AES34 The Trial of Galileo Galilei

We all know the name Galileo Galilei, he was one of the most famous scientists in history for his work on developing the Heliocentric model of our solar system around 500 years ago (First proposed by Copernicus), which places the sun at the middle of our solar system, as opposed to the officially Church-approved and majorly accepted Geocentric model, which asserts that the Earth is the centre of all creation as scripture says. 

Galileo built a powerful telescope (for his time), and pointed it to Jupiter, where he discovered something very interesting that nobody has ever seen before; there appears to be several objects orbiting it. This directly contradicts the main belief held at the time, that the heavens only revolve around the Earth. He therefore claimed that it was impossible for the Earth to be the center of everything. The leading religious institution at this time was the Catholic Church, and it was not happy about this scientist spouting off findings that are against the teachings of the Church. They urged him to reclassify his discovery into only a working theory; he was not allowed to tell people that his findings are actual facts about our universe. Being certain that his ideas were right, Galileo refused to stay silent about his discovery.

It was not long until the Church arrested Galileo under the charge of heresy. His trial was held in 1632 when he was 68 years old. Being put under trial like this was a very serious thing back then, the Church handed out terrible punishments freely, he could be tortured and even burned at the stake for this supposed crime. Knowing this, he begrudgingly submitted to the request of the Catholic Church, and publicly announced that his beliefs were wrong, and that his findings shouldn’t be taken as evidence (some accounts say that at the end, Galileo quietly whispered “nevertheless, it is true”, but this is unconfirmed). After this, the Church spared his life, and instead Galileo was put under house arrest until the end of his life in 1642.

It was only in 1992 when the Catholic Church cleared Galileo of his crime. This story should inspire and warn us of the commitment it takes for the eternal pursuit of truth, especially when the world may not be ready for it.