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primsongThis came up as a side-thought to a thread on the Pony - it being a bit of revisionist history that sets my teeth on edge whenever it hoves by, I thought I might get it out of my system by offering a brief historical account here.
The myth, in a nutshell, as expressed there: ...Many scientists have been persecuted for trying to explain natural phenomenon – Galileo was a “heretic” according to the Catholic Church because he suggested that *gasp* the Earth rotates around the Sun. And maybe the Earth isn’t flat after all?
A brief look at the truth of the matter:
This myth seems to have its strongest point of origin in the French Enlightenment thinkers who created dramatic tableaus of this type as part of their anticlerical programs in the mid-Eighteenth century, and was picked up and popularized by such writers as Bertrand Russell.
(Galileo lived in the 1600s, btw, so there was a bit of a gap between when it happened and the "new revised version" of his history)
If you study the documents of the time, you would find the Church was in support of Galileo, who was being ridiculed by other scientists because of their differing views on Aristotle's teachings - and at that point, people did *not* really believe the earth was flat. It was the orbit of the planet that was being debated - Aristotle (and subsequently Ptolemy, who applied Aristotle to astronomy) taught that the Sun rotated around the Earth and this was a prevailing classic thought of the time among Galileo's scientific peers, though not the only one.
Galileo was a student of Copernicus, (also fully supported by the Church). His works circulated for 70 years without comment from the church. Why isn't Copernicus the more appropriate 'victim' of the tale? He never got in trouble with the Church.
It was Galileo's later ridicule of Pope Urban VIII in a later work (that was not even about his astronomy - "Dialogue Concerning the Chief World Systems") in which he mocked his personal *friend* the Pope under a Simpleton character that got him in trouble. Pope Urban, understandingly not appreciating being lampooned, asked him to change it and he would not. For this he was detained - but certainly not tortured - he was elderly at the time, and was given his own house and servants as a high ranking friend. Thus it was his position as a court favorite who liked to debate politics and patronage was (as so many say) "condemned."
It is ironic that Galileo is most famous for things he never did - he did not originate his theories (that was Copernicus), nor invent the telescope (that was invented by a Dutch lensmaker), nor was he tortured/condemned by the Church for his astronomical publications. His actions *did* make the Church take a second look at Copernicus' writings, and one work was suspended for four years 'pending corrections' by a very scholarly Cardinal - but Galileo's own works are not mentioned.
Whew! That's better.
The myth, in a nutshell, as expressed there: ...Many scientists have been persecuted for trying to explain natural phenomenon – Galileo was a “heretic” according to the Catholic Church because he suggested that *gasp* the Earth rotates around the Sun. And maybe the Earth isn’t flat after all?
A brief look at the truth of the matter:
This myth seems to have its strongest point of origin in the French Enlightenment thinkers who created dramatic tableaus of this type as part of their anticlerical programs in the mid-Eighteenth century, and was picked up and popularized by such writers as Bertrand Russell.
(Galileo lived in the 1600s, btw, so there was a bit of a gap between when it happened and the "new revised version" of his history)
If you study the documents of the time, you would find the Church was in support of Galileo, who was being ridiculed by other scientists because of their differing views on Aristotle's teachings - and at that point, people did *not* really believe the earth was flat. It was the orbit of the planet that was being debated - Aristotle (and subsequently Ptolemy, who applied Aristotle to astronomy) taught that the Sun rotated around the Earth and this was a prevailing classic thought of the time among Galileo's scientific peers, though not the only one.
Galileo was a student of Copernicus, (also fully supported by the Church). His works circulated for 70 years without comment from the church. Why isn't Copernicus the more appropriate 'victim' of the tale? He never got in trouble with the Church.
It was Galileo's later ridicule of Pope Urban VIII in a later work (that was not even about his astronomy - "Dialogue Concerning the Chief World Systems") in which he mocked his personal *friend* the Pope under a Simpleton character that got him in trouble. Pope Urban, understandingly not appreciating being lampooned, asked him to change it and he would not. For this he was detained - but certainly not tortured - he was elderly at the time, and was given his own house and servants as a high ranking friend. Thus it was his position as a court favorite who liked to debate politics and patronage was (as so many say) "condemned."
It is ironic that Galileo is most famous for things he never did - he did not originate his theories (that was Copernicus), nor invent the telescope (that was invented by a Dutch lensmaker), nor was he tortured/condemned by the Church for his astronomical publications. His actions *did* make the Church take a second look at Copernicus' writings, and one work was suspended for four years 'pending corrections' by a very scholarly Cardinal - but Galileo's own works are not mentioned.
Whew! That's better.
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Date: 2005-05-09 04:36 pm (UTC)