Galileo's Influence On Religion

Epper si muove (Nonetheless, it moves). These three iconic words were said by Galileo when leaving his trial at the Holy office of the Inquisition in 1633. The Church made Galileo renounce his belief that the Earth revolved around the Sun. They threatened him not to speak with torture and death, but he still remained faithful to what he knew was right. In the early Renaissance, the Church controlled many aspects of society, including science. At the time, they believed that the Earth was the center of the universe with the Sun revolving around the Earth (Ptolemaic/geocentric view). The geocentric view was key to Christian influence, as evidence of this can be found in the bible and in church doctrine. Galileo’s views and scientific discoveries

He started by improving the telescope, which allowed him to gather evidence to support his theory of heliocentrism. Galileo’s modification to the telescope allowed him to look at the “heavens” (space) at with thirty times magnification from the human eye (Alonso). He observed that Jupiter had four planets orbiting around it. This made him wonder if the planets, including Earth, revolved around the sun. Galileo’s innovations to the telescope and observations of the universe created a passion and a drive for him to prove that he was right. In his first literary work, “The Starry Messenger”, Galileo published his findings, some of which were very controversial. In this booklet, he concluded that the surface of the moon was rough and mountainous, which disproves the previously accepted theory that the moon is perfectly smooth. He also hinted at a heliocentric universe based upon his observations of Jupiter and its four moons (Maran, 3). “The Starry Messenger” was the first of many works by Galileo with the intent of disproving the conventional geocentric belief. He was intent on spreading and supporting his heliocentric views. In 1612, Galileo wrote his second work about his discoveries, “Discourse on Bodies of Water”, which, yet again was highly controversial. In his second publication, Galileo talked about his discoveries about the phases of Venus. He relates this to the bigger picture, using this as evidence to prove the validity of the Copernican (heliocentric) universe (Paolucci). He was so driven to defend the heliocentric view because he wanted to create a new type of physics and make a model of the Copernican universe (Paolucci). Galileo knew that the only thing standing in his way were the conventional geocentric beliefs that were held by the church and stated in the Bible (Paolucci). Consequently, Galileo’s next literary works were directly aimed at the church. To deal with