Galileo Trial Summary

Galileo Galilei was believed to be a heretic for opposing the belief of the Catholic Church, despite him being scientifically correct. With the invention of the telescope, Galileo Galilei had the ability to study the function of the universe and publish his scientific observations, raising the attention of the Catholic Church. Heliocentrism and the Catholic Church Timeline, states “The Catholic Church told Galileo to stop sharing his theory in public in the year of 1615. Along with that, the Catholic Church added Copernicus’s work (and others supporting the heliocentric model to its list of banned books)” (Doc A :Timeline).

Following the advancements in the sciences, Astronomers such as Copernicus discussed new ideas that went against the holy scripture, which

Galileo’s Letter to the Grand Duchess Christina argues that Nicholas Copernicus’ idea about the Earth’s rotation orbiting the sun once a year does not in fact have anything to do with the scripture in the Catholic Bible. Galileo is simply stating a theory that he believes is true and scientifically proven. His ideas came to life in a time when many were questioning their beliefs surrounding the church and ideas that they have had in the past. Galileo was very science- oriented and many of his ideas and teachings did not align, and in some cases directly conflicted, with what the Catholic Church preached.

In Steven Shapin’s book, The Scientific Revolution, he described the massive scientific changes that occurred from the late 16th to the early 18th centuries. Shapin utilizes the scientists and their findings to demonstrate the changes that affected Western civilization. He describes his theory of the Scientific Revolution as he proves that the world has always had scientific advances. Steven Shapin states his thesis which influenced the modern world, that the Scientific Revolution did not happen during a single time period through the use of the three essential questions: What was known, How was it known, and What was the Knowledge for.

Galileo Galilei was an Italian astronomer who disagreed with the Roman Catholic theory of geocentrism. He was not a heretic because he was a Christian and had similar beliefs to the Roman Catholics, but he did not agree with the Church’s theory of the position and movement of Earth in the Solar System. Document A is an excerpt of a letter to Duchess Christina of Tuscany written by Galilei, counter-arguing the heresy claims. In the letter, Galileo wrote, “Can an opinion be heretical and yet have no concern with the salvation of souls?” Although he did not believe in the astronomical theory of the Church, he believed that his scientific thoughts should not interfere with his religious beliefs.

The second was the Ptolemaic or Earth-centered Universe, were the sun orbits the Earth. Galileo faced much opposition from the Catholic Church, and was repeatedly harassed and condemned by his contemporaries. The letter he wrote to Christina was to clearly state his view of mixing science and religion. He projected himself as a man that was only trying to expose the truth, but he was also trying to

Galileo Discovers the Moons of Jupiter (1610) Galileo Galilei Introduction Galileo Galilei, (1564-1642) the gifted and extremely curious Italian scientist, made great use of the telescope to discover such unsettling things as the irregularities of the moon's surface; it was believed at the time to be perfectly smooth, a belief which conformed to Catholic dogma. Moreover, Galileo's observations with the telescope led him to the conclusion that Nicolas Copernicus (1473-1543) was right: the earth did indeed orbit around the sun and not vice versa. Such a viewpoint cast great doubt on the accepted natural philosophy (first enunciated by Aristotle) of a geocentric universe and thus of human beings' centrality in the universe. Thus the conflict between religion and science in the seventeenth century was begun.

For example, the New York Times Article “Vatican Science Panel Told by Pope: Galileo was Right” mentions, “Moving formally to rectify a wrong, Pope John Paul II acknowledged in a speech today that the Roman Catholic Church had erred in condemning Galileo 359 years ago for asserting that the Earth revolves around the Sun.” This excerpt states that Galileo’s theories about the sun centered universe was correct. The church admits to their mistake and have recognized the truth in Galileo’s beliefs. In addition, the article includes a comment form Pope John Paul, “This led them to unduly transpose into the realm of the doctrine of faith, a question which in fact pertained to scientific investigation.” This means that the Roman Catholic Church at the time was in the wrong and had interpreted the scriptures incorrectly.

Today virtually every child grows up learning that the Earth orbits the Sun, but four centuries ago the heliocentric solar system, where the Earth orbits the Sun, was so controversial that the Catholic Church classified it as a crime of heresy (UCLA). In the age of early philosophy, Socrates’ is well known. Between the Socratic method and his line of successful students, Socrates’ makes the history books. Galileo Galilei turned astronomers on their heads when he discovered moons around Jupiter. Giordano Bruno didn’t back down from any of his brilliant and different ideas.

Nicolaus Copernicus established the concept of a heliocentric system that validates that the sun, rather than the earth, is at the center of our solar system. Later on, he is now known as the “Father of Modern Astronomy”. Early Life On February 19, 1473 in Torun, Poland, Barbara Watzenrode and Nicolaus Copernicus Sr. had their fourth child, Nicolaus Copernicus (Armitage,

Another reason why you guys are wrong and should free Galileo from prison is that you guys ordered Galileo to turn himself into the Holy Office to begin trial for holding the belief that the Earth revolves around the Sun, which was deemed heretical by you guys. He didn’t even do anything wrong he was just saying his belief, I know you guys say he copied it from the bible, but he didn’t know, it 's not his

Copernicus developed the heliocentric theory which claimed that the earth revolved around the sun. This immediately challenged the authorities who believed the opposite. Galileo furthered Copernicus’ argument and promoted that the Bible, that God

In 1619, Vincenzo was legitimised by the Grant Duke of Tuscany as the legal heir of Galileo, grew up to be a lutenist, and in 1629, married Sestilia Bocchineri. The scientific studies of Galileo started in 1583 when he was at school studying medicine. He observed as a chandelier in the room swung back and forth from the ceiling. He theorized that no matter how far the chandelier swung, it took the same amount of time to return to the vertical position. To prove his discovery, he went home to find that if you swing two of the same pendulums different lengths, they keep the same time.

Galileo, dubbed the “father of modern science,” was a firm believer in the heliocentric model. He wrote a report called, The Starry Messenger, which spoke of his discoveries of Jupiter's four moons, the moon's rough surface, and stars that are invisible to the naked eye. He also wrote Dialogue Concerning the Two Chief World Systems “to promote his concerns about the development of sciences” (Ch17 Topics, 24). Galileo explored the topic of the difference of appearances of stars and planets and made many discoveries that seem far beyond his time, most of his controversial hypotheses have since been proven and have shaped modern science today. Nicolaus Copernicus was a polymath responsible for what some call the “Copernicus Revolution.”

During this period Galileo’s mathematical perspective of motion saw him captivated by a lamp swinging in the university foyer (Humphreys, 1967). Thereafter Galileo made his first discovery—a