Renaissance mathematician, astronomer, physician, economist, and clergyman Nicolaus Copernicus, or Mikołaj Kopernik in his native Poland, published the theory that the earth revolves around the sun. That is merely the most memorable of his many accomplishments. When Copernicus died in 1543, he was buried under Frombork Cathedral, along with about 100 other people (although not at the same time). In the centuries since, the floor of the cathedral has been replaced several times, and the few grave markers that survived the renovations ended up in the wrong places. No one knew where Copernicus was buried, although searches were conducted a few times.
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Polish archaeologists began a new quest to find Copernicus’ remains in 2005. This time, they had information that narrowed the search. They exhumed 13 skeletons, one of which was the right age to be Copernicus, but skeleton 13/5 was the most badly damaged of them. And how would they confirm Copernicus’ identity, anyway? He left no heirs, neither did his brother, for DNA comparison. A lucky find and DNA tests led to the conclusion that skeleton 13/5 was indeed Nicolaus Copernicus. Read how that happened at the Conversation.
An article in Polish shows an image of the facial reconstruction of skeleton 13/5, done by an artist who had no idea that it might belong to anyone in particular. -via Metafilter
(Image credit: Jan Matejko)
Source: neatorama