Many people have asked whether the author is related to Filippo Brunelleschi, down the who was born in 1377, died in 1446 and is buried beneath the cathedral in Florence (the dome of which he famously created). Assume that you were granted permission to exhume his body and collect a tissue sample.

(a) Estimate the number of generations between Brunelleschi and the author. 

(b) Assuming that the author is a direct descendant of Brunelleschi, would you expect to be able to prove it by DNA sequencing? Explain your answer.