The bible shows the way to go to heaven, not the way
the heavens go
Galileo Galilei
Galileo Galilei was born into a world where the Sun
orbited the Earth and the Earth stood still in space. This belief was confirmed every day by the
path of the sun arching across the heavens.
It was a world view originally set out by the ancient philosopher
Aristotle who believed that the Sun was just one of many objects that orbit the
static Earth. The Vatican considered
astronomy to be the study of gods domain and there was also a practical reason
to study the stars, they cycle of sunrise and sunset defined the cycle of
morning and evening prayer, the spring equinox told them when to plant there
gardens, the winter solstice foreshadowed Christmas. And the phases of the moon
fixed the dates of lent and Easter.
Born on the 15th of February 1564 Galileo was
the oldest of six siblings, his father was a musician of some repute. Galileo
started his education in a monastery, the Camaldolese monastery in Vallombrosa. Galileo toyed with the idea of becoming a priest,
and despite later in life holding views contrary to the church remained a
devout catholic. In 1583 Galileo started to study medicine at
the university of Pisa where he became fascinated with mathematics and
physics. It was while studying at Pisa
that Galileo was exposed to the Aristotelian theory, at the time this was the
leading view of the world being the only one sanctioned by the Roman Catholic
Church. At this time, like any other
intellectual of his time, Galileo supported this theory. Due to financial difficulties Galileo left
the university before earning his degree in 1585.
It was this year that he wrote his first scientific book ‘The
little balance’ describing the
hydrostatic principles of weighing small quantities, this gained him a teaching
position at the university of Pisa. In 1589
Galileo conducted his famous experiments with falling objects and produced his
manuscript ‘On motion’ this was contrary to the Aristotelian views about motion
and falling objects. Galileo had become arrogant
about his work and his criticisms of Aristotle’s work left him isolated among
his colleagues in 1592 his contract with the University of Pisa was not
renewed. He soon found a new position at
Padua university at three times the salary he had earned at Pisa. This was fortuitous as his father had died in
1591 leaving Galileo as the eldest son financial responsible for the family in
particular for the dowries he would have to provide for his two younger sisters.
Galileo had 3 illegitimate children. The eldest, Virginia born c1600, was given to
the Catholic Church and became a nun taking the name Maria Celeste, a number of
her letters to him survive to this day and speak of a warm and loving
relationship with her father. Although we no longer have his reply’s Maria’s
letters have been made into a book, ‘Galileo’s Daughter’
In 1604 Galileo published ‘the operations of the
Geometrical and Military Compass’ revealing his skills with practical
technological applications and experiments, he also made a hydrostatic balance
for measuring small objects. These developments
brought him some measure of fame and fortune that same year he refined his
theories on motion and falling objects and developed the universal law of acceleration (which all objects in
the universe obeyed.) Galileo began to openly express his support for the
Copernican theory that the Earth and the Planets revolve around the Sun, this
directly challenged the doctrine of Aristotle and the established order set by
the Catholic Church.
In questions of science, the
authority of a thousand is not worth the humble reasoning of a single
individual
Galileo Galilei
In
July 1609 Galileo heard about ‘Dutch perspective glass’ or the telescope and
soon, havening never seen one first hand, not only built his own but improved
on the original design by increasing the magnification 30 times. In august of that year he demonstrated it to
some merchants from Venice who saw its value for spotting ships up to two hours
before it would be visible to the naked eye and gave Galileo a healthy salary
to manufacture several of them. In the autumn
of 1609 Galileo became the first astronomer to turn his telescope skywards, and
in a stroke invented modern observational astronomy. By March 1610 he had published his first work
on astronomy, the starry messenger, in which he revealed that the moon was not
flat and smooth as people believed it to be but was rugged and pot marked with
many carters, mountains and valleys. He
also found that Venus had phases like the moon.
This was a monumental discovery as it proved that Venus orbited the
sun. He also discovered Jupiter had four
moons, revolving around there parent planet rather than around the sun as the philosophy
of the time would dictate. Soon Galileo
had a body of evidence that supported Copernican theory and contradicted Aristotle
and the doctrine of the church
In
1612 Galileo published ‘Discourse on bodies in water’ in this work he refuted Aristoteles
ideas of why objects float in water, saying that it was not because of their
flat shape but instead the weight of the object in relation to the water it
displaced. Furthermore in 1613 he
published his observations of sunspots, which further refuted Aristotle
doctrine that the sun was perfect. Later
that year Galileo wrote a letter to a student to explain how Copernican theory
did not contradict biblical passages, saying that the scripture had been written
from the perspective of earthly men and that science provided a different, more
accurate perspective. The letter was
made public and the Inquisition consultants of the church pronounced Copernican
theory to be heresy. In 1616 he was
ordered by the Vatican not to “hold, teach or defend in any manner” the Copernican
theory about the motion of the earth. Being
a good and devoted Catholic he obeys the order for seven years.
Pope
Urban VIII allowed Galileo to pursue his work on astronomy, as he was a
personal friend of Galileo, in 1623. The
Pope even encouraged him to publish it, on the proviso that he be objective and
not advocate Copernican theory to heavily.
In 1632 Galileo published the ‘Dialogue concerning the two chief world
systems’ written as a dialogue between three people one of whom supports Heliocentric theory (the Copernican view)
one of whom argues against it and one who is impartial. This is where Galileo’s arrogance becomes apparent
as although he insisted that dialogues was neutral it clearly was not. The Aristotelian advocate came across as a
simpleton, getting caught in his own arguments
The
reaction of the church was swift, Galileo soon found himself summoned to
Rome. The Inquisition proceedings lasted
from September 1632 until July 1633.
During most of this time Galileo was treated with respect and was not imprisoned
or tortured, although it was threatened.
He finally admitted he had supported Copernican theory and held that his
statements were correct. He was convicted of heresy and spent the rest of his
life under house arrest. Ordered not to
have any visitors or to have any of his works printed outside of Italy, Galileo
ignored both rulings against him and in 1634 a French translation of his study
of forces and their effects on matter was published, and a year after that,
copies of Dialogue were published in Holland. Whilst under house arrest he
wrote Two New Sciences a summary of his life’s work on the science of motion
and the strength of materials. It was
printed in Holland in 1638. He was, by
now, blind and was in generally ill health and died on January the 8th
1642 after suffering from a fever and heart palpitations. In time the church could no longer hold it’s
position and the truth that Galileo had proved through science could not be denied.
In 1758 it lifted the ban on most works supporting Copernican theory and by
1835 dropped its opposition to heliocentrism altogether.
