Galileo's Fingers and Tooth Recovered by Collector
Two withered dead fingers and a tooth have been identified as belonging to Galileo Galilei, shown here at work around 1630.
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A tooth and two fingers of Galileo Galilei, the 17th century Italian astronomer, physicist, inventor and mathematician, have re-emerged from a lost wooden case, Florence's authorities announced today.
The remains have been identified by a collector, who spotted an unusually shaped wooden case at an auction.
"The case was surmounted by a wooden bust of Galileo. Inside there was an 18th-century blown-glass vase which contained a tooth and two dried up fingers. It wasn't difficult to attribute the relics to Galileo as the case and its content fully match descriptions found in historic accounts," Cristina Acidini, superintendent of Florence museums, told Discovery News.
The tooth and fingers (from Galileo's right hand) were removed in 1737 when the scientist's body was exhumed from his unconsecrated grave and transferred to a mausoleum in the Florentine church of Santa Croce.
It was a solemn event, fully described by a notary report. For 95 years since the death in 1642 of the great scientist, ecclesiastical authorities refused to allow Galileo to be buried in a consecrated ground.
The man who made the first complete astronomical telescope and who used it to determine that Earth revolved around the sun, was accused by the Church of bringing "such universal scandal to Christianity" with theories "so false and so erroneous."
Convicted of heresy by the Inquisition, Galileo spent the last nine years of his life under house arrest.
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