Copernicus Found
Published on Nov 21, 2008 at 2:17 pm.
1 Comment.
Filed under astronomers.
Nicolaus Copernicus is famous in astronomy. His work is mentioned in nearly every introductory astronomy class that is taught. Incorrectly, he is sometimes attributed with originating the theory that the Earth and planets revolve around the Sun (heliocentric model) rather than the Sun and planets revolving around the Earth (geocentric model). In actuality, this idea can be traced all the way back to Aristarchus of Samos, an ancient Greek astronomer. Over the centuries, various others had postulated versions of the heliocentric model. But, Copernicus gave the model a solid scientific and mathematical footing. His work also was the inspiration for many European astronomers after him. Thus, we can justifiably say that he played a pivotal role in the development of modern astronomy.
Copernicus, a very devout man, worked as a church canon. This was during the era when the Church was making a concerted effort to make measurements of the heavens and motions of the celestial bodies in an attempt to correct the calendar. It brought renewed interest into the heavens and the workings of the celestial bodies moving around in the heavens. It was in this climate that Copernicus developed the basis of his heliocentric model. He no doubt knew of the ideas that had been proposed before. I have read that, in particular, he may have read the works of Aristarchus. But, he did not just sit around and accept the work of others without checking on how well those models worked. His last work, done at the end of his life, was a very difficult to read and mathematical treatment of the heliocentric model. In fact, it was technical enough that few people read it outside of professionals. That work, though, served as a basis for astronomical discourse for years to come and was an inspiration to Galileo a half century later.
But, there were other forces at work in Copernicus’ time. Copernicus also lived near the beginning of the Protestant Reformation. Though Copernicus was in no way attempting to challenge Church authority, the Catholic Church was in the midst of one of the biggest struggles and challenges in its history. Defenders of the Church were often quite zealous, even over zealous. They took any challenge to anything taught by the Church or in schools run by the Church as a challenge to the Church, even if those things were secular in nature. Copernicus did not challenge any religious teachings, nor did he wish to do so. Still, he was challenging some of the things taught in the schools, so his work was frequently taken as a challenge to the Church itself. In fact, as his last work was being published, the publisher got so concerned that the work may be taken as a challenge to the church that he inserted an introductory page advising readers that the work was to be taken as a mathematical tool useful for computing planetary positions rather than as a statement of fact. Copernicus, himself, when he died was buried in an unmarked grave. For centuries, rumors were that Copernicus had been buried at Frombork Cathedral. But, was he buried in the cathedral, or was he buried on the cathedral grounds? Was he even there? Over the years, there have been several unsuccessful searches.
Now, however, there is word that Copernicus’ remains have been found. A team of archaeologists led by Professor Jerzy Gassowski claims to have found Copernicus (or at least what’s left of him). The grave, which was badly damaged, was found beneath the floor tiles of the Frombork cathedral, near a side altar. I don’t know what condition Copernicus’ remains were in, but they were probably not in great shape if the grave was badly damaged. However, the skull and other bones were recovered, and DNA extracted from teeth in the skull matches DNA from hairs found in a book known to belong to Copernicus. The media reports hail this as positive identification of the body as that of Copernicus; however, all it really does is positively identify the body as belonging to a man who once handled a book that Copernicus is known to have handled. But, modern forensic science allows us today to do a pretty good reconstruction of facial features from a skull. These techniques were also used on the skull found by Gassowski’s team, and the results are shown in the image at the top of this post. This may be the face of the man that Gassowski found. There are always some guesses and inaccuracies in facial reconstructions, such as eye color, hair color, etc, but these reconstructions give us a general idea of what someone looked like. It is a man of about 70 years of age, about as old as Copernicus when he died. And, it bears a very striking resemblance to portraits painted of Copernicus when he was alive. These findings suggest that the remains that Gassowski and his team of archaeologists found probably do belong to Copernicus. Thus, we can say that Copernicus has been found!
-Astroprof
Image Credit: Dariusz Zajdel, Kronenberg Foundation
Daniel Zajdel on July 9, 2010 at 12:24 pm: 1
My name is Daniel Zajdel.
I live in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
and will be in Poland in August.
I have been trying to find relatives
of my grandparents who left
Poland about 105 years ago.
I was wondering if someone could
kindly give me the email address
of Dariusz Zajdel — want to see
if we are related.
Thank you.