Where is copernicus buried

Moreover, the skull belonged to a man aged around 70 — Copernicus's age when he died in In addition, Swedish genetics expert Marie Allen found that DNA from a tooth and femur bone matched that taken from two hairs retrieved from a book that the 16th-century Polish astronomer owned, which is kept at a library of Sweden's Uppsala University where Allen works. 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.

The bones found by Gassowski were located under floor tiles near one of the altars. Gassowski's team started his search in , on request from regional Catholic bishop, Jacek Jezierski. Copernicus is believed to have come up with his main idea of the Sun at the center of the universe between and , and during those years wrote a manuscript commonly known as Commentariolus Little Commentary.

The tombstone is decorated with a model of the solar system, a golden sun encircled by six of the planets. A reconstruction made by forensic police based on the skull showed a broken nose and other features that resemble a self-portrait of Copernicus. In a later stage of the investigation, DNA from teeth and bones matched that from hairs found in one of his books, leading the scientists to conclude with great probability that they had found Copernicus. In recent weeks, a casket holding those remains has lain in state in Olsztyn, and on Friday they were toured around the region to towns linked to his life.

The pageantry comes 18 years after the Vatican rehabilitated the Italian astronomer Galileo Galilei, who was persecuted in the Inquisition for carrying the Copernican Revolution forward. Local Search Site Search. Home Delivery. By Vanessa Gera. Our guest bloggers are not employed or directed by the Monitor and the views expressed are the bloggers' own, as is responsibility for the content of their blogs. To contact us about a blogger, click here. Your subscription to The Christian Science Monitor has expired.

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Monitor Movie Guide. Monitor Daily. Photos of the Week. Students hold their school's banner with a portrait of Copernicus in front of the coffin with the remains of astronomer Nicolaus Copernicus, in the cathedral in Frombork, northern Poland, Saturday.