Galileo's Tooth, Finger and Thumb Resurfaces after 104 Years
The 16th Century Italian mathematician, astronomer, physicist and philosopher, Galileo Galilei's mutilated body parts have been found and handed over to the History of Science Museum in Florence, Italy.
The above mentioned parts along with another finger and vertebrae are said to have been removed from the corpse of the Italian genius, by historians and scientists for study purposes. This removal of body parts had been carried out during the burial procession from a cold storehouse to a monumental tomb housed in Santa Croce Basilica in Florence, of Galileo in 1737, 95 years after the actual death of the scientist. The act was performed by a science historian by the name of Giovanni Targioni Tozzetti, who later confessed that it was increasingly difficult on his part to not "take away the skull which had housed such extraordinary genius". History has it that Galileo's body was not allowed a burial in consecrated ground as his discoveries defied the church teachings. However, Pope John Paul II accepted Galileo's contribution to science in the 1990s, saying that the church had erred. Read more on Biography of Galileo Galilei.
Besides the three relics that went missing, the other finger and vertebrae have been on display in the same Florentine museum and the University of Padua, where Galileo taught, respectively, in a mummified state, since 1737.
The lost relics were kept by an Italian marquis. Treasured in a container, these relics then supposedly became an heirloom in the family until the later generations lost track of what it really was and got rid of it. It was finally in 1905 that the scholars hypothesized that the relics had been permanently lost.
However, when an 18th century blown-glass vase inside a wooden casket crowned with a bust of Galileo, turned up at a latest private auction, it intrigued a collector. This collector in turn contacted the museum, not knowing that the relics were that of Galileo's. The origin of the relics were then confirmed on the basis of "considerable historical documentation" from the family who initially possessed it, along with testing of "organic material extracted from the corpse".
The relics will be put on display next spring on the re-opening of the museum after renovations.
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