Anyone interseted in the impact of Gallileo on science (or on the foundations of the scientific method) should read "Against Method" by Feyerabend.

They don't need to open his tomb, Galileo's finger is on display at the Museo di Storia del Scienza in Italy.

Presumably they could harvest DNA from that? Any forensic boffins out there?

Interesting little project, until you get to the distasteful shit about wanting to disinterr his body.

What next dig someone up just so you can find his shoe size?

These assholes need to find a bit of respect for one of the giants of our species.

Galileo was *not* the first person to point a telescope at the heavens. That honour goes to an Englishman, Thomas Harriot, who made drawings of his telescopic observations of the Moon in July 1609, several months *before* Galileo.

http://telescope400.org.uk/

There's a reasonable level of historical recreation, and then there's digging up dead guys. Why not just have a man with failing sight the same age as Galileo have a squint through the telescope? What will that prove except that perhaps he would have seen a little bit more, or more clearly, but the great discovery wasn't what he saw, but what he understood.

Because the old man may have cateracts when Gallileo had astigmatism. The result isn't the same as intended.

The *right* question to ask is: is the possible outcome of the investigation worth raising the moral question about disinterring Gallileo's body.

Which requires knowing what his body's DNA could tell us about his genetic makeup as it affects eyesight and whether these defects would change the view significantly over the "standard" eyeball.