22 June 1633: Galileo Forced to Recant Heliocentric Theory

["Fergie" <fergdawg () netzero net>]

I haven't posted one of these in a while, but this one really
stikes me as quite an important lesson.

Via Wikipedia.

[snip]

Pope Urban VIII personally asked Galileo to give arguments for and
against heliocentrism in the book, and to be careful not to advocate
heliocentrism. He made another request, that his own views on the
matter be included in Galileo's book. Only the latter of those requests
was fulfilled by Galileo. Whether unknowingly or deliberate,
Simplicius, the defender of the Aristotelian Geocentric view in
Dialogue Concerning the Two Chief World Systems, was often caught in
his own errors and sometimes came across as a fool.

This fact made Dialogue Concerning the Two Chief World Systems appear
as an advocacy book; an attack on Aristotelian geocentrism and defense
of the Copernican theory. To add insult to injury, Galileo put the
words of Pope Urban VIII into the mouth of Simplicius. Most historians
agree Galileo did not act out of malice and felt blindsided by the
reaction to his book. However, the Pope did not take the public
ridicule lightly, nor the blatant bias. Galileo had alienated one of
his biggest and most powerful supporters, the Pope, and was called to
Rome to explain himself.

With the loss of many of his defenders in Rome because of Dialogue
Concerning the Two Chief World Systems, Galileo was ordered to stand
trial on suspicion of heresy in 1633. The sentence of the Inquisition
was in three essential parts:

    * Galileo was required to recant his heliocentric ideas, which were
condemned as "formally heretical".
    * He was ordered imprisoned; the sentence was later commuted to
house arrest.
    * His offending Dialogue was banned; and in an action not announced
at the trial, publication of any of his works was forbidden, including
any he might write in the future.


In modern terms, we consider Galileo's views on heliocentricity to be
no fundamental advance. The Sun is no more the center of the universe
than the Earth is (indeed, the question has no meaning, as apparently
all locations can be equally regarded as the "center" of the universe).

The Catholic Church held to the prevailing scientific opinion of the
day, which was that the Earth was the center of the universe. Thus, for
moderns, the key issue of this controversy was not the objective
correctness of the theories being debated, but rather the morality of
institutions (or persons) using brute force to shape acceptance of
scientific beliefs.

[snip]

More:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Galileo_Galilei#Church_controversy

Now, back to your regularly scheduled programming. :-)

- ferg


--
"Fergie", a.k.a. Paul Ferguson
 Engineering Architecture for the Internet
 fergdawg () netzero net or fergdawg () sbcglobal net
 ferg's tech blog: http://fergdawg.blogspot.com/


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