@hertz Galileo wanted to be buried in the same basilica as his father, but because of his Heliocentrism, the Catholic Church thought people would be scandalized, so instead, they buried him in a heretic grave. About a century later, they DID move his remains to the basilica, and a few people attending that transfer were interested in matters of science, and took pieces of his remains as “relics.” it wasn’t just his middle finger… His index finger and thumb were lopped off, too (among other bits). The person who took his fingers said at one pint that it was because such wonderful things had been written with them. Eventually the various parts were given/sold to others, so this lone digit ended up apart from the others. Flipping the bird is a convenient application of modern cultural significance. Fitting!
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki...