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The University of Michigan recently discovered a piece of paper once considered to be "one of the jewels" of its library is a fake, according to Smithsonian Magazine. The news was announced last week following an investigation.
The piece of paper features a letter signed by astronomer and physicist Galileo Galilei, believed to have been written in 1609 and 1610. The letter describes a new telescope and includes sketches of moons orbiting Jupiter. The University claimed it was the "first observational data that showed objects orbiting a body other than the earth."
While Galileo did use a telescope in 1610 to discover moons orbiting around Jupiter, he did not write the manuscript. In fact, the document was most likely forged by a man named Tobia Nicotra in the 20th century.
“It was pretty gut-wrenching when we first learned our Galileo was not actually a Galileo,” Donna L. Hayward, the interim dean of Michigan’s libraries, told the New York Times. At the same time, Hayward said the discovery is enthralling. “The forgery is a really good one … The discovery, in some ways, makes this a more fascinating item.”
According to a statement, the University is now reconsidering of the manuscript's place in the library, adding that it could serve to teach about fakes, forgeries and hoaxes.