Melville House Books

Facial reconstruction of Nicholas Copernicus based upon his newly discovered remains

Researchers in Warsaw, Poland, announced on Tuesday that they had discovered the remains of Nicolaus Copernicus, the great 16th-century scientist and writer (and priest) who first posited that the sun — not the earth — was at the center of the universe. It was a dangerous theory at the time, flying in the face of church doctrine, and Copernicus kept it to himself until the year of his death, when at age 70 he finally published it as Commentariolus (Little Commentary). An AP wire story by Monika Scislowska says a skeleton found in the 14th-century Frombork Cathedral, where Copernicus was known to have served as a canon, has been conclusively proven to belong to him via DNA testing. Further, archaeologist Jerzy Gassowski told a news conference that forensic facial reconstruction of the skull “bears striking resemblance to existing portraits of Copernicus,” and presented a press conference with the startling results (left).

Dennis Johnson is the founder of MobyLives, and the co-founder and co-publisher of Melville House.