Researchers said Thursday they have identified the remains of Nicolaus Copernicus by comparing DNA from a skeleton and hair retrieved from one of the 16th-century astronomer’s books.

The findings could put an end to centuries of speculation about the exact resting spot of Copernicus, a priest and astronomer whose theories placed the sun, not the Earth, at the centre of the universe.

It wasn’t until centuries later that astronomers found evidence the sun was not the centre of the universe, but rather one of billions of billions of stars, but at the time, it was a radical departure from the belief that the Earth was at the centre of the universe.

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