Nicolaus Copernicus is one of the greatest scientists in human history, who made many scientific discoveries in the fields of astronomy and mechanics. For example, he was the first person to guess that the Earth revolves around the Sun. He also suggested that our planet also rotates on its axis, and this is the reason for the change of day and night. As we know, he turned out to be absolutely right. His discoveries subsequently became the basis for the great works of Galileo Galilei, Johannes Kepler and many other scientists. Nicolaus Copernicus lived in the 15th and 16th centuries, and no one knows exactly what he looked like. He left behind only one self-portrait, and even that burned down in a fire in 1597. Recently, a Brazilian designer used Copernicus' skull to recreate his appearance. The result was a portrait that can be considered the most accurate today.
Nicholas Copernicus proved that the Earth revolves around the Sun – this is his most important discovery. Image: pennews.substack.com
Contents
- 1 The only portrait of Nicolaus Copernicus
- 2 The skeleton of Nicolaus Copernicus
- 3 What Nicolaus Copernicus looked like
- 4 What historical people looked like personality
The only portrait of Nicolaus Copernicus
The only self-portrait of Nicolaus Copernicus was painted in 1580. You can find many other images of the Polish and German scientist’s face on the Internet, but they were all copied from this original. Today this painting no longer exists because it was destroyed in a fire in 1597.
The most famous portrait of Nicolaus Copernicus. Image: galateavaglio.com
Due to the lack of a portrait painted during Copernicus’s lifetime, no one today can say with certainty what he looked like. This is true for images of many historical figures – there are many of them, but no one can say how accurate they are.
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Skeleton of Nicolaus Copernicus
Recently, 3D artist Cicero Moraes recreated the appearance of Nicolaus Copernicus using his real skull. The skeleton of the great scientist was found only in 2005 by archaeologist Jerzy Gonsowski and his team. The remains were discovered under a cathedral in the Polish city of Frombork. In this building he wrote his main work “On the Rotation of the Celestial Spheres”, there he died at the age of 70 from a stroke and was buried there.
The skull of Nicolaus Copernicus without jaw. Image: pennews.substack.com
Scientists have no particular doubt that the skeleton belongs to Nicolaus Copernicus. In the original of his book, archaeologists found hair and were able to extract DNA samples from it. Samples were also taken from the bones found – they matched. Archaeologist Jerzy Gonsowski himself announced that he is almost 100% sure that the skeleton belongs to the great scientist.
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What Nicolaus Copernicus looked like
The skeleton found in Poland turned out to be incomplete – at least the head was missing a jaw. Therefore, before creating the reconstruction, the designer had to recreate a model of the missing bone on the computer. After the replica of the skull was finally formed, a 3D specialist studied data on the facial structure of real people and “stretched” the skin onto the 3D model.
To recreate the face of Nicolaus Copernicus, we had to resort to complex calculations. Image: pennews.substack.com
The designer published the results of his work in the scientific journal OrtogOnLineMag. To everyone's surprise, the recreated appearance of Nicolaus Copernicus is very similar to the image depicted in his most famous portrait. It turns out that with a high degree of probability the scientist really looked like the one shown in the image below. He had a long face, a straight nose and a powerful jaw. Perhaps in the future a new portrait of Nicolaus Copernicus will appear in textbooks – congratulations, you were one of the first to see it!
This is the most accurate portrait of Nicolaus Copernicus. Image: pennews.substack.com
Another similar achievement:Scientists have recreated the face of Dante Alighieri, the man who described hell and heaven
What historical figures looked like
Thanks to modern technology, artists are increasingly recreating with high accuracy the appearance of people who lived hundreds of years ago. More recently, scientists were able to show us what a female vampire, found in 2006 on the island of Lazaretto Vecchio, looked like during life. The gravediggers placed a heavy brick in her mouth – most likely, they hoped that this would prevent her from resurrecting. If you want to learn more about this frightening find, be sure to read our article “What a 16th-century “vampire” looked like – look at the face of the woman who scared the gravediggers.
Skull of a female vampire of the 16th century. Image: National Geographic
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Some artists go further and not only recreate the appearance of historical figures, but also present their image in the modern world. For example, graphic designer Becca Saladin has dedicated her work to imagining what Caesar and other historical figures would have looked like in the modern world. In addition to the ruler of Rome, she has already created modern images of the Egyptian queen Cleopatra, the French emperor Napoleon Bonaparte, the bloody countess Elizabeth Bathory and many others. Be sure to check out her amazing work!