Fr. Copernicus' Remains, Grave Found
WARSAW, Poland -- Researchers said Thursday they have identified the remains of Nicolaus Copernicus by comparing DNA from a skeleton and hair retrieved from one of the 16th-century astronomer's books. The findings could put an end to centuries of speculation about the exact resting spot of Copernicus, a priest and astronomer whose theories identified the Sun, not the Earth, as the center of the universe.
Polish archaeologist Jerzy Gassowski told a news conference that forensic facial reconstruction of the skull, missing the lower jaw, his team found in 2005 buried in a Roman Catholic Cathedral in Frombork, Poland, bears striking resemblance to existing portraits of Copernicus.
The reconstruction shows a broken nose and other features that resemble 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.
Moreover, the skull belonged to a man aged around 70 -- Copernicus's age when he died in 1543.
"In our opinion, our work led us to the discovery of Copernicus's remains but a grain of doubt remained," Gassowski said.
So, in the next stage, Swedish genetics expert Marie Allen analyzed DNA from a vertebrae, a tooth and femur bone and matched and compared it to 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.
"We collected four hairs and two of them are from the same individual as the bones," Allen said.
They also have a portrait and a reconstruction shown in the article.
Known as 
From the article:
"His final thesis was only published, however, in the year of his death. His ideas challenged the Bible, the church and past theories, and they had important consequences for future thinkers, including Galileo, Descartes and Newton."
from the Catholic Encyclopedia:
"Opposition was first raised against the Copernican system by Protestant theologians for Biblical reasons and strange to say it has continued, at least sporadically, to our own days. A list of many of their Pamphlets is enumerated by Beckmann. On the Catholic side opposition only commenced seventy-three years later, when it was occasioned by Galileo. On 5 March, 1616, the work of Copernicus was forbidden by the Congregation of the Index "until corrected", and in 1620 these corrections were indicated. Nine sentences, by which the heliocentric system was represented as certain, had to be either omitted or changed. This done, the reading of the book was allowed."
Please note the last sentence. Galileo presented his theory as fact, even though he couldn't prove it. The one proof he did offer, that the sun caused the daily tides, was wrong. Galileo's proof would have produced 1 tide per day.
That is great to refer to him as "Father Copernicus."
The morons who hate the Church only know about "Galileo'", not about his house arrest and confinement to a Palace. Nor do they know about other Catholic scientists and thinkers of history.
The CG rendering of what Copernicus looked like raises a question I've always had:
How accurate are those kidnapped children age-progression pictures. Has anyone ever given these people a picture of a known person at an early age, had them do age-progression and then compared their results to the real person?
Same goes for the skull of someone we know the looks of.
I'd be curious to see how accurate they are. It could really "bring to life" some great historical figures. I think it's why old death masks intrigue me.
Morbid questions over.
Thanks for posting this. We went to Frombork back in 2004 and I remember them saying they thought he was buried there. Nice brick Cathedral atop a hill overlooking the town and an inlet of the Baltic.
I'm with Ray from MN -- "Father Copernicus" is a pretty cool thing to read. I didn't even know that he was a priest. That's the sort of thing they don't teach you in public school, just the way no one says "Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King" anymore, the way I was told to call him formally when I was a reporter. Now it's just "Dr. King." Sigh.
I think it would be amazing if the Vatican would allow the skulls of Sts Peter & Paul to be reconstructed. To see as close-as-you-could-get sculptures of the faces of the first Pope and the great Saint Paul...!
How cool would that be?
Anyone here wondering if they could clone the guy?
FR. Copernicus? Was he a priest?
Copernicus was a church canon. However, the claim that he was a priest is a matter of debate. If he really was a priest, I have never seen a relieable source for the date of his ordaination.
Ed K.