The Galileo Mistake

Scientifically and technologically he is well known for his invention of the telescope based on Dutch lens development, observation of the Supernova of 1604, discovery of craters on the moon and four moons to the planet Jupiter and the invention of a mechanism to raise water to higher levels; using an inclined plane he demonstrated that all bodies fall at the same rate. He was the first to develop and utilize rigorous scientific experimentation procedures, once stating "Measure what is measurable, and make measurable what is not so."

In 1612 he began to encounter decisive Roman ecclesiastical opposition to his theory of the motion of the Earth based on the Copernican hypothesis (i.e., the Earth is not immovable; it rotates around the Sun along with other planetary bodies).

Church officials believed it to be heresy because it seemed to violate the literal intent of such scriptural passages as Joshua 10:13 ("And the sun stood still, and the moon stopped,....."), Psalms 93:1b ("He has established the world; it shall never be moved;") Psalm 104:5 ("You set the earth on its foundations, so that it shall never be shaken."). The Roman Catholic hierarchy urged Galileo to teach heliocentricity as hypothesis rather than as fact, attempting to give what they believed to be proper balance to all viewpoints then being considered in that day and time.

In 1632 he was summoned to Rome to defend his teachings before papal Inquisition judges; Galileo was recalcitrant in his position and was, then, "vehemently suspected of heresy (false doctrine)" and condemned to house arrest and cessation of publishing for the remainder of his life when he would not abjure (i.e., deny) his theory and teachings. Immediately after he mouthed a rejection of his teachings before the Church court, Galileo is reported to have whispered to himself "Epur si muove" (‘And yet it [the Earth] does move.’).

Galileo died under the Church’s edict in 1642, but not without having had a few of his later writings smuggled out of Italy by loyal students (e.g., his book Discourses on two new sciences was published in The Netherlands).

Although the sixteenth century has subsequently been tagged as the "Age of Genius," it was also a time of interdisciplinary turmoil. The Inquisition and the Protestant Reformation had forever changed the manner in which religious representatives and theologians would dialogue among one another. This was true, as well, about the way in which those of religion would interact with others, including the emerging, curious thinkers and experimenters of science. The rift between religion and science would continue to wax and wane from this point in history on until well into the twentieth century.

Galileo on the Inquisition: "And who can doubt that it (The Inquisition) will lead to the worst disorders when minds created free by God are compelled to submit slavishly to an outside will? When we are told to deny our senses and subject them to the whims of others? When people devoid of whatsoever competence are made judges over experts and are granted authority to treat them as they please? These are the novelties which are apt to bring about the ruin of commonwealths and the subversion of the state." (Written on the margin of his own copy of Dialogue on the Great World Systems.)

Galileo on God’s Creation: "And to prohibit the whole science would be to censure a hundred passages of Holy Scripture which teach us that the glory and greatness of Almighty God are marvelously discerned in all His works and divinely read in the open book of heaven." (In his Letter to the Grand Duchess Christina of Tuscany, 1616).

References:

Brinton, Crane, John B. Christopher and Robert L. Wolff. (1967). The Inquisition/The Protestant Reformation. In A History of Civilization - Volume One. (pp.459-492). Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice-Hall, Inc.

The Galileo Controversy (religious tract). (1996). On Catholic Answers Website (http://www.catholic.com/answers/TRACTS/galileo.htm).

Gerard, John. (1913). Galileo Galilei. In The Catholic Encyclopedia. Encyclopedia Press, Inc. (On-line version 1996 at Catholic Encyclopedia Website - http://www.knight.org/advent/cathen/06342b.htm).

Halsall, Paul. (1997). Galileo Galilei: Letter to the Grand Duchess Christina of Tuscany, 1615. On Modern History Sourcebook Website. Fordham University. (http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/mod/galileo-tuscany.html).

The Holy Bible - New Revised Standard Version. (1990). Nashville: Thomas Nelson Publishers/Cokesbury.

Library of the Institute and Museum of the History of Science of Florence, Italy. (1994-98). Room IV Galileo Galilei. Library website (http://galileo.imss.firenze.it/museo/b/egalig.html).

Newman, J.R. (1956). The World of Mathematics. New York.

O’Connor, John J. and Edmund F. Robertson. (September, 1998). Galileo Galilei. On The Mactutor History of Mathematics archive website (http://www-history.mcs.st-andrews.ac.uk/history/Mathematicians/Galileo.html).

Weisstein, Eric W. (1996-98). Galileo Galilei. On Scientific biography website (http://www.astro.virginia.edu/%7Eeww6n/bios0.html).