AUI – HISTORY OF IDEAS – 2302 01

SPRING 2021

Stefano B

1. (ALMOST) EVERYTHING YOU NEED TO KNOW

ABOUT GALILEO GALILEI
Who was Galileo Galilei?

He was born in Pisa in 1564.

1588-1592 – Chair in mathematics in Pisa (in fact he started off studying medicine).
1592-1610 – Chair in Padua.

1609 – First interest for the telescope (originally built in the Netherlands) that he improves
and presents to the Venice government.

1610 – Book: Sidereus Nuncius (announces the discovery of Jupiter’s satellites). Observation of Saturn (that
he saw as a sort of “Mickey Mouse”).

1632 – Book: Dialogue Concerning the Chief World Systems (the book that got him in trouble).

1633 – Trial. He was tried by the Inquisition in Rome, where he was found suspect of heresy, and forced
to declare that all of his findings were wrong. He was confined to his house in Arcetri near Florence.

1642 – Dies in Arcetri. He had become blind by the age of 74.

Why do we still study Galileo Galilei?

(1) He substantially contributed to the scientific method.

In his times the scientific community (the “natural philosophers”) basically relied on the
authority of the Greek philosopher Aristotle (384-322 BCE), whose texts were studied by heart
even when they concerned the natural world. Galilei emphasised the importance of
experimentation, and argued that physics should be a mathematics-based science.
Aristotelian physics was loosely based on observation (not on experiments!) and it was not
formulated in mathematical language. For instance, Aristotle was convinced that “heavier”
bodies fall more rapidly, and that the earth stands still at the center of the universe.

(2) He described the concept of Basic Relativity in physics, which can be stated as follows: "the
laws of mechanics will be the same for all observers moving at the same speed and direction with
respect to one another.”

(This is precisely what the Saudi cleric did not understand/study:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nj8hT9YO884. There were no airplanes in Galilei’s times
but he based his demonstration on the example of a ship).

(3) He improved the telescope.

(4) He observed four Satellites of Jupiter, Saturn, the Sun’s rotation, the
sunspots, Venus’ phases, the Moon’s geography.

(More here:
https://www.atnf.csiro.au/outreach/education/senior/astrophysics/galileo.
html)

(5) He defended Heliocentrism (although it was not a new idea!).

(6) He described the Law of the pendulum as well as the principle of inertia.
 Some more things you should definitely know about Galileo, his life, his
times and his achievements:

(1) He was not always right in his scientific statements or successful in his
experiments!

He was wrong about comets, that he believed to be a play of light rather than
physical objects.
He believed that the planets’ orbits were circular rather than elliptical.
His perception of Saturn was not correct.
He attempted (unsuccessfully) to measure the speed of light by placing
observers with lanterns about a mile apart. The idea was good, but the
Giuseppe Bertini (1825–1898) - Galileo technology available wasn’t.
Galilei showing the Doge of Venice how to
use the telescope (fresco) Villa Andrea
Ponti, Varese, Italy
(2) Galilei did not regard himself as a public adversary of religion. He would have
probably described himself as a pious Catholic. However, he had three children
out of wedlock. One of them, Virginia, became a nun (Sister Maria Celeste) and
took care of him in his last days.

(3) Of course,the trial was tough and unfair but Galileo did not go to jail nor was
he physically tortured. (See Finocchiaro’s reading).

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The Copernican system, as the name says, was not new, but had been introduced
by the Polish astronomer Copernicus (1473-1543) who studied in Bologna.
heliocentrism was even older than Copernicus, having been proposed for instance
by Philolaus (480-385 BCE) and Aristarchus of Samos (310-230 BCE).

People did not believe in geocentrism because they were silly! It is quite in
accordance with everyday/non-experimental observations (like Aristotelian
physics).

So what was new about Galilei and why did he get in trouble?
A “popular,” OVERSIMPLIFIED version of the Galileo Affair goes like
this…

The Dialogue is a work in which several characters talk and compare the
Copernican system with the Ptolemaic one (geocentric ---> from the
Greco-Egyptian astronomer Ptolemy, 90-168 AD). The Copernican
system turns out to be the correct one.

The Bible seems rather geocentric-oriented. See Joshua 10:13:

“Then Joshua spoke to the LORD in the day when the LORD delivered up the
Amorites before the sons of Israel, and he said in the sight of Israel, ‘O sun,
stand still at Gibeon, And O moon in the valley of Aijalon.’ So the sun stood
still, and the moon stopped, Until the nation avenged themselves of their
enemies.”

Therefore, Galilei was contradicting the Bible (and Aristotle), so the

Church got angry.
Galilei and the Inquisition – Cristiano Banti - 1857 – Oil on canvas
The Abjuration:
I, Galileo, son of the late Vincenzo Galilei, Florentine, aged seventy years, arraigned personally before this tribunal, and
kneeling before you, Most Eminent and Reverend Lord Cardinals, Inquisitors-General against heretical depravity
throughout the entire Christian commonwealth, having before my eyes and touching with my hands, the Holy Gospels,
swear that I have always believed, do believe, and by God's help will in the future believe, all that is held, preached, and
taught by the Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church. But whereas -- after an injunction had been judicially intimated to me by
this Holy Office, to the effect that I must altogether abandon the false opinion that the sun is the center of the world and
immovable, and that the earth is not the center of the world, and moves, and that I must not hold, defend, or teach in any
way whatsoever, verbally or in writing, the said false doctrine, and after it had been notified to me that the said doctrine
was contrary to Holy Scripture -- I wrote and printed a book in which I discuss this new doctrine already condemned,
and adduce arguments of great cogency in its favor, without presenting any solution of these, and for this reason I have
been pronounced by the Holy Office to be vehemently suspected of heresy, that is to say, of having held and believed that
the Sun is the center of the world and immovable, and that the earth is not the center and moves: Therefore, desiring to
remove from the minds of your Eminences, and of all faithful Christians, this vehement suspicion, justly conceived against
me, with sincere heart and unfeigned faith I abjure, curse, and detest the aforesaid errors and heresies, and generally
every other error, heresy, and sect whatsoever contrary to the said Holy Church, and I swear that in the future I will
never again say or assert, verbally or in writing, anything that might furnish occasion for a similar suspicion regarding
me; but that should I know any heretic, or person suspected of heresy, I will denounce him to this Holy Office, or to the
Inquisitor or Ordinary of the place where I may be. Further, I swear and promise to fulfill and observe in their integrity all
penances that have been, or that shall be, imposed upon me by this Holy Office. And, in the event of my contravening,
(which God forbid) any of these my promises and oaths, I submit myself to all the pains and penalties imposed and
promulgated in the sacred canons and other constitutions, general and particular, against such delinquents. So help me God,
and these His Holy Gospels, which I touch with my hands.
I, the said Galileo Galilei, have abjured, sworn, promised, and bound myself as above; and in witness of the truth thereof I
have with my own hand subscribed the present document of my abjuration, and recited it word for word at Rome, in the
Convent of Minerva, this twenty-second day of June, 1633.
I, Galileo Galilei, have abjured as above with my own hand.
…but it’s not that simple! In fact, multiple factors explain the trouble…

One. Galilei was an atomist and his views conflicted with the official explanation of
the doctrine of Eucharist (See handout).

Two. Galilei had powerful enemies in the Church and wasn’t always a good
diplomat.
The Dialogue presents geocentrism through a character called Simplicio (“simple”!)
that Galileo’s adversaries interpreted as a caricature of the Pope.

This was not correct (Galilei was probably mocking another colleague) but it shows
you that also personal sympathies and antipathies were involved.

Three. Heliocentrism was not a new idea, but Galilei had PLENTY OF EVIDENCE!

Also:
Four. The Dialogue was written in Italian. That he murmured
“Eppur si muove!”
(“And yet it moves!”)
Five: Heliocentrism is also religiously challenging (the Earth and hence the humans is a myth….
are no longer "at the center" )
In conclusion you should consider the Galilei affair , rather than JUST a
dispute over the specific point (Heliocentrism/Geocentrism) as…
A POWER GAME CONCERNING WHO HAS THE FINAL WORD
ABOUT THE BIBLE’S INTERPRETATION.
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Galileo had expressed his ideas about the interpretation of the Bible in
a letter to the Grand Duchess of Tuscany, Christine of Lorraine (1615):
“If the sacred scribes had had any intention of teaching people certain
arrangements and motions of the heavenly bodies, or had they wished
us to derive such knowledge from the Bible, then in my opinion they
would not have spoken of these matters so sparingly in comparison
with the infinite number of admirable conclusions which are
demonstrated in that science.”
“I would say here something that was heard from an ecclesiastic of the
most eminent degree: “That the intention of the Holy Ghost is to teach
us how one goes to heaven, not how heaven goes.”
http://inters.org/Galilei-Madame-Christina-Lorraine
Vatican Science Panel Told By Pope: Galileo Was Right

The New York Times

Published: November 1, 1992

Moving formally to rectify a wrong, Pope John Paul II acknowledged in a

speech today that the Roman Catholic Church had erred in condemning
Galileo 359 years ago for asserting that the Earth revolves around the Sun.
The address by the Pope before the Pontifical Academy of Sciences closed a
13-year investigation into the Church's condemnation of Galileo in 1633,
one of history's most notorious conflicts between faith and science. Galileo
was forced to recant his scientific findings to avoid being burned at the
stake and spent the remaining eight years of his life under house arrest.
John Paul said the theologians who condemned Galileo did not recognize
the formal distinction between the Bible and its interpretation.
"This led them unduly to transpose into the realm of the doctrine of the
faith, a question which in fact pertained to scientific investigation.
Though the Pope acknowledged that the Church had done Galileo a
wrong, he said the 17th-century theologians were working with the
knowledge available to them at the time.
 LAST BUT NOT LEAST

The belief that the earth is NOT flat but spherical

dates back to ancient Greek scientists/philosophers
such as Pythagoras (570-495 BCE) and Aristotle (384-
322 BCE).

It was the philosopher GIORDANO BRUNO (1548-

1600) who was burnt at stake. He was, like Galilei,
an advocate of the Copernican doctrine but he was
tried because he emphatically denied basic Catholic
teachings such as the Trinity, the divinity of Christ,
the virginity of Mary, and Transubstantiation.