Document supposedly written by Galileo is a fake
The University of Michigan has shown that a handwritten document purportedly written by Galileo Galilei was a fraud. The University of Michigan Library described the one document as a gem in its collection in a statement that appears in a new tab. However, an internal inquiry by a history professor revealed that it is a forgery: watermarks in the paper date only as far back as the 18th century, more than a century after the famous astronomer's passing. According to Donna L. Hayward, the interim dean of Michigan's libraries, "it was very gut-wrenching when we first found that Galileo was not actually a Galileo," she told the New York Times(opens in new tab) last week. The manuscript has been in the possession of the university since 1938, when Tracy McGregor's trustees donated it. Tracy McGregor is a Detroit industrialist who bought the manuscript at an auction held by another collector in 1934. According to the University of Michigan Library, the document was alle...