Fergie's Tech Blog

February 25, 1616: Galileo at Center of Church Controversy

Galileo Galilei (1564-1642)
Image source: pbs.org

On Thursday, February 25, 1616, the Catholic Church passes a censure against Galileo who had earlier stated that the Sun is the center of the world and that the Earth moves around it—directly against the Church’s belief that the Earth, instead, was the center of the world and the Sun revolved around it.

Galileo Galilei, born February 15, 1564, was an Italian astronomer, physicist, and philosopher. He was also a Roman Catholic. During his professional career he is credited with the first scientific study of uniformly accelerated motion, pioneering efforts in quantitative scientific methods, refinements to the telescope, numerous astronomical observations (such as discovery of three of Jupiter’s moons), and argent support of the Copernican theory of the universe. Founded by Polish astronomer Nicolaus Copernicus (1473-1543), Copernicanism is the modern-day theory that the Sun is at the center of the solar system—the heliocentric theory.

However, Galileo’s support of the heliocentric theory did not bode well with officials of the Catholic Church, who thought them dangerous to church doctrine and unorthodox religious opinion—that is, heresy.

posted by Fergie @ 2/25/2007 02:09:00 PM