The Trial Of Galileo Essay Research Paper — страница 2

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in the field of Astronomy after hearing of the invention of the telescope although he made one contribution to astronomy in 1604. He observed the phenomenon of the Nova or new star, which of course played an important role in the demise of the Aristotelian system. According to Aristotle the heavens or celestial realm were perfect and unchanging. The fact that a new star appeared contradicted this completely. Whilst using the telescope, Galileo made a number of other discoveries that posed a direct contradiction to the Aristotelian system. Firstly he argued that the moon had mountains and craters, as there were variations in light and dark on the surface of the moon. As Galileo is quoted as saying, ” the moon??is not unlike the face if the earth.” This of course contradicted

the Aristotelian idea that the heavens were perfect. Secondly he observed that the sun had spots (a phenomenon also observed by Scheiner and Fabricius) which led to the argument between whether or not the sun was changeable or whether these spots were actually as a result of the planets orbiting around the sun. Whichever argument was to be believed, it contradicted old ways of thinking. Thirdly, one of Galileo’s most important discoveries was that of the moons of Jupiter. Galileo had observed that there were moons around the planet of Jupiter and that they were orbiting as their arrangement differed over time. Galileo saw this as a miniature model of the Copernican system of the universe and it of course proved that not all bodies in the solar system revolved around the earth.

Galileo also observed that the planet Venus had different phases similar to that of the earth’s moon and therefore Galileo concluded that it must orbit the sun. ( ) I shall now address the question of what led to the trial of Galileo. The Vatican had a reputation for banning texts if they were in disagreement with church scriptures, although the problem was not serious due to high levels of illiteracy within the church. However in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries the church became harsher. This was as a result of the reformation and the counter- reformation. This involved the Protestant church breaking away from Catholicism and the Catholic Church attempting to rein the Protestants back in. Another factor was the advent of printing presses, which were being utilized by

the Protestant movement and therefore the Catholic church felt the need to take a more defensive position and ban certain books.( ) It was around 1542 when the Catholic church began to take a harsher stance on written material. It was at this time that Bernardino Ochino, a superior member of the Catholic church left Rome and turned to Protestantism which caused great of unrest both within the church and the general Catholic population. Pope Paul the third feared that more people would start to turn to Protestantism so began banning books from Italy which he felt where damaging to the Catholic religion. The powers of the Roman Congregation of the Index and they were increased to ensure heavy printing restrictions.( ) With regard to Galileo, the events that led to his summoning

before the inquisition happened over a long period of time. In the seventeenth century a science professor informed the Medici family (Galileo’s employers) that the notion of the earth moving was contrary to church scripture and therefore heretical. Galileo responded to this with the circulation of a pamphlet titled “Letters to Castelli” in which he expressed his opinion on the relationship between the church and science. In December of 1614 a Florentine Dominican denounced Galilean thinking and posted a complaint with the inquisition in Rome. In 1616 Copernican books were argued to be heretical and were subjected to heavy censorship by the Roman Congregation of the Index of forbidden books. The result was Galileo being issued with a warning from Cardinal Robert Bellamine

to discontinue his belief that the earth moved. Bellamine had earlier warned Galileo not to speak of Copernicanism as anything other than a method for calculation, i.e. hypothetical. After this ruling Galileo remained silent about his Copernican beliefs for a number of years. It was only in 1624 when Galileo wanted to write his book ‘Dialogue on the tides’ according to the Copernican and Ptolemaic systems of the universe did he clash with the church. The book was granted a license in 1630 but the title was altered to the Dialago [Dialogue Concerning the Two Chief World Systems.] As a result of a plague epidemic the book was published in Florence in 1632. Despite having been granted a license and holding the belief that Pope Urban the third would allow him to speak out,