Galileo was the Greatest Innovator and Scientific Mind of his Time

Galileo is concerned with obtaining the truth about the world we live in, whether religion provides an answer or science. This is evident in the letter when he is discussing the “celestial bodies” concerning the work of Copernicus. Galileo believes that it would be wholly unjustified to ban Copernicus’ work after it has been confirmed over the years, he puts it: “in my judgement to be a contravention of the truth” if this were to occur. Basically Galileo believes if something is true, the basis of the truth either, religious or scientific is equally creditable. He further states that if scientific fact is unattainable, it must be a thing of faith and religion; “where human reasoning cannot reach” and there “is no science but only opinion of faith” the truth must be in the Scripture. This is demonstrated in the letter “whether the stars are animate” or “whether or not the heavens are spherical”. Galileo believes that ultimately that the science behind a phenomena will

In the letter Galileo explained that it would not matter if something in the Bible was disproven, the primary purpose of the Bible is salvation. He also believed that God gave him and others intellect. He reasoned that if God did not want people to gain knowledge, then God would not have gave them the ability to reason or the ability to make new discoveries. Galileo also believed that if the sacred scribes wanted us to have all the answers they would have written them, and that the Holy Ghost intended to only teach us how to get to heaven, not how heaven goes.

Another important figure in the Scientific Revolution was Galileo Galilei. He was an Italian born professor of mathematics who had a great interest in the workings of the universe. Galileo served as a professor at the University of Padua, and it was during this time that he began to question the accuracy of the Churches representation of the world. Galileo’s approach towards knowledge was much different then the afore mentioned Copernicus. Where as Copernicus presented his finding to the mercy of the church, Galileo wrote his conclusions and left the Roman Catholic Church interpret them as they chose. The very nature of his findings pitted him as an opponent of the church.

An important thing to remember is that is the 16th and 17th centuries, there was no separation between State and the Church. Most/all rules in the State had to do something with the Bible and how it had been interpreted, and it anyone had opposed the ideas of the Bible, they would not only get punished by the church, but also by the State. This made it laborious to try to prove an idea with science, just as Galileo was trying to do. Not even the smallest accusation about the church was taken lightly, “As you know, the Council [of Trent] prohibits interpreting the Scriptures contrary to the common agreement of the holy Fathers.” (Document B). At this point Galileo had only just started his discoveries, and sharing them with the public and church. Even though Galileo never explicitly vocalized that the scriptures were wrong, just by throwing the idea out that the Earth revolved around the Sun, caused disagreement from the Church and State. The timing that Galileo started to speak about his discoveries and thoughts about the universe was not the best. He started to say his ideas only a little after Bruno. Galileo supported Bruno’s idea on how the universe worked. This was probably not the best idea for Galileo, considering that Bruno had been burned to death in 1600, for the popular belief that he was going against the Bible. The main difference between

He also made some of the first observations of nature with long-lasting implications for physics (biography.com). He is known for developing the telescope and stood by the Copernican theory, which is based on a sun-centered solar system where the planets revolve around the sun (biography.com). Galileo’s biggest issue was supporting Copernican’s theory, because it went against society (biography.com). Society once thought that the Earth was flat and they thought that the sun revolved around us. When Galileo went against that, people looked down upon him. Galileo did conform so he could make life easier (biography.com). “Church reaction against the book was swift, and Galileo was summoned to Rome. The Inquisition proceedings lasted from September 1632 to July 1633. During most of this time, Galileo was treated with respect and never imprisoned. However, in a final attempt to break him, Galileo was threatened with torture, and he finally admitted he had supported Copernican theory, but privately held that his statements were correct. He was convicted of heresy and spent his remaining years under house arrest (biography.com).”

In the midst of this, Cardinal Bellarmine wrote him a letter explaining why his ideas were not going to be accepted. He said: “But to want to affirm that the sun really is fixed in the center of the heavens and only revolves around itself (i.e., turns upon its axis) without traveling from east to west, and that the earth is situated in the third sphere and revolves with great speed around the sun, is a very dangerous thing, not only by irritating all the philosophers and scholastic theologians, but also by injuring our holy faith and rendering the Holy Scriptures false” (Document B). The Cardinal explains how Galileo is contradicting the teachings of the theologists, philosophers, and the Bible. Also, he is doing a dangerous deed because the Church was afraid of these contradicting ideas because they could have destroyed the perspective on the Church and caused a major decrease in power. Galileo contradicting the Church impacted the future by causing more people to begin and question the ways of life, leading to new

Galileo’s findings from his telescopic observations were revolutionary because he showed that the heavens were not perfect.

Scientifically, Galileo will be remembered for invention of the telescope, which allowed astronomers, sailors and other view the heavens and seas, which fed their own theories. He used his own invention to discover the four moons of Jupiter, the mountains and craters of the moon, and sunspots. His work on falling objects led to gravitational studies and mathematical theorems which are on a basic level, physics. Experimentation was used as a means to prove the laws of science along with the mathematical theories. Math, according to Galileo, was the only infallible form of logic. If a mathematical law could be formed from an event, then it was a logical, rational event. His breaking from the Catholic Church, voicing his findings and staying with his convictions broke the traditional way of thinking that the Church was the end all and be all of all things. In the end, he was proven right for most of his beliefs and vindicated for his suppression.

Galileo was the first European to make systematic observations of the heavens through his improved invention of the telescope. Through his telescope, Galileo made a series of discoveries. Galileo’s observations demolished among the traditional cosmology of what the universe seemed to be composed of. Not only did Galileo make astonishing discoveries, but he was also offered a new position from Grand Duke Cain II of Florence, as his court mathematician. During this time, Galileo was told that he could continue to discuss Copernicanism, as long as he would maintain everything as mathematical supposition, and not as facts. Due to the Inquisitions response, the church attacked the Copernican system since it threaten the Scripture and its’ entire conception of the universe. The new system rose'd much uncertainty that seemed as prudent to simply condemn it. In 1633, Galileo was found guilty of teaching the condemned Copernican system and was then forced to be placed under house arrest. He spent the remaining eight years of life studying mechanics. The principal of motion was the one of the problems that fell under the heading of mechanics. At the end, Galileo made two contributions to the problem of motion. He demonstrated by experimenting uniform force to accelerate

In his letter written in 1597 to Johannes Kepler, he states, “I accepted the view of Copernicus many years ago. And from this standpoint I have discovered many natural phenomena, which cannot be explained on the basis of the more commonly accepted hypothesis [that the Earth is the center of the Universe]”(9). In other words, Galileo also accepted the idea of the heliocentric view of the universe and that it is a better model of the universe that can explain phenomenon that could not necessarily be explained with the geocentric view. With his invention of a more powerful telescope, observation of a supernova, and discovery of the four moons of Jupiter, Galileo further supported and extended Copernicus’ theory of the heliocentric view of the

Even though Galileos beliefs were held in practicing Catholicsim, his writings were showing evidence for “Copernican heliocentrism.” The Catholic Church, however, disapproved of heliocentricity, feeling that it was contrary to the statements in the Bible: if God created human beings as His supreme creation, He would place man at the center of His cosmos. (At that time the more literal Biblical interpretation was prevalent with the church fathers, especially among the Dominican Order, facilitators of the Inquisition)2 However, real power layed with the Church, and Galileo's arguments were most fiercely fought on the religious level. Cardinal Robert Bellarmine insisted that Galileo furnish more adequate proof of his new theories before he would be allowed to teach them as true or even as probably true.

truth of his theory of evolution." In the world of Galileo proof was what was

In summer of 1609, Galileo Galilei (1564-1642) pointed his revolutionary astronomical telescope to the heavens under the starry Venetian sky; his greatly important observations unveiled the mysteries of universe and would end up changing the course of scientific thought forever. Galileo lived in an age where there was much status quo, when scientists and philosophers would accept scientific and religious doctrine that had stood for hundreds, if not thousands, of years instead of challenging the accepted knowledge in favor of intellectual progress. Galileo’s scientific methods lead to significant discoveries explaining key scientific laws, such as the

His discoveries made him infamous in the eyes of the Church and changed how people look at the earth with respect to the Universe. Being so proud of his remarkable discoveries he decided to Duchess Christina. “I discovered in the heavens many things that had not been seen before our own age.” (Ch 16, Doc 4) He writes of his findings and how they were criticized and he was ridiculed for his findings. They denounce his new perception of the world, but Galileo knew that new discoveries would have “consequences” and that people would turn against him.

He was an Italian physicist, astronomer, mathematician, philosopher, and engineer who played a large role in the scientific revolution (1564-1642). Galileo was often faced with controversial arguments about his findings. Based on the shared knowledge of the Catholic Church, it tried to compress the personal knowledge of Galileo. This is where the idea of personal and shared knowledge shaping each other comes into perspective, as Galileo was continuously faced with the knowledge of the Church. Continuously his personal knowledge was rejected, because shared knowledge had such an influence among the people. His hypothesis frightened both the Protestant leaders and Catholic Church because it went against their teachings and authority. If people believed that the church could be wrong about this, they would question the church teachings as well. The Church warned Galileo of his theories, however silently he continued to research. The Church's greatest fear was that Galileo's personal knowledge would ultimately change the shared knowledge of the Church. In 1632, he published a book which presented both of the ideas of Copernicus and Ptolemy, and it was clear that Galileo supported the Copernican theory which stated that the Earth moved around the Sun. Galileo was sentenced to court and found guilty. Under torture, he admitted his findings were false. Only in 1992, the Catholic Church