Why the Galileo Affair is One of History's Most Misunderstood Events

History Unplugged Podcast

History Unplugged

Society & Culture, History

4.2 • 3.7K Ratings

🗓️ 11 June 2020

⏱️ 48 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

One of the most misconstrued events in history is the Galileo affair. It is commonly understood as a black-and-white morality play of science vs. religion. Galileo proves the Sun is the center of the solar system but the reactionary medieval Catholic Church is scandalized by somebody questioning their geocentric model. They imprison and torture the “heretic.” Other scientists are afraid to speak up against this oppressive regime.

The real story is much more complicated. There were churchmen on both sides of the geocentric/heliocentric debate. Galileo did not conclusively prove the heliocentric model (that didn’t come until long after his death). And much of the reason that the Catholic Church ordered his house imprisonment (not torture) was that Galileo slyly made fun of the pope in one of his writings.

Today’s guest is astrophysicist Mario Livio, author of the book “Galileo and the Science Deniers.” We get into the trial, the immediate aftermath, and the legacy that the trial has today. Livio began researching the life, ideas, and actions of Galileo; his life is filled with lessons relevant for today—whether with respect to trusting the advice given by scientists in relation to COVID-19 or any other matter of public importance.

Transcript

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0:00.0	History is just a bunch of names and dates and facts.
0:15.6	It's the collection of all the stories throughout human history that explained how and why
0:19.3	we got here.
0:21.1	Welcome to the History Unplugged Podcast, where we look at the forgotten, neglected, strange,
0:26.1	and even counterfactual stories that made our world what it is.
0:29.8	I'm your host, Scott Rank.
0:41.0	One of the most infamous and misunderstood events in history is the Galileo affair.
0:45.7	Remember, publishes work called Stary Messenger, which describes that he made observations
0:51.1	with a telescope that Jupiter had moons.
0:53.9	That meant that the Aristotelian model the solar system with Earth at its center didn't
0:57.9	make any sense.
0:59.1	One of the strongest claims is that, well, only Earth has a moon and none of the other
1:02.6	planets do, so Earth has to be at the center.
1:05.0	He proved that it didn't and suggested that the Sun was at the center of the solar system.
1:09.6	This argument had theological implications because, according to Scripture, the Sun is
1:14.0	described as rising.
1:16.3	That would suggest that the Earth is at the center of the solar system.
1:18.8	And therefore, a non-theologian was making theological claims, which the Catholic Church
1:22.8	didn't like at the time.
1:24.2	Eventually, the Roman Inquisition tried Galileo on 1633 and found him guilty of heresy.
1:29.5	For the rest of his life, he was kept on house arrest.
1:32.9	So this has been understood as an example of religious bigotry clashing with the advance
	...

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