Life of Galileo Notes

Life of Galileo – Notes * Two stories. * 1609 – Galileo – a famous scientist – astronomer. * He is credited with inventing the telescope – although he pinched the idea off somebody else. * He was a bit immoral – Always broke – Short on money. * Then he discovered that the earth moves around the sun. * This was a very serious situation for him, because at that time, the Catholic Church was very powerful – The Church has always taught that the sun moved around the earth. * The bible said: That God made the man his own image, therefore the idea was that the planet man habituated in which was earth, must be the most important planet. * In the text, there is a visual of the solar system as a fixed structure with earth in the centre – surrounded by other planets. * When anybody dared to challenge what the Church talked, would be a huge problem because the Church would not allow any criticism. * They wouldn’t allow any of their policies to be shunned. * If anyone dared to question one part of their beliefs, the Church felt that all their beliefs will change and people will start criticising their sayings. * Thus, they will lose their power, wealth, status in society. * Even though they kind of knew that Galileo was right, they wouldn’t admit it. * In order to crush any opposition, they killed anybody who dared to challenge. * Involves torture – burnt at the stake. * They were considered as a heretic (someone who speaks against God: noun=heresy) * Burnt on a stake means their soul will be cleansed with fire and go to heaven. * This has actually happened to another scientist, who also said that the earth moved around the sun. Copernicus – he was a Polish monk. * It was in the 1400~ and he was burnt at the stake. * Galileo knew what fate awaited him. * He tried to avoid the ultimate fate. * He was a real coward. * In the end, he was so terrified of torture, that he recanted (went