“We pronounce, judge, and declare, that you, the said Galileo… have rendered yourself vehemently suspected by this Holy Office of heresy, that is, of having believed and held the doctrine (which is false and contrary to the Holy and Divine Scriptures) that the sun is the center of the world, and that it does not move from east to west, and that the earth does move, and is not the center of the world.”

Galileo was under house arrest until his death. He died a natural death though there were allegations that the church authorities prosecuted him.

HELIOCENTRIC and GEOCENTRIC THEORIES

In March 1610, he published The Starry Messengerto explain about his findings after he developed the telescope. In that booklet, he explained that the moon is not flat. He explained that the moon is spherical. He also discovered the moons of Jupiter and said the planets are not revolving the earth. He supported the Copernican Theory and his books Discourse on Bodies in Water refuted the findings of Aristotle.

Galileo was under house arrest until his death. He died a natural death though there were allegations that the church authorities prosecuted him.

In 1616, the Church ordered Galileo not to “hold, teach, or defend in any manner” the Copernican theory regarding the motion of the earth. He did not oppose the order and followed it for seven years.

Cardinal Maffeo Barberini, a friend of Galileo was chosen as Pope Urban VIII in 1623 and allowed his friend to continue what the church had told him to stop. 9 years later, he published an interesting book titled Dialogue Concerning the Two Chief World Systems. In that book, he wrote about three people who were discussing about the heliocentric, geocentric theories. One backed the heliocentric concept while the other opposed it and the third one stood neutral.

The Church did not wait any further and he was summoned to Rome. The inquisition procedures lasted for an year. Although he was treated well and was not imprisoned initially he was later warned with torture and he had to accept that he backed the Copernican theory of heliocentric concept which explains that the earth and other planets revolves around the Sun. According to the concept of the Catholic Church, earth was the center of the Galaxy and they backed the Geocentric theory in which they believed that all planets were revolving around the earth.

He was convicted of heresy and he was put under the house arrest.

Even though there were orders not to publish anything outside Italy, he published a French translation of his studies. In the following years he published the Dialogue in Netherlands. In 1638, he wrote Two New Sciences and got it printed in Netherlands as well which was a collection of his findings and studies on science of motion and strength of materials.

Galileo died on January 8, 1642 due to fever and heart palpitations. In 1758, the church lifted the ban on his works and 77 years later, they started supporting the heliocentric theory.

In 1992, Pope John Paul II expressed the regret and said sorry for what the Church authorities had done to that great man who is considered as one of the fathers of modern science.

Science won at the end, not the myths, hence proven.