Galileo and Why He was Really Convicted of Heresy

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On October 31, 1992, the Roman Catholic Church admitted it had been wrong to condemn Galileo Galilei for promoting the Copernican astronomical theory. After a 13 year investigation into the persecution of Galileo that led to his official condemnation in 1633, Pope John Paul II rectified a wrong that forced the Italian astronomer and physicist to live the last years of his life in exile, and worse yet, to recant his proven discoveries to save his hide.

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[TodayIFoundOut]

Now that you know about Galileo's story check out this video and find out about Dr. William Brydon and the Massacre of Elphinstone's Army:

[cernowaingreenman]

And even today, great educated people like Neil DeGrass Tyson continue to propagate the story of how Galileo was a "martyr for Science" standing up against the anti-scientific Church. Kudos to "Today I Found Out" for clearing up the historical aspects of the non-scientific aspects of the conflict between Galileo and the Pope.

[andrewprahst]

A few corrections: Galileo did not have conclusive evidence of the heliocentric model when he began teaching it. He was accused of teaching things that were not confirmed. There were many christians of the time who believed in the heliocentric model, but he tried to teach it even after being told to cease and desist. It wasn't until he was under house arrest that he provided sufficient theory.

[jmchez]

Galileo was a supremely good debater at arguing for correct scientific analysis (moons around jupiter, spots on the surface of the sun) and, also, supremely good at arguing for completely erroneous scientific analysis (comets were cloudy disturbances in the atmosphere and the tides were caused by the earth sloshing the water as it moved). He said that the moon couldn't pull the water from a distance because that sounded like witchcraft. When other people pointed how wrong his own bad ideas were, he called them idiots and made enemies of them. Not a very diplomatic man that's why no jesuit came to his aid, he had offended most of them. Newton once said, that "tact was the act of making an argument without making enemies" and he was talking about Galileo.

Of course, Newton was a total jerk who made enemies of those who couldn't fight back. Leibniz asked for a report from the Royal Society to clear his name after Newton accused him of stealing the idea for the calculus. The President of the Royal society was none other than Newton. When Leibniz died, Newton was quoted as saying, "Ha, hah, hah. I broke his heart". (That's just obscene!) At 86, Newton also said that one of his greatest achievements was dying a virgin; Sheldon Cooper has nothing on Newton in the weird a-hole department. Newton also predicted that the world would end in the year 2060. Watch out!

Oh wait, weren't we talking about Galileo?

[alexlandherr]

Galileo: *I didn’t expect the astronomical inquisition...*

[Anon.]

Galileo was going around speaking of his theories AND using the Bible to back them up. The Pope said that he should not use the Bible but prove his theory scientifically which Galileo refused to do. Also Galileo was wrong on one point but right on another. This video is NOT accurate.

[jorgeramos]

Benedetto Castelli told him that if Galileo provided evidence as proof of the Copernican theory they were willing to reinterpret scripture. But Galileo could not comply successfully because his “evidence” was not accurate.

[MickeyD]

Convected? Ow. And you thought being burned on a stake sucked.

[WilliamHostman]

You're missing one key element ... he was a tonsured cleric, and thus subject to canon law. Without that, he wouldn't have been subject to the trial.

[savagefysik]

I love your videos, but you should be clear. In that day, there was a HUGE difference between "convicted of heresy" and "convicted of suspicion of heresy." Had he actually been convicted of heresy, he'd never had left the Vatican. In addition, his 'heresy' wasn't the Copernican model itself, but going against (brazenly I might add) a previous Papal order.

In addition, 'Two Worlds' was absolutely a rebuke of the Pope. Galileo was a headstrong and overly arrogant person. It's the general historical belief that he knew exactly what he was doing, but believed he had tacit approval from the Pope because of... I kid you not... a likely clerical error from an earlier Papal document concerning an earlier Vatican investigation.

[verdatum]

God, I wish more people knew the real story. I was taught the story wrong so many times. You told the story correctly. I still say his dialogue comes off as Galileo being a total dick. That was unwise.

[carsonianthegreat]

This is a total misrepresentation of what happened

[TheJavaMonkey]

The “C” in “Medici” is pronounced “Ch.” Med-ee-chee.

[Edithae]

So basically...he trolled the Pope and got punished for it.

[CaptainKent]

Hey Simon, how about a video on "The Metric Conversion Act" of 1975 in the United States. It was an interesting time to live through. I only wish it had worked. :/

[nomadic-loyalist]

Guys they make videos full of information everyday cut them some slack

[themejin]

Love you guys, but you may have missed some important points. First, Copernicus was a monk, and his model was held as a possibility though not widely accepted. Second Galileo made most of his arguments using really poor math and, if I recall correctly, tides. It wasn't his view that was the primary issue, but how he got there. Mostly his house arrest was for calling the pope an idiot and not for the heliocentric model, which others at the time held as true/ a possibility.

[musicever]

According to this, Galileo was "convected" of heresy, instead of being "convicted" of it.

[TheGuitarded]

These distinctions (while important for the record) are irrelevant as it relates to the Chuch being dogmatic, anti-scientific, anti-freethinking, assholes.

[zeromailss]

Well, people always thought that they are the center of the universe

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