The museums of the world can boast of a variety of exhibits dedicated to the life or work of certain prominent people, telling about their achievements. And in the Museum of the History of Science (Florence) exhibited … the middle finger of Galileo Galilei's hand.
We present you with interesting facts that allow you to trace the entire path of this finger from the grave of the great scientist to the museum.
From school we know what an outstanding scientist of the Middle Ages was Galileo Galilei. But, as happened many times in those years, the Catholic Church and the Inquisition not only did not recognize the veracity of the scientist's discoveries, but also persecuted him. This story did not end after the death of Galileo, who died at home in January 1642. The clergy forbade burying him in the family crypt, allowing only to bury the genius of science in a small grave without a monument. And so it was done.
After almost a hundred years, finally, the Catholic Church began to admit the mistakes it made in relation to Galileo. This process dragged on for centuries, only in 1981 Galileo Galilei was fully rehabilitated. But the first step was to allow the scientist to be reburied. It happened in 1737, the body was exhumed and buried in the Basilica of Santa Croce in Rome. The procedure was carried out in the presence of scientists, who decided to join the achievements of Galileo in a very strange way: they stole parts of the scientist's body, so to speak, for eternal memory. Among them were a tooth, a vertebra, and several fingers.
These "souvenirs" went from collector to collector for two centuries and disappeared as a result. Again, some of them "surfaced" in 2009 at one auction, and they were listed as unknown artifacts in a case. They were bought by the Italian Alberto Bruschi, an inveterate connoisseur of art. Among these "artifacts" was the middle finger of Galileo Galilei.
Bruski donated these parts of the scientist's body to the Museum of Florence, but his ultimate goal is to "connect" them with Galileo's body in the grave.
Now the finger is on display in the Museum of the History of Science. It is placed in a crystal vessel and anyone who wishes can see this finger located vertically. One gets the impression that the scientist, hidden by time, is threatening us, his descendants with a withered finger.
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The middle finger of Galileo Galilei's right hand became in 2009 one of the objects of the exhibition "Galileo: Images of the Universe from Antiquity to the Telescope", which was in Florence, writes The Daily Telegraph.
The exhibit was fixed on a marble base and placed under a crystal cap. In mid-February 2009, it became known that Galileo's burial could be opened - British and Italian scientists insist on this. They intend to do a DNA analysis of the remains, which may confirm their theory that Galileo suffered from a congenital disease of the organs of vision.
Scientists suggest that this explains the fact that Galileo in 1610, when observing Saturn through a telescope, could not see the rings of the planet, mistaking them for some spots.
The Florentine Museum said that now all the once-lost parts of the astronomer's body are "in good hands." “Based on the extensive historical documentation, it can be said that there is no doubt about the authenticity of these items,” the museum said in a statement.