The University of Michigan treasured its 17th-century Galileo manuscript. It turns out it was a fake.

For nearly a century, the library at the University of Michigan had proudly displayed the so-called "Galileo manuscript" — a document believed to be written by the famous astronomer Galileo Galilei. Now, it's been revealed to be a forgery.

The university recently announced the one-page document, described as one of the "jewels" of its collection, appears to have been written in the 20th century, rather than 1609, as previously believed.

The library launched an internal investigation after Nick Wilding, a history professor at Georgia State University and author of an upcoming biography of Galileo, expressed "serious doubts about its authenticity." Wilding was known for exposing similar forgeries.

According to the university, the fake document was likely written by prolific Italian forger Tobia Nicotra. Nicotra spent two years in jail in 1934 for forgery, which included forging Galileo documents, the university said.

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