Copernicus' grave found

From the Associated Press via Space.com...

Polish archeologists believe they have located the grave of 16th-century astronomer and solar-system proponent Nicolaus Copernicus in a Polish church, one of the scientists announced Thursday. 

Copernicus, who died in 1543 at 70 after challenging the ancient belief that the sun revolved around the earth, was buried at the Roman Catholic cathedral in the city of Frombork, 180 miles north of the capital, Warsaw. 

Jerzy Gassowski, head of an archaeology and anthropology institute in Pultusk, central Poland, said his four-member team found what appears to be the skull of the Polish astronomer and clergyman in August, after a one-year search of tombs under the church floor. 

"We can be almost 100 percent sure this is Copernicus," Gassowski told The Associated Press by phone after making the announcement during a meeting of scientists.

Conspicuously missing from the article is the fact that Copernicus' real beef with the view accepted at the time was that while they believed the earth was the center of the universe, Copernicus claimed that he could prove that the sun was actually the center of the universe. Yeah, he was really ahead of the game there, wasn't he.

But that's the way bad history is taught—omitting or altering the important stuff, to make who you dislike look bad.

Posted by Danny Carlton at November 4, 2005 05:34 AM