Articles on Copernicus's Grave, by Michal Kokowski

The Current Quests for Copernicus's Grave:
Doubts, Problems and Perspectives

In 2004–2005 the news went around the world on the quest for Nicholas Copernicus's grave in Cathedral in Frombork (Warmia, Poland). Then in 2006 the identification (with 97% probability) of this grave was reported. The crucial argument that spoke in favour of this identification was an alleged resamblance among a forensic reconstruction of the face of the skull labeled as 13/05 and the portrait of Nicolaus Copernicus from Muzeum Okręgowe w Toruniu. These studies were continued in 2005–2009, when they were extended to include genealogical research and DNA analyses.

Though I am a determined supporter of the quests for Nicholas Coper-nicus's grave, I take a critic stance with respect to the value of the argu-mentation and empirical evidence presented during these quests. See:

• Poszukiwania grobu Kopernika. Refleksje advocati diaboli. Cz. 1. (The first version published on 30.10.2005).

• Poszukiwania grobu Kopernika. Refleksje advocati diaboli. Cz. 2. (The first version published on 22.12.2005).

The two articles are the first critic papers in the literature on the theme.

• O wadliwości argumentacji za ostatecznym odkryciem szczątków Mikołaja Kopernika. Cz. 1. (Published in December 2012.)

• O wadliwości argumentacji za ostatecznym odkryciem szczątków Mikołaja Kopernika. Cz. 2. (Published in December 2012.)

• (with: Adam Walanus), Możliwość wykorzystania radio-węglowej metody datowania w badaniach grobu Mikołaja Kopernika. (Published in December 2012.)

These three articles bring new, original and important critical comments on the assessment of the thesis about the discovery of the grave of Nicholas Copernicus and the identification of his alleged remains.

It is worth of adding here that the author of these papers is the only one Polish scientist who has got both a doctor degree and a higher one called in Poland "doktor habilitowany" in the field of Copernican studies. Moreover, he is a factual co-author of the document Frombork Proclamation (which encouraged to further research and professional popularisation of Copernicus's achievements) and its co-signatory (on the behalf of the Polish Academy of Arts and Sciences, the oldest scientific academy in Poland).