Galileo's missing fingers found in jar | CNN.com

Galileo's head was on the block

The crime was looking up the truth

And as the bombshells of my daily fears explode

I try to trace them to my youth…

How long till my soul gets it right

Can any human being ever reach that kind of light

I call on the resting soul of Galileo

King of night vision

King of insight

** Galileo, The Indigo Girls, 1992

Galileo's missing fingers found in jar

By Richard Allen Greene, CNN

November 23, 2009 -- Updated 1405 GMT (2205 HKT)

To me, it seems kind of ironic that a man who was excommunicated by the Catholic Church should have had three fingers (and a tooth) stolen from his corpse as was widely practiced by clergy salvaging pieces of their saints. In any case, all three of his remaining fingers have now been reunited at the Museum of the History of Science in Florence, Italy.

** Pardon the gratuitous musical reference, but Galileo is one of my all-time favorite songs.