Since 1938 , the University of Michigan Library has proudly displayed what they cerebrate to be a 1609 manuscript , penned by Galileo Galilei himself . Unfortunately , keep up an probe by a Georgia State University professor of account , the manuscript turns out to be an telling forgery , created hundreds of years after Galileo ’s death .
Theone - page documentcontained the draft of a letter to keep company a introduction by Galileo of a latterly - built scope in 1609 . At the bottom of the paper , much more significant if it were n’t invent ( which it is ) , were notes and sketches , remember to be observations by Galileo of the Sun Myung Moon of Jupiter from January 7–15 , 1610 .
The manuscript was first date by the wider populace in May 1934 , after the property of a recently - pass away collector – Roderick Terry – were auctioned off . Another collector – Tracy McGregor – bought the ms , before bequeathing it to the University of Michigan in 1938 after his own death . Since then , the manuscript has been a " jewel " in the subroutine library ’s collection , until a historiographer informed them of the ms ’s inauthenticity .
During his investigations , Nick Wilding , a historiographer who gained tending after heexposed a previous forgeryof Galileo ’s 1610 bookSidereus Nuncius , ask the library a number of questions about the manuscript , including about the dating of the paper and its water line . During the prison term of the hand press , the manufacturing business of newspaper often added distinct watermarks to their work . While primarily to help identify it as theirs , these watermarks help historians to day of the month paper , as well as where it was made .
The manuscript – now known to be a counterfeit – contains the monogram of the paper ’s maker , " A.S. " , while the production locating is labeled " BMO " , refer to Bergamo , Italy . The mark " BMO " has not been see to it in paper from any fourth dimension before 1770 , long after Galileo ’s death , before becoming quite common .
A 2d , interchangeable forgery was found in the Morgan Library and Museum in New York City , which has been dated to 1790 . The Michigan Library ’s transcript was authenticate by Archbishop Maffi in 1930 , after liken it to two other document by Galileo . These text file turned out to also be pseud , donated by ill-famed 20th - C forger Tobia Nicotra .
" Wilding close that our Galileo holograph is a 20th - hundred fake executed by the well - known forger Tobia Nicotra , " the subroutine library wrote of the investigation . " After our own expert canvas his most compelling evidence – about the paper and birthplace – and reexamined the manuscript , we agree with his conclusion . "
Nicotra mould an excellent report for himself as a forger and gotseveral spirt manuscriptsinto the Library of Congress . At the time of his arrest in the former 1930s , police force found a series of fakeAbraham Lincoln autograph in his possession , as well as others from Christopher Columbus , Martin Luther , Michelangelo , and Leonardo Da Vinci .
" We ’re grateful to Professor Wilding for sharing his findings , " the depository library said in astatement . " And are now work to reconsider the manuscript ’s role in our appeal . "
