Yep, That Really Is Galileo Giving You the Finger

Souvenir seekers are often overjoyed to have anything pertaining to their idol. A coffee cup discarded by Robert Pattinson might become a tween's prized possession. And a group of 18th century admirers of Galileo Galilei, that genius scientist who proved the Earth revolved around the Sun, was so enamored with the possibly studly astronomer that they snatched three fingers, a vertebra and a tooth from his corpse, a full 95 years after his death in 1642.

Although one finger and the vertebra were recovered shortly after the bizarre incident, two fingers and that tooth remained missing for centuries — until now.

According to The Associated Press, a container housing the three items recently turned up at auction and a private collector purchased them, wondering if they indeed belonged to the famed astronomer, even though the body parts had been given up for lost years earlier.

The buyer contacted the Museum of the History of Science in Florence, as well as Florence culture officials, who eventually determined the body parts were the real deal. It turns out an Italian marquis owned the fingers and tooth for years, and it passed through generations of the family before relatives forgot what it contained and sold it off.

However, in a big clue to its contents, the relics were inside an 18th-century blown-glass vase, which in turn was inside a wooden case topped with a wooden bust of Galileo, according to the Museum of the History of Science. The museum already showcases Galileo's previously recovered finger, and the additional digits and tooth will make their debut this spring.

It's been a good couple of decades for this long-dead astronomer. In the 1990s Pope John Paul II apologized to the scientist on behalf of the Catholic Church for condemning him back when he was alive. They believed in an Earth-centered universe, and Galileo's theory certainly did not jive.

So now, those recovered fingers can be posed in the V for Victory sign, because Galileo's legacy just got even better.

Photo courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.