Copernicus Had Blue EyesJuly 9, 2009 -- Nicolaus Copernicus, the father of modern astronomy, gazed at the sky through bright blue eyes, according to genetic research that has identified the scientist's remains.
Published this week in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, the research -- announced last November -- details the identification of the remains, while also suggesting that Copernicus most likely had blue eyes, fair skin and light hair color.
"This is the end of a search that has lasted for at least two centuries," Swedish and Polish researchers who carried the genetic tests wrote.
Unsuccessful searches for the final resting place of the priest and astronomer, whose theories identified the sun, not the Earth, as the center of the solar system, were carried out in 1807 by Napoleon and again just before the outbreak of World War II.
Four years ago, a team led by Polish archaeologist Jerzy Gassowski found an incomplete skeleton under the St. Cross altar of the Roman Catholic cathedral in Frombork, on Poland's Baltic coast. Indeed, Copernicus was responsible for the very same altar during his tenure as priest at the Cathedral.