The emergence of modern astronomy – a complex mosaic: Part XXVII
This is very poor history. Much of the negative characterization of Galileo rests on two incorrect (but commonly believed) assertions:<p>&gt; Worse than this, [Galileo] placed the Pope’s words on the subject in the mouth of Simplicio, the simpleton, not a smart move.<p>Galileo probably did not intend to put the Pope&#x27;s words in Simplicio&#x27;s mouth. This is a charge that Galileo&#x27;s accusers leveled, but there&#x27;s no evidence for it. Galileo had Simplicio voice a common anti-heliocentric argument that didn&#x27;t necessarily have any particular association with the Pope.<p>&gt; The Inquisition now produced the written version of the statement that had been read to Galileo by an official of the Inquisition immediately following his interview with Bellarmino expressly forbidding the teaching of the heliocentric theory as fact.<p>This is a mischaracterization of the Inquisition&#x27;s 1616 injunction to Galileo. The author here makes it sound like Galileo was simply told not to treat heliocentrism as a fact, but that Galileo was free to entertain the hypothesis. This is a staple of Catholic apologia surrounding the Galileo affair, but it breaks down the second you actually look at the Inquisition&#x27;s statements on the matter.<p>First of all, the Inquisition officially declared heliocentrism to be incorrect and heretical:<p>&gt; Proposition to be assessed:<p>&gt; (1) The sun is the center of the world and completely devoid of local motion.<p>&gt; Assessement: All said that this proposition is foolish and absurd in philosophy, and formally heretical since it explicitly contradicts many places the sense of Holy Scripture, according to the literal meaning of the words and according to the common interpretation and understanding of the Holy Fathers and the doctors of theology.<p>&gt; (2) The earth is not the center of the world, nor motionless, but it moves as a whole and also with diurnal motion.<p>&gt; Assessment: All said that this proposition receives the same judgement in philosophy and that in regard to theological truth it is at least errouneous in faith.<p>So it&#x27;s clear that the Church was not simply saying, &quot;Hey, heliocentrism is just a hypothesis.&quot; They took a clear stand that it was incorrect and heretical, because it contradicted Scripture.<p>Next, this is how the Inquisition described their injunction to Galileo:<p>&gt; the same Most Illustrious Lord Cardinal warned Galileo that the above-mentioned opinion was erroneous and that he should abandon it;<p>&gt; [...] ordered and enjoined the said Galileo, who was himself still present, to abandon completely the above-mentioned opinion that the sun stands still at the center of the world and the earth moves, and henceforth not to hold, teach, or defend it in any way whatever, either orally or in writing; otherwise the Holy Office would start proceedings against him.<p>This is the injunction Galileo was convicted of breaching in 1633. The injunction didn&#x27;t allow Galileo to treat heliocentrism as a hypothesis. It outright said that heliocentrism was false, and that Galileo was not allowed to teach or advocate it in any way whatsoever.<p>A third problem with this history is that it massively plays up Tycho&#x27;s model of the Solar system. Tycho&#x27;s model was obviously attractive to the Church, as a model that was able to match the data while keeping the Earth stationary at the center of the Universe. The problem with Tycho&#x27;s model was that it was horribly inelegant. Whereas the basic features of the motion of the planets and Sun across the sky (and sunspots across the disk of the Sun) all appear naturally in a heliocentric system, you have to put them in by hand as separate assumptions in Tycho&#x27;s model. It looked like an inelegant kludge put together in order to avoid a moving Earth.<p>Finally, in answer to the comment that Galileo&#x27;s downfall was his hubris, I&#x27;d say that his &quot;hubris&quot; was his belief that he might be allowed to make a forceful argument for the ideas he believed in, without being muzzled by the authorities.<p>1. Documents relating to the Inquisition&#x27;s 1616 ruling on heliocentrism: <a href="http:&#x2F;&#x2F;douglasallchin.net&#x2F;galileo&#x2F;library&#x2F;1616docs.htm" rel="nofollow">http:&#x2F;&#x2F;douglasallchin.net&#x2F;galileo&#x2F;library&#x2F;1616docs.htm</a>