Abstract
IN an article in The Times of September 7 on "Poland‘s Northward Thrust", reference is made to Thorn (now Torun) Allenstein (renamed Olsztyn) and Frauenburg (nowFrombork), the three places, in what was formerly East Prussia, in which Copernicus lived and died. To-day the district is a scene of destruction unparalleled elsewhere in Europe. Torun, where Copernicus was born, became Polish after the First World War, and Olsztyn, where he lived for a time, and Frombork, where he worked and died, are now also Polish. In Olsztyn castle, fortunately undamaged, one can see the chamber occupied by Copernicus when he was a canon and administrator of his uncle‘s diocese ; and at Frombork, a small town completely ruined by the War, is the house he lived in and the cathedral in which he was buried. The Polish Government has given a sum of money towards restoring the old quarters of Copernicus in the cathedral close and his tower and observatory. Of the body of Copernicus, however, no trace can be found. "It appears,"says the article, "that shortly after the Russians entered Frombork, unknown vandals raided the coffins of bishops and noblemen buried under the cathedral on the basis of a report that many of them wore gold and diamond rings."
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Nicolas Copernicus. Nature 162, 445 (1948). https://doi.org/10.1038/162445e0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/162445e0