Copernicus Had Blue Eyes

Kept at the Museum Gustavianum at Uppsala University, the book was owned by Copernicus for decades. Scattered within the pages, there were 9 hair samples. The researchers found sequence data of mitochondrial DNA -- which is passed intact from mother to child -- on four of the hair samples.

"Of these, two were identical to each other and to the profile from the skeletal remains recovered from the St. Cross Altar tomb," Marie Allen, a genetic expert at Uppsala University, told Discovery News.

The researchers concluded that the "skeletal remains derived from the St. Cross Altar tomb at Frombork Cathedral are those of the great Polish astronomer, Nicolaus Copernicus."

The genetic analysis also found a variation in a gene called HERC2, which is usually found in people with blue eyes and is very common in Northern Europe.