Remains of astronomer Copernicus found

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Researchers believe they have identified the remains of Nicolaus Copernicus, seen here in a computer reconstruction, by comparing DNA from a skeleton they found with that of hair retrieved from one his books.

Nov 20, 2008 09:55 AM

WARSAW, Poland – Researchers believe they have identified the remains of Nicolaus Copernicus.

The identification was done by comparing DNA from a skeleton they have found with that of hair retrieved from one of the 16th-century astronomer's books.

Jerzy Gassowski, an academic at an archeology school in Poland, also says facial reconstruction of the skull his team found buried in a cathedral in Poland closely resembles existing portraits of Copernicus.

Gassowski and Marie Allen, a Swedish DNA expert, told reporters about their findings in Warsaw on Thursday.

Allen said DNA from the bones and teeth matches that of hair found in a book the Polish astronomer owned.

It is in a library at Sweden's Uppsala University.

The astronomer's theories identified the sun, not the Earth, as the centre of the universe.

Summary: Conpernicus was found as a skeleton of a dead body on Warsaw on Thursday. The great think about this skelton was the one that discovered that the world went around the sun we used to think that the sun went around the world. 1.what do think would happened if we never found out that the world went around the sun? 2. Do you think that the discover was important? why or why not. Link: in unit 2 we are going to look at the explorers and they used this knowledge to navigate.