BURN THE CORPSE AT THE STAKE FIRST:

Astronomer Copernicus to be reburied as hero (VANESSA GERA, 05/22/10, Daily Caller)

Copernicus, who lived from 1473 to 1543, died as a little-known astronomer working in what is now Poland, far from Europe’s centers of learning. He had spent years laboring in his free time developing his theory, which was later condemned as heretical by the church because it removed Earth and humanity from their central position in the universe.

After his death, his remains rested in an unmarked grave beneath the floor of the cathedral in Frombork, northern Poland, the exact location unknown.

At the urging of a local bishop, scientists began searching in 2004 for the astronomer’s remains and eventually turned up a skull and bones of a 70-year-old man — the age Copernicus was when he died. DNA from teeth and bones matched that of hairs found in one of his books, leading the scientists to conclude in all probability that they had finally found Copernicus.

In recent weeks, a wooden casket holding those remains has lain in state in a nearby city of Olsztyn, and on Friday they were toured around the region to towns linked to his life.

That ceremony came 18 years after the Vatican rehabilitated the Italian astronomer Galileo Galilei, who was persecuted in the Inquisition for carrying the Copernican Revolution forward.

Unfortunately, Copernicus and Galileo had it spectacularly wrong

Posted by Orrin Judd at May 22, 2010 7:58 AM