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Search For the Tomb of Copernicus Reaches an End
duh P3rf3ss3r writes "The Associated Press reports that after 200 years of speculation and investigation, the tomb of Nicolaus Copernicus has been found. Although the heliocentric concept had been suggested earlier, Copernicus is widely thought of as the father of the scientific theory of the heliocentric solar system. The positive identification was made by comparing the DNA from a skeleton's teeth with that from hairs in a book known to have belonged to Copernicus. A computer-generated facial reconstruction is said to also bear a resemblance to contemporary portraits of the scientist."
From TFA:
the skull bears a cut mark above the left eye that corresponds with a scar shown in the painting.
Scars are one thing, but a wound that leaves a mark all the way down to the skull... that's gotta sting.
TFA also says that the reconstruction shows a broken nose. Is it even possible to have evidence of a broken nose on the skull? "Broken nose" as shown in the painting is cartilage damage, which would probably all be gone by now.
I'm sure you can add in a broken nose to the reconstruction, but in context, it was being cited as evidence. Just bad journalism, or dubious research?
The sun is the center of the universe? I though the sun orbited the Milkey Way Galaxy's central black hole?
So Copernicus was not 100% correct. But his theory was still more right than the one it replaced (Ptolemaic geocentrism). Newton wasn't 100% correct either, and I'm sure that Einstein's theories will also be shown to be only approximations. But so what? All these theories have advanced science, even if they are not the final word.
A question for you math geeks: can an object of infinite size even HAVE a center?
Well, you can certainly come up with an infinite space that has a "natural" center. For example, an infinite 3-space curved in higher dimensions might have only one point where the curvature is zero. That would be a natural center.
Not that our universe necessarily has that structure.
If the geiger counter does not click, the coffee, she is not thick.
1 Chronicles 16:30
Tremble before him, all the earth! The world is firmly established; it cannot be moved.
Ecclesiastes 1:5
The sun rises and the sun sets, and hurries back to where it rises.
When dealing with religious issues, it's important to remember that what people actually believe can be quite different from what their scripture says, especially in periods of high illiteracy.
The sun is the center of the universe? I though the sun orbited the Milkey Way Galaxy's central black hole?
A scientific theory isn't judged on whether it's ``true''; we leave the concept of ``truth'' to theologians, creationists and other amateurs.
A scientific theory is judged on how useful it is. What Copernicus showed is that by using a model in which the referential is attached to the sun, rather than the earth (as in the earlier Ptolemean model), many computations become easier.
Note that all of these models are useful under some circumstances. When you compute the distance from your home to the butcher's, you disregard the rotation of the earth, and hence use the Ptolemean model. When you compute the date of Easter next, you use the Copernican model. But if you need to compute the position of our Galaxy in a few billion years, you'll likely want a different model.
Although the heliocentric concept had been suggested earlier, Copernicus is widely thought of as the father of the scientific theory of the heliocentric solar system.
Please. All these qualifications are unnecessary.
Copernicus is not considered a great scientist because he woke up one day and said, "Gee, maybe the earth revolves around the sun and not the other way around!" His greatness came from all the insight, creativity, and mind-boggling hard work he put in to make this idea objectively sound.
Being the first to have an idea doesn't give you precedence. It's inventing the scientific structure that allows people to validate (and, more importantly, invalidate) your ideas that matters. That's what separates real science from mere speculation.
And I would simply posit that you are a unique frame of reference
I posit that everywhere is the center of the universe, especially the sentient parts of it.
If you're going to defend The Bible's creation story, I don't recommend Slashdot.
Discussion isn't defense. I only said that it doesn't state that the earth is the center of the universe. I doubt the ancient Jews/Muslims (both were the same then, descended from Abraham) even knew there WAS a universe. I'd posit that nobody BC had the slightest idea that those things in the night sky were big enough to walk on.
Free Martian Whores!
... can give, from a skull, any hint about the size of the nose and the shape of the ear, both of which are made of just cartilage.
Any hint ?
Signature omitted in order to save space. Thanks for your understanding.
The sun rises and the sun goes down, and hastens to the place where it rises
Don't meterologists talk of sunrise and sunset? Don't modern day astronomers say things like "wow, what a beautiful sunrise?"
it was good enough to get the Church to believe it
The various churches have believed a whole lot of stuff that isn't supported by the bible. Look at the Baptists' hatred of drunkenness and dancing. There's an old joke that goes "Why won't Baptists have sex standing up? They don't want anyone to think they're dancing!"
Why any Christian would think that capital punishment or war can be a good thing is beyond my comprehension.
What _I_ want to know is how the heck did the computer model figure out what his clothes looked like?!
They have paintings of him, that's where the clothes come from. What I want to know is in the posters of the evolution of man you see in all the museums, why do the cave men have long hair and beards while the modern man has no facial hair (lacking a secondary sexual characteristic) and have short hair? Bald I can see, but short? I've never met a human with naturally short, doglike hair like you see on those posters. I mean, my hair's short but I was at the barbershop the other day.
Free Martian Whores!
Of that whole list you wrote, it sure does concentrate predominately on the earth. If you think about it, there's a whole lot more to talk about than merely the earth ... so in a way, it does give all the attention to the earth. The fact that it was created before the stars just makes it all that much more central. Also, where else would God put beings made in his likeness? If you're going to defend The Bible's creation story, I don't recommend Slashdot.
Meh...a lot of conjecture that proves nothing. Of course it mentions the earth a lot it was written for humanity's benefit. If aliens are out there God may very have given them a book that talks mostly about Riegel 7.
Meh...a lot of conjecture that proves nothing. Of course it mentions the earth a lot it was written for humanity's benefit. If aliens are out there God may very have given them a book that talks mostly about Riegel 7.
Meh ... a lot of conjecture that proves nothing. Were they also created in his likeness? What determined where he created you? Why did he tell us we are in his likeness? Why would you choose to leave either side out of either side's primer? I suppose that falls in line with a lot of the rest of The Bible--no logical sense whatsoever.
I hope I'm not living in some alien's Sodom & Gomorrah.
Hey I'm just saying the Bible doesn't say we're the center of the universe. I never claimed to have all the answers. More importantly why would aliens have their orgies in your home town?
Surely this could be better explained with a car analogy than some silly loaf of raisin bread!?!?!?