POLISH ACADEMY OF ARTS AND SCIENCES The Nicolaus Copernicus On 22–23 February 2010 a scientific conference “The Nicolaus Copernicus grave mystery. A dialogue of experts” was held in Kraków. grave mystery The institutional organizers of the conference were: the European Society for the History of Science, the Copernicus Center for Interdisciplinary Studies, the Polish Academy of Arts and Sciences with its two commissions (the Commission on the History of Science, and the Commission on the Philosophy of Natural Sciences), A dialogue of experts the Institute for the History of Science of the Polish Academy of Sciences, and the Tischner European University. Edited by Michał Kokowski The purpose of this conference was to discuss the controversy surrounding the discovery of the grave of Nicolaus Copernicus and the identification of his remains. For this reason, all the major participants of the search for the grave of Nicolaus Copernicus and critics of these studies were invited to participate in the conference. It was the first, and so far only such meeting when it was poss- ible to speak openly and on equal terms for both the supporters and the critics of the thesis that the grave of the great astronomer had been found and the identification of the found fragments of his skeleton had been completed. [...] In this book, we present the aftermath of the conference – full texts or summa- ries of them, sent by the authors. In the latter case, where possible, additional TERRA information is included on other texts published by the author(s) on the same subject. The texts of articles presented in this monograph were subjected to sev- MERCURIUS eral stages of review process, both explicit and implicit. [...] SOL VENUS MARTIS I would like to draw the readers of this collective monograph to the fact that on IOUIS its pages one can find contrary theses proclaimed by various authors. By no SATURNUS means does it constitute a flaw in this study. It emphasizes a conscious decision: STELLARIUM FIXARUM SPHAERA IMMOBILIS the idea was to show the diversity of opinions present in the scientific commu- nity, and thus to create the possibility of a future creative exchange of views – because the progress in science entails continuous improvement of the theses propounded and enriches argumentation in favour of them. [...] Professor Michał Kokowski, Habilitated Doctor in Humanities the initiator and the manager of the conference and the scientific editor of the monograph The Nicolaus Copernicus grave mystery A dialogue of experts Kraków 2015 1 2 3 Revision and proofreading: Filip Klepacki Proofreading: Cathal Gantley Design of the cover: Tomasz Budzyń This work is available on http://pau.krakow.pl/ Terms of use: This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial- -No Derivative Works 3.0 Poland (CC-BY-NC-ND 3.0 PL) Some rights reserved for The Polish Academy of Arts and Sciences It is attributed to Michał Kokowski (Ed.), the Authors, and The Polish Academy of Arts and Sciences ISBN 978-83-7676-196-1 Distribution PAU, ul. Sławkowska 17, 31-016 Kraków, Poland e-mail: [email protected] www.pau.krakow.pl Typesetting: Edycja, e-mail: [email protected] 4 Audiatur et altera pars (May the other side also be heard) The basic principle in the Roman procedural law and in the whole of Latin civilization 5 6 Contents Contents Michał KOKOWSKI Introduction ............................................... 9 Michał KOKOWSKI Introduction to the English edition ............................. 15 Jerzy SIKORSKI The mystery of Nicolaus Copernicus’s grave – myths and reality ....... 19 Krzysztof MIKULSKI, Joanna JENDRZEJEWSKA, Anna STACHOWSKA Ancestors and close relatives of Nicolaus Copernicus and their female offspring (Summary) ........................................ 29 Wojciech BRANICKI, Tomasz KUPIEC Examination of nuclear DNA markers in human remains from the grave 13/05 (Summary) ........................................... 31 Tomasz KUPIEC, Wojciech BRANICKI Identifi cation of human remains from the grave 13/05 based on mito- chondrial DNA data (Summary) ............................... 33 Arkadiusz SOŁTYSIAK The use of an interpretative index in archaeology: a case study of the cra- nium 13/05 from Frombork ................................... 35 Jarosław BEDNAREK The pitfalls of anthropological typology and the alleged skull of Nico- laus Copernicus ............................................ 51 Tomasz KOZŁOWSKI An anthropologist’s refl ections over the identifi cation of the bone re- mains discovered in Frombork Cathedral and regarded as belonging to Nicolaus Copernicus. An attempt at critical evaluation ............. 59 7 Contents Bronisław MŁODZIEJOWSKI Effi ciency of facial reconstruction methods in light of contemporary fo- rensic anthropology (Summary) ............................... 79 Józef FLIK 16th century portraits of Nicolaus Copernicus ..................... 81 Tomasz GRZYBOWSKI, Katarzyna SKONIECZNA, Urszula ROGALLA, Boris A. MALYARCHUK Statistical and phylogenetic interpretation of the results of mitochondrial DNA analysis of the alleged Nicolaus Copernicus’s remains from the Frombork Cathedral ......................................... 111 Peter S. GWOZDZ The Y–DNA of the alleged Copernicus remains is haplogroup R1b1b2a1 127 Adam WALANUS, Michał KOKOWSKI Potential usefulness of radiocarbon dating for the authentication of Ni- colaus Copernicus’s grave .................................... 159 Michał KOKOWSKI On the defectiveness of the argument for the fi nality of the discovery of the remains of Nicolaus Copernicus. Part 1: Results and interpretation of historical, archaeological, anthropological and anthroposcopic research 169 Michał KOKOWSKI On the defectiveness of the argument for the fi nality of the discovery of the remains of Nicolaus Copernicus. Part 2: Results and interpretation of genealogical, historical and genetic research .................... 209 Michał KOKOWSKI A postscript to the conference: Is a dialogue always possible? ....... 305 Authors ................................................... 309 Reviewers ................................................. 313 8 Michał Kokowski (ed.), THE NICOLAUS COPERNICUSIntroduction GRAVE MYSTERY. A DIALOGUE OF EXPERTS POLISH ACADEMY OF ARTS AND SCIENCES Michał KOKOWSKI Department of History of Science, Natural Sciences and Technology, Ludwik and Aleksander Bir- kenmajer Institute for the History of Science, Polish Academy of Sciences; Copernicus Center for Interdisciplinary Studies, Poland; www.cyfronet.pl/~n1kokows/home.html; michal.kokowski@ gmail.com Introduction On 22–23 February 2010 a scientifi c conference “The Nicolaus Copernicus grave mystery. A dialogue of experts” was held in Kraków. The institutional organizers of the conference were: the European Society for the History of Science (here- after the ESHS), the Copernicus Center for Interdisciplinary Studies (CCIS), the Polish Academy of Arts and Sciences (PAAS) with its two commissions: the Commission of History of Science of the PAAS (CHS PAAS), and the Commis- sion of Philosophy of Natural Sciences of the PAAS (CPNS PAAS); the Institute for the History of Science of the Polish Academy of Sciences (IHS PAS); and the Tischner European University (TEU). Moreover, the author of these words was the initiator and scientifi c manager of the conference. The conference took place in the building of the Polish Academy of Arts and Sciences, where all papers were presented, and in the Jagiellonian Library, where an exhibition of the autograph of De revolutionibus was organized specially for this occasion. On behalf of the organizers, Rev. Professor Michał Heller opened the conference and handed the chair of the meeting to the author of these words, who began by outlining the basic ideas of the conference. The purpose of this conference was to discuss the controversy surrounding the discovery of the grave of Nicolaus Copernicus and the identifi cation of his remains. For this reason, all the major participants of the search for the grave of Nicolaus Copernicus and critics of these studies were invited to participate in the conference. It was the fi rst, and so far only, such meeting when it was possible to speak openly and on equal terms for both the supporters and the critics of the thesis that the grave of the great astronomer had been found and the identifi cation of the found fragments of his skeleton had been completed. It was the intention of the organizers of the conference that the central idea of this meeting was a creative scientifi c dialogue and a courageous struggle with different interpretations of the 9 This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Poland License Michał Kokowski same facts and issues. All this was to serve a better understanding of the hitherto results of the search for the grave of Nicolaus Copernicus and the identifi cation of his remains, and possibly show new opportunities to deepen this kind of research. What is referred to in the word “dialogue”, mentioned here? What does it mean? To explain it, I will use the words of one of my teachers and an outstanding philosopher, Rev. Professor Józef Tischner, who in his Ethics of Solidarity wrote: Dialogue means that people have come out from their undergrounds, have come clos- er to each other, have started exchanging words. The beginning of dialogue, emerging from a hiding place, is already a signifi cant event. One needs to reach out, cross the threshold, offer one’s hand, fi nd a common place for conversation.