clashes with the Church, he was a priest, and his partial skeleton was found under - you guessed it - a church. The remains of the Father of Astronomy consisted of a some bones and a skull, which showed evidence of a scar and features that Copernicus was known to have. However, the actual confirmation came from DNA samples taken from the remains. This is where it gets a bit bizarre. Scientists matched the DNA from the remains with samples taken from 9 pieces of hair found in one of Copernicus's books. This book was taken from a Polish museum. The match led scientists to conclude that the remain's were, indeed, those of Copernicus, and that he had blue eyes and blond hair.
So no more blond jokes. The Father of Astronomy was blond, too.
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Hey, we would like to point out - there may be the slightest chance that those hairs belonged to some other priest who just left hairs in Copernicus's book! After all, the grave wasn't marked, and the Church wasn't very happy with Copernicus.
ReplyDeleteYay, you guys are posting again!!! I am more fascinated with the amount of information that can be derived from DNA then the fact that he was discovered hahaha :P
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